In this episode, CT sits down with Toni Presta, the dynamic superintendent of Jefferson Union High School District, to uncover her strategic approach to enhancing equity in education. Together, they explore the unique attributes of the Jefferson Union school district, Toni's commitment to equity, and the journey behind her impactful leadership style. This conversation delves into how authentic leadership and student-focused initiatives have shaped an educational environment that strives for inclusivity and excellence.

Key Takeaways:

• Student-Centered Focus: Emphasizing the importance of student voice in educational practices to tailor a more inclusive and effective learning environment.
• Equity in Action: Jefferson Union High School District's commitment to equity through specific programs and the support of organizations like the National Equity Project.
• Leadership Journey: Toni Presta's unique career path, exemplifying the value of stepping back to refresh and re-engage with leadership from a reinvigorated perspective.
• Changing Grading Practices: Innovative approaches such as allowing test retakes to focus on mastery and promote a more equitable grading system.
• Advocacy for Authentic Leadership: The impact of authentic and courageous leadership, inspired by visionaries like Brené Brown, in fostering change and equity.

Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk

Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung

Connect with Toni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toni-presta-59434512

Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda



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It's a great pleasure for me and a great privilege to have in our studio today Toni Presta. Toni is the superintendent of Jefferson Union High School District. They're based out in Daly City, California. Welcome to the show, Toni.

I think what makes it unique is that each of our schools has its own flavor, has its own feel and specialty. And so our students are able to choose the high school that fits them best. So we've got one high school that's, 480 students. It's an alternative school.

They use a shared leadership model. And so the students there are really focused. They have a humanities focus. They have a requirement for community service. Then we've got two of our comprehensive high schools have many choices for career technical education pathways, lots of AP classes.

And so we've got lots of choices for our kids. I think what's probably the most special thing about our school district is that from the board to myself, my executive cabinet, the principals, the staff at the school sites, we are very focused on equity and on providing all of our students what they need when they need it.

We really strive to foster a positive learning environment. So I think that's what sort of sets us apart.

So I'm glad to hear that there's this focus on equity. Is this something that you and the board have been talking about for some time?

I've been in education for 30 years. And when I came to Jefferson Union, the school board had done some learning of their own. They had joined a California school board, equity network with CSBA and two of my board members actually were the impetus to starting a San Mateo County equity network with school boards. And so they before I became superintendent had started this work. And then my first year as superintendent, the board and the student trustees and I along with an equity team of leaders throughout the district worked very hard to create an equity statement.

We work with Courageous Conversation. We work with Nicole Anderson and Toby Scruggs Hussein, who are just leaders in this work here in the Bay Area, to support the board, to support the administrators and me, and then to support our teachers and our staff. Because we had to build capacity.

We have to have a lot of conversations, courageous conversations. And actually I trained all of my administrators in Brene Brown's Dare to Lead. Because we have to build capacity to be open to learning from our students to hearing their voices and to making changes to our system.

What have you found to be most challenging?

I think that's a challenge. And so, we have to start on the personal, local and immediate. So we have to look at ourselves, we have to hear from students, and we have to create ways to get that student voice in and then we as adults the toughest part is looking at it, personalizing it so that we can take action, but not taking it personally, if that makes any sense.

And it's really hard to reconcile that sometimes with the impact. And this is not something that's easy to solve because even in the face of compelling data that you could, it's so easy to sweep it on the carpet and say. This data is biased because of whatever, or, oh, this was just a one off event, or, as a leader, how do you deliver that kind of message with both kindness and candor because you need both.

One of the things, for example, that we've done to get that student voice in is we did a survey last year, and this is with our work with National Equity Project, and we decided to simply ask all of our students to take a survey, and we asked them, do you feel seen, heard, and valued at school?

Because what we know is It doesn't matter your pedagogy or your curriculum that you're using or the way you're instructing kids, but if they don't feel okay, if people don't feel okay and valued and important and worthy, if they don't feel that, they're not going to achieve at the highest levels.

We went to two of the high schools and, talked with them. And then from that, at the beginning of the year, at that welcome back day with all staff, We invited I think it was five kids, it was from our Ethnic Studies classes, but we invited those students to be on stage and we had conversation with them.

What I think is really important is for the educators and the staff at our site to really hear from the students Because when they hear the impacts of just some of the way we run school, the impacts on students, we have these aha moments. We just don't even realize.

And we're all used to receiving a zero for an F. But when we look at some of our grading practices or not taking, for instance, not giving a retake on a test. We've all taken tests, and that's your time. You take the test. You study really hard, and you take the test. What we've learned is there's a different way to do that.

And when teachers use some different grading practices that might be more equitable, such as allowing students to take a retake. Because our goal is mastery. That's our goal. So if we allow retakes and the student takes the test and on the third time they've mastered it. Wonderful! Like that's success.

It's a very different mindset. So what I think is really impactful is we start with seeds. There's a book called grading for equity. So we've offered trainings for the last three year on grading for equity. Some teachers opt in and

It's seeds of some really good practices, listening to the students, listening to student voice, teachers listening to their peers, learning from their peers. That's a more successful way to enact change than me or than a principal or, school leaders coming in and saying, this is what we're doing now.

Why is that so? What made you step up to the plate?

When you're a superintendent in a very small school district, you wear many hats. I was superintendent for eight years, and I decided, personally, I need to take a step back. I'm just tired. I had a little kid at the time, and I was like, I need to not be a superintendent. I moved on, went to a different school district.

And I was like, okay, I have feel rejuvenated again and itching to become superintendent again, take on leadership role. I also was reevaluating what I wanted to do. And I realized during that time, I almost left education to just work on equity connected to schools.

So I now work in a district. We have a deputy superintendent of business, a deputy superintendent of educational service, an associate superintendent of HR and student services, and I can then work closely with the board and with those leaders in a different capacity. I'm not as on the ground running everything because I've got these really capable leaders.

And. I want to ramp this up. I want to really focus on this work and they were fully supportive. It was really beautiful because I had the opportunity to have worked here for two years in the system and build relationships s and build trust with people in that way. And so I was able to step up into the superintendency and working very closely with my deputy superintendent of educational services.

This is also primary goal of hers. We were able to work really closely together to really, I think make good impact.

Whatever that is. Whatever that is.

After eight years being in the hot seat, to step back. What were some of the emotions that you felt immediately after you said, all right, and you told your school board I'm done.

So it was really great because I got to see their styles. I'd only worked with superintendents in my school district that I'd been in for 24 years. So I hadn't had as many models of superintendents and how they lead. So that was actually really great to learn firsthand because you really don't know how districts function.

I say this oftentimes. I know my superintendent colleagues from our meetings. I know how they are and what they say in our meetings. But I don't work in their school districts. I'm not sure what their day to day looks like or how they're perceived or how effective they are. So I did get to learn.

I think it was the same salary that I was making as a superintendent as a director. So there was no change that way. So in my mind, I was like, yeah, what a great idea. I'll go do that. I'll go work in educational services. What I realized after the fact, was that there was a perception from the outside world. From at least some people in the outside world why did she do that?

The other thing is that I was a very young superintendent when I began. I became a superintendent at 42. And I think that was a little too early for me to become a superintendent because there's really nowhere else to go in education. The superintendent is the top spot. When I was also burned out and didn't really want to be a superintendent somewhere else, but had I not just been burned out and needed to step back a little bit, the doors for a superintendent in a small school district, it's very difficult to move to another.

I guess everything happens for a reason. After moving to Hillsborough and becoming a director, that is actually why I became an associate superintendent in Jefferson Union because I realized I am probably going to have a hard time bumping back up to the superintendent role.

And so I need to become an associate superintendent. I also knew that I wanted to be in a bigger school district, in a larger school district. I was interested in working in the high school at the high school level. Most of my experience was at the elementary middle school level. I didn't just apply to be a high school superintendent.

I put a lot of thought into it, and you did ask me about the emotions. I didn't realize, but there were positive emotions, as I said, like a relief to not be in charge for a while, but it is different, you're perceived differently.

I didn't realize that just because I was the superintendent I had the ears of people in a different way than I did when I was a director or an associate superintendent. That was different. And not always great, I was the same person with the same background and set of ideas and all of that, but you are sometimes treated differently.

But yeah, by the time I wanted to be a superintendent again, I had some time, had a little bit of breather. My son had grown up a little bit. He wasn't so young. So he was a little baby when I became a superintendent. So that also gave me some extra time.

They're very capricious. To be fair to people, you know, they don't know you in most cases and they know you in your role. And when you're not in that role, it's a bit difficult psychologically to kind of place like, Oh, where's Toni? Who is Toni?

But the kind of impact and feedback it can have psychologically for leader is really hard. And I would love to go down like a road talking. This is such a fertile ground of conversation and, but we're running really short on time.

When I was a young leader, a young principal, young superintendent, I remember talking to my superintendent saying, how do you know what teachers might be interested in administration? How do you know? And, I think he's like, I don't know.

You just kind of, I'm not sure. But what I know now, after doing this for many years, is that people present themselves, I don't have to put out a survey and say what teachers might be interested in being a principal or which principals might be interested in being a district administrator, you see people, but you have to have your eyes and ears open.

And I was like, really? And then, similarly, they said that about being a superintendent in my former school district. Would you like to be, you should be the superintendent. So oftentimes people see in us what we don't even see in ourselves at the time, and they plant a seed and then you think, huh I can do that. So I think it's looking for leadership, that innate leadership capacity in others and supporting them. And I think when we are leaders, it's really making sure that we build in balance. It's very hard but building that in and ensuring that we take care of ourselves because we have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others.

This has been an amazing episode. I really love listening to this and for all of you out there listening to the show, I hope you found something useful as well. For the show notes of this episode, as well as for all of the previous episodes in the Engaging Leadership show, we have an entire archive over at k12. engagerocket. net. Head over there, find the show notes for this episode and for all of the others. And it's a treasure trove of knowledge and leadership stories. I encourage you to head over there as quickly as you can. Once again, thank you so much for joining us today, Toni.

Today I've been your host today, CheeTung signing off.