What are today's superintendents actually facing, and why AI alone won't fix it.

Brett Roer sits down with Amy Dujon, VP of Education Brands at ARC Network, who sees patterns across hundreds of districts. With 27 years in education, from classroom teacher to principal to district leadership, Amy brings a rare vantage point on the unprecedented challenges school leaders are navigating right now.

Key Topics:

• The simultaneous, interconnected crises superintendents are holding (mental health, teacher retention, chronic absenteeism, AI adoption)
• Why leaders aren't lacking ideas about AI, they're lacking time, policy cover, and bandwidth
• The critical shift: using AI to reduce operational friction so humans have more space for connection
• What must stay human: relationship building, mental wellness, and the connections only educators can provide
• How district leaders can adopt AI thoughtfully without replacing the heart of education

If you lead a school, district, or education organization, this conversation reframes the AI debate and offers a clearer path forward.

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Brett Roer: Hopefully these are the ways that districts and schools are really taking, just listening, which that most schools do a great job of.

Brett Roer: They're not yet capturing and applying and now using the tools that are more or less free at their disposal, already built into the tools that they have that are data privacy, safe and ethical.

Amy Dujon: We, we could easily say, well, AI could come in and take on the job of teachers, but to, to the point of their, their mental wellness and, and that connection and relationship building, like, that, that's something AI can't do for us here.

Amy Dujon: Oh, Brett, thank you so much for the invitation. It's my honor to be here with you today.

Brett Roer: Yeah. We are down my much better half on this podcast, Rebecca Bultsma, so we are gonna both do our best to bring that energy that she is known for and all that excellence and insight that she is renowned for. But I think we can do this. What do you say?

Amy Dujon: I am up for the task. I'll tell you that. Like, I feel like we, we've got enough energy here.

Brett Roer: All right. And I'm gonna fake it till I make it. So- ... With that being said, Amy, you know, you have a long, illustrious career, shocking at such a young age. If you could tell all of our listeners your journey, your why, your purpose, how did you literally wind up right now today on the AmpED to 11 podcast, walk us through your journey.

Amy Dujon: Well, I won't, I won't bore you with, like, with too much, but I, I started where it all starts, right, in the classroom. So I was a teacher first, and that matters because everything that I've done since then has been filtered through that lens, right? What does this actually feel like for the person in the room with kids every day?

Amy Dujon: They were under-resourced, under-supported, and more importantly, they were under a lot of scrutiny. And so that work really changed me as I did that in my career. And then also in, under district leadership, worked as an instructional team leader, leadership, the head of leadership development, and, and did all of that inside one of the largest school districts in the country.

Amy Dujon: And the book became, like, the bridge to what I do now, which is building infrastructure that supports people running systems. Um, so there, through DA District Administration, the DA Leadership Institute and FETC to, and that's where that shi- the shift has taken me. And so those are some of the brands that I get to oversee.

Amy Dujon: And, and I couldn't have gotten there any other way. Like, it's really neat to kind of see that, that progression of how I got here. And so I stopped ... Uh, I'm in this unique position now where I stopped seeing one district's problems and started seeing patterns across hundreds, and now 27 years in, that pattern is unlike anything I've ever seen.

Amy Dujon: And so the leaders that I get to work with now are holding more at once than any generation of superintendents before them. And my job, our job, right, is to make sure that they don't have to hold it alone.

Brett Roer: And so, like, many of the people we've had on this podcast, it sounds like you as well and some of the amazing people like at FETC and district administration, like, you now have a different lever, you're not directly impacting it, but because you get to help so many people, you can help each of them be more impactful with the levers they have.

Brett Roer: So just thank you for leading that work. And for our listeners, before we dive into some of those big, big picture topics that superintendents are holding right now, maybe just let's, uh, let's decode some of those acronyms. So there's FETC, there's DA, there's the ARC Network. Let our listeners know how you're doing all this work through these different organizations, please.

Amy Dujon: And so those are our, our flagship editorial, you know, news worthy platforms, and underneath those then become our per- our events and professional development. So the District Administration Leadership Institute called DALL-E is really a membership organization for superintendents and school district, you know, executive cabinet level leaders where we convene them in, you know, smaller, more intimate spaces where they can have really complex conversations and safe spaces.

Amy Dujon: And then we have FETC, the Future of Education Technology Conference, which is our huge flagship anchor event, um, where we bring thousands of educators and leaders across multiple personas together once a year, and we really celebrate everything from the, the how and the what, right, of education tech, uh, of education.

Brett Roer: Oh, that's amazing. So, yeah, I will say, you know, we were fortunate enough to get to meet in person this year at FETC for the first time or reconnect. And, um, I agree with you, one, because it's like, you know, you're coming out of the holiday season, and so, like, conferences slowed down a little bit, which is great.

Brett Roer: And that's where I'd love for you to kinda, you know, take the lead here for a moment. So, as you mentioned to start today, superintendents are really in a different place than they've ever been. I'd love if you could maybe talk about what are the big buckets or big through lines that you're seeing that they are dealing with that they haven't before?

Brett Roer: Maybe let's kick off there.

Amy Dujon: I mean, that is such a loaded question. There's, like, there's the question under that question, right? So i- in terms of right now, the, the uniqueness around the superintendency is that instead of dealing with ... Uh, and I'm just gonna use the word crises as in terms of, like, just big bucket issues that are happening, instead of having to deal with them kind of sequentially, right now is, like, there's multiple things kind of coalescing all at once, right?

Amy Dujon: And so they're all just so intertwined that it's hard to kind of separate them out and say, "Okay, I'm gonna compartmentalize this crisis and deal with it over here." So we've got teacher shortages, we've got chronic absenteeism, we've got really large academic gaps that have, that are developed and haven't fully closed since the COVID pandemic.

Amy Dujon: And in the mix of all of that now, we're really amped up, right, the adoption or the lack of adoption for AI, screen times, the, the debate was on screen times that was just before Congress even this week. Um, the, all of that plus the, the community input and kind of like the loud polarization that's happening outside i- is a real perfect storm for superintendents.

Brett Roer: Yes. And so again, for everyone out there, for our future superintendents, it's an interesting time to navigate, but, you know, it is fortunate that you have people like Amy who are, you know, working with all these leaders and trying to find these patterns.

Brett Roer: So Amy, I'm just gonna choose one of them, right? A lot of what we talked about on this podcast is AI and how it can solve for some of these challenges. So AI, get on the ground floor for our listeners. What are superintendents actually doing? What does it mean when they say they're tackling AI or they're investing in AI or working with AI?

Brett Roer: What's working? Were they stuck? And like, what are some of the secrets you're starting to, or threads you're starting to pull on and unravel?

Amy Dujon: Uh, that's a, it's great. So we've really been running a series of, you know, just kind of r- virtual round tables and, and in- person round tables with our superintendent community.

Amy Dujon: Most superintendents are navigating the, the whole AI adoption with no budget line, no policy frameworks, teachers who are either terrified of it, and, and to be honest, what they won't say out loud, and I won't say names, but, like, superintendents who, they themselves are a little scared of, of AI and what that means if they go too fast, if they go too slow, right?

Brett Roer: You know, we just concluded a 10 district three-day PD series on building AI community playbooks in Montgomery County, ESC area of Ohio. And what we found was, you know, when it said, like, the topics that resonated most, and I'd love your vantage point, you know, we just, we scaled them. We had 115 survey results from the 72 of them across all the s- all the days, building district-specific tools that are trained on community values, defining clear guardrails, navigating gray areas, listening before deciding, keeping humans in the loop.

Brett Roer: We have so many more, but, like, is that what you're hearing as well, that, like, this is what they really need support and help with?

Amy Dujon: I think that's really the intersection that we're at right now, right, is how do we selectively adopt, right, and, and employ and deploy it where it matters most so that we can keep that human connection going.

Brett Roer: Not to put you on the spot, but with all the work you're leading, feel free to ... Again, you don't have to name names, but if there is a north star or a bright light that you would wanna amplify and elevate right now, like, who's either a superintendent or where is a district doing something really impactful around AI that you think others should know about as a, as a case study or a model?

Amy Dujon: Well, there's several that I would amplify, just ones that have been really stepping up to help to lead in our discussion. So one is our superintendent of the year. I'm sure you know him, he's out of Minnesota, and he's doing some a- an amazing work using AI to help around, like, validating teacher evaluations and metrics.

Amy Dujon: Um, he's actually, they've developed their own district platform for doing that, that they allow other districts to go and use. And so it's, it's, it's worth noting there. Dr. Kelly May-Vollmar, who's out in California, she has, they started their AI kind of playbook frameworks and, and guardrails and guidance. I actually just did a podcast episode on a DA podcast called A Good Lesson that myself and Dr.

Amy Dujon: So I would definitely put them out. Instructionally, some places we're seeing great things. Dr. Barbara Mullen, who's in New York, is doing some really incredible things in, uh, in instructional coherence and alignment around, uh, using AI for that. So I could keep naming names. There's so many bright spots that are happening.

Amy Dujon: That's what, what I love is that we do ... Nobody has to start from scratch, right? If a superintendent's sitting there saying, "I feel stuck. I don't know where, what to do. " That's the beauty of the community we're creating is we can connect them with folks who have already, already gone in front of them, right?

Amy Dujon: And so they don't, they can learn from their mistakes. They can, you know, kind of skip some of that pain and jump into the lessons learned and, and adopt frameworks that they have already created for them and, and customize them for the context of their districts.

Brett Roer: You can, you're trying to solve for different challenges and AI, you know, is a broad term and I'm sure a starting point you're finding with is first let's talk about what is the biggest challenge? What are the menial but meaningful tasks that you're trying to automate or alleviate? And it can be, instruction could obviously be your biggest challenge right now.

Brett Roer: It could be operational. So there's no right or wrong place to start. It's first identifying where you have probably the biggest gaps and then partnering with your organization or finding these North Star leaders in, in their districts to, to begin the process. And that's probably the most important thing.

Brett Roer: So thank you for sharing all those amazing education leaders and what they're doing right now in this space.

Amy Dujon: It's interesting too, and just real quick, I'll throw this one in here too. So I live in Florida, so two different districts that like sandwich where I live using AI for two totally different means.

Amy Dujon: And then you've got St. Lucie County schools, so to the north of me who has really used it to predict school grades down to like within one or two points, like not only school grades, but individual student outcomes, they're able to, to, to overlay that. So two different approaches, to your point, but both seeing great success by turning what it was time-consuming, you know, internal resource over to AI to, to do that heavy lift.

Brett Roer: That's, that's a great use in both scenarios and they both compliment each other, right? The more budget you free up, the more you can pour into your students, the more you know about where students need support, the more you can pour into the right initiatives and tools. So that's amazing. Something we hear a lot that I'd love to get your insights on is like, you know, we're gonna talk about the things you've mentioned, screen time, cell phones, you know, social media, post- COVID learning loss.

Brett Roer: There's this, like, idea that they're good or bad. And so I'd love to hear from you what are strategies you're hearing that seem like they're grounded, again, in like community values that are really trying to frame, like, what is the goal of using screens? What's the overall goal of school in this day and age?

Amy Dujon: Great question. And, and if you'll indulge me, I would love to kind of jump off of a post that you just put on LinkedIn where you said you felt like we were having a, a footloose moment right now, right?

Amy Dujon: And so the, the theater teacher in me, like, love that analogy because I've been trying to wrap my head around, you know, what is it that we're trying to contain? What is it that we're really trying to solve for, right? We look at the data and it's easy, you know, when you look at the testimony that was presented in front of Congress this week, right, where they say, you know, with, with the millions of doll- billions of dollars that we've spent on ed tech, we're not seeing a return on student outcomes, right?

Amy Dujon: And it's real ... I, the simple answer seems to be, well, let's, let's ban screen, like, let's reduce screen time, let's ban phones that, that will increase engagement, right? And so what I loved about your comparison is because Footloose really wasn't about dancing, right? That's not really what it was about. It was about a town that was grieving, scared, and trying to control what, the one thing that they thought they could actually see.

Amy Dujon: Um, and the dancing wasn't the danger. The danger was everything that they didn't know how to talk about, right? Which is really where we're sitting right now. The dangers and the things that we're trying to address are things, we just don't know how to talk about them, right? We don't know what is the right amount of time, what is the right ratio?

Amy Dujon: They hold a prom. They created a container. They created guardrails and they created permissions in which a place for them to do it. They gave the kids a place to bring that energy. And so if we ban a device without replacing it, you know, we say you can't have phones, that isn't leadership. It's an empty gymnasium, right?

Amy Dujon: But, like, the conversation keep getting ... I think we just keep going the wrong way with a conversation. It's collapsing two completely different things, like, into one verdict. Like, we're saying no cell phones, less screen time, go back to this analog way of doing it, but it, but it's not the reality of the way that we operate.

Amy Dujon: We can't talk about being college and career ready in one, in one breath and then turn around and say, kids can't be on screens and they can't have cell phones, because that's the way that we do work now. Do you know, you know what I mean? It's about creating the container that teaches them how to do it.

Amy Dujon: Like, what, what is it that we're really solving for is kind of my, my take.

Brett Roer: Absolutely. And I think something you just said that's like, I personally have found, right, going back to some of these case studies, we've been working with districts across the country, and I'd say the thing that has been the biggest aha moment they've expressed is, like, how AI can be what ultimately allows you to be more connected.

Brett Roer: So when we do, like, listening sessions, right, no one is typing notes, no one is staring at a screen, talking into a device that then captures all the wisdom in the room, and then immediately can analyze and share it with you. And, you know, again, depending on where your community is and their either embrace or fear of AI, you can, you know, have no PII in there, you can scrub it before you run it through an AI tool, but essentially you're just using a voice recorder, which everyone has for free on their phones and their computers and their iPads.

Brett Roer: And that will help you tease out a lot of the actual values in your community, then you could turn it around and show them, "Okay, based on this conversation, this seems to be where the preponderance of us wanna be. Let's acknowledge these outlying thoughts because those are valid too, but say based on the amount of dis- discourse we've had, here's why we're moving forward this way."

Brett Roer: And I don't think anyone in education who's trying to do this seriously believes either of those binary, those po- polar opposites. The hard part is, how do you just embrace discourse and moving forward together, which is a bigger unlock than like footless, food, footloose and dancing. It's how do you actually communicate clearly and show people you value their opinions and it doesn't have to be about your opinion, it has to be about what is the best opinion for the community.

Amy Dujon: Right. And we're, we're not gonna agree on everything, right? So, so coming to, you know, consensus and to, to a degree of, of what we're, what's allowable.

Brett Roer: And again, who's doing great work out there to try to address either of those scenarios that we're facing?

Amy Dujon: Yeah. I, I will say that across the districts that we work with, right, we're seeing leaders that aren't treating these things as separate, right? Chronic a- they, they see the correlation between the teacher shortage and chronic a- a- absenteeism.

Amy Dujon: And, and honestly, both are kind of funneling down to this idea of, like, burnout and, and social-emotional wellbeing, right? So whether you wanna call it wellness or, or just, you know, mental health, like, both kind of root in that. Like, the, the teacher burnout is real, which is leading to a c- a crisis around that.

Amy Dujon: So we can't, we can't ask an exhausted, under-resourced teacher to also become an AI integrationist, right? It, it just matters, right? So part of that teacher shortage is really leaning into what are the supports and the mechanisms that teachers need to feel like they have autonomy in their classrooms, that they have the tools and resources that they need, that they feel proficient in them, and that they have a command of the content, right?

Amy Dujon: It, it's, it's, that's a very interesting piece in it, and that, that they're getting the feedback that they need to grow in their, in their profession is really important as well. I don't know that we'll solve for the teacher shortage, and, and it's not just in our industry, right, that we're seeing shortages in the workforce.

Amy Dujon: Like, AI can do a lot, but at the end of the day, right, it's, it's all digital. It, it, it's a bot, it's a, you know, it's, it's artificial, it's not a real connection. And so we have to have real people on the ground doing that. The absenteeism piece is, I really think in the pandemic, maybe a controversial view, but I've said it in, in our spaces that, you know, the safe spaces that we hold at DA is that, you know, I think we, kids and parents kind of saw, like, wait, this is all a facade.

Amy Dujon: And so we see that in a, in a lot of districts and many of the ones that I've already named, but when we think about places that are doing it really well, I, I, you, you are kind of putting on the spot. I wanna put, I wanna call it the right names. There's so many great leaders out there. And I'm thinking about our districts of distinction winners from this last year that did such an incredible job.

Amy Dujon: Most of them were addressing that. I think at Dr. Cry, Michelle Carney-Ray, she is phenomenal at looking at really supporting both, both teacher and student, right, social, emotionally, really focusing on mental health and wellness and, and that approach, which is then leading into, to great academic gains, reduced absenteeism, higher retention rate of teachers.

Amy Dujon: Or it's, you know, it doesn't, it's not relevant to them. And so the comeback strategy can't just be enforcement, like, you've gotta be here and sending out a million letters of, "You didn't show up to school today," right? It has to be about re-enrollment. It has to be, you know, about re-engaging and bringing them back into the community.

Amy Dujon: We see lots of superintendents now in, in putting into place student advisory boards, right? Like, so it's a school board, but it's full of students and it's outside of the, the governing school board, but it's to bring that student voice in what is going to be meaningful then, to them in that experience.

Amy Dujon: And so the districts that are doing things like that are really starting to move the needle in both chronic absenteeism and in, in staff retention.

Brett Roer: Yeah. And something that, again, if it exists, great, but like if there's like a, an exemplar of the following, what, what we're seeing a lot is similar to any adoption curve, but AI, you know, as we know, can really exasperate gaps, we're seeing some teachers who can really lean into it, who can, who have found a better quality of life and are just overall better teachers in their own estimation as well as their leadership team, because they're able to spend more time on what truly matters in education and pedagogy.

Brett Roer: It's not gonna be of one colleague who's thriving or one teacher, which is what happens unfortunately with many initiatives. It's how do you do this at scale? So just curious if there's someone out there, if not, again, we're all in this together and we're gonna figure that out, but just wanted to get a pulse check from you.

Amy Dujon: And so you see widespread. And I do think that there's pockets where it's like, well, we've, we've got this, we've got implementation of one platform across the board, right? But there's none that I haven't 100% of scale. If any s- if there was a superintendent, 100% of all my people are doing this right now, I'd, I'd probably give them my look like, "Oh, with Fidelity, not sure."

Amy Dujon: But many of those folks that I have mentioned already in this dis- in, in this podcast, they are probably the outliers in that they are really ahead of, of most in, in their implementation and adoption to getting to 100%.

Brett Roer: Amazing. And not only obviously quantitative matters, but qualitative too. I think if there's districts who are starting to get better, again, like we said, quality of life responses, like teachers feel more seen, respected, they are given more tools and training that align to what they're actually dealing with on a daily basis.

Brett Roer: So yeah, as we hear those stories, please share them with us at the Amplify and Elevate, uh, organization and the AmpED to 11 podcast, because that's the kind of stories that need to be told as people start to get towards that 100% fluency and adoption level.

Amy Dujon: Well, and the key there too, Brett, is that, that the reason why we have the burnout, the fatigue and, and the t- and the shortage is it's initiative overload, right?

Amy Dujon: And so where leaders go wrong is when they don't strategically step back and say, "What are we gonna selectively abandon if this is what we value and what's most important to us?" 'Cause we can't do all the things. We, we can't do all the things. And so we've gotta prioritize and we've gotta let some things go so that we can prioritize what we know is going to have the biggest impact.

Brett Roer: Something else you mentioned about chronic absenteeism, and again, just wanna share a narrative that we're seeing. Like we've been partnering with schools specifically on how can you use AI to address chronic absenteeism. So a motto that we just finished last week at a school here in Queens, it's the largest middle school in Queens.

Brett Roer: We did a focus group with their chronically absent students, and then we did a focus group with some of their students who are, have higher attendance, and we tried to tease out, like, what's happening behind the scenes that teachers wouldn't know. And then we actually were able to share with the staff, through the principal, we made a memo and said, "Here's what your students are saying."

Brett Roer: I think of my own children, and they're exhausted the next day, but, like, they can't control those things, or they need help figuring out, well, how can you do both, or how can we bring your parents involved? But what we also did, which was really helpful, was we started looking at things that were in their control and used AI to map it to, like, the CASEL framework, or the durable skills, or the 21st century skills that are expected, and we said, "How can you now take this and flip your advisory curriculum to make sure these standards are always addressed because these are the ones that you can help your students learn that are gonna help them for the rest of their life, but especially being less absent and less late to middle school."

Amy Dujon: Right. H- and helping them to, like, create what is m- what is our next one best step, right, in, into, into solving this. Like synthesize all of the spores because that would take us hours, right? Let it do it, and then you can always push back and question it, but even that is that quicker response time so you can get to solution.

Amy Dujon: That's great. Good point.

Brett Roer: Thank you. We're going to ... We have two last things that we like to do on the AmpED to 11 podcast. One is, we like to turn it over to you, right? You're someone who leads across the nation. You know, we do a great job trying to prepare for this, for this conversation, but we're gonna turn the reins over to you.

Amy Dujon: So I would love to know from your standpoint, Brett, and Rebecca, who's not here, but we're pretending she is, and I love that.

Amy Dujon: So put on your Rebecca hat, right? One of the things that we keep asking on our end, and as we're engaging with, with superintendents and, and actually even other leaders, you know, within the organization, within school districts, is what is the, where are you, what are you hearing in your interviews and, and across this coverage?

Amy Dujon: Like, what do you think the next big burst is going to be around AI? Like what is the, the next big kind of ... Right now we've got, you know, ChatGPT that are helping with blessing plans, but where do you think the real bread and butter and the next big thing in AI is going to be in, in the way that it, and, and something that shapes what's happening in classrooms every day?

Brett Roer: And the easiest way to do that is by listening. And once you've done that, instead of first see the tools that you currently have, do they have the basic capabilities you need? Instead of buying more tools, get better at the tools you have. Many of the tools you have had just like insane upgrades and advancements around AI that if you're the leader and you're too busy, or you like find those teachers that are on the cutting edge and just interview them and be like, "What tools do we currently have that you're using that are transforming your workflow, student outcomes, student engagement?"

Brett Roer: And one of the things a lot of people talked about was like, "Oh, like we should show people how we use AI effectively." And I said, "Well, why don't you put hyperlinks in because now teachers, students, parents can be like, here's how we use AI to personalize it, make a two minute video, have your best teacher make it.

Brett Roer: Now everyone in the district has a resource of like, literally here's what we do with a safe tool to personalize learning. So take exemplars, scale them widely, teach everyone how to do that one thing. And a lot of the tools that are out there, you probably already have in your disposal, like if you're a Microsoft school or Google school, there's great other products and tools you can supplement with, but get good at what you have, uh, would be the first thing I'd say.

Brett Roer: And then what are the transferable skills that once you teach someone one of those, you can do it across others. And then something I didn't mention, but now I'm gonna pass it to Rebecca. The biggest thing that matters is what you're doing ethical and safe. So for your current community, if you don't have best practices and policies and you don't have people who truly understand the tools you have and how to keep your students safe, how to keep your, their intellectual property and data safe, and making sure teachers and families and stu- and district leaders know the tools that you're approving, get them to be something that people want to use because otherwise, they're still gonna acknowledgely use AI tools, they just might not be ethical and safe.

Brett Roer: So that's the end of that and that was, hopefully I did Rebecca Justice on that one.

Amy Dujon: I'm sure you did.

Brett Roer: Yeah. What about your thoughts on that exact same question? Where are you seeing the biggest burst that you think our listeners should know about?

Amy Dujon: Yeah, I, I, I gotta concur with you because I've, I've, the conversations we're having are really around like, you know, it's, again, not about doing it all at once.

Amy Dujon: It's about finding, like, where is it gonna have the biggest impact, but I do think we're going to see down the road, we're gonna be a ... AI has the potential to ... We talk about differentiated instruction, we talk about, uh, you know, learner modalities and helping kids learn, you know, and the way they want, talking about relevant text and, you know, grade level appropriate text.

Amy Dujon: And, and if we start to really see some changes in, in, in academic outcomes because of that.

Brett Roer: I think that what you said is definitely the most important aspect of what we're doing and why we're doing it, right? We always say, like, and this goes for anyone in a community, teach people how to use AI the way their brain works because that, you and I can have the exact same challenge, let's say we're both struggling to differentiate instruction for our students, but, like, how we use an AI tool to help us do that could be completely different, but still get us to an excellent endpoint, and students are the exact same way.

Brett Roer: It's how do you now train and empower the teachers to learn how to do it and then make sure the students feel equally as equipped. So that's probably, you're right, the most edge of your seat exciting thing that's happening in education today. Thanks for, thanks for ending us on that. The last piece of advice we're gonna ask you to share with our listeners is, they're listening to this, they are fired up, they are ready to go, they know there's great people doing great things.

Brett Roer: They can make one move the next day to, you know, be better prepared. What is it? What are the things you hope leaders are gonna start doing that would most, that would have the greatest impact? Where can they go? Where can they look for help? Lay out the roadmap, please.

Amy Dujon: Well, honestly, it, it's all about connection and community, right?

Amy Dujon: With teachers, with a teacher who's about to leave, or a student who hasn't been in a building for three weeks, or a teacher who is, like, killing it and is doing amazing things with AI and innovation in their classroom, or a, a building leader who's really embraced, you know, the implementation of AI and they're seeing things really start to take hold.

Amy Dujon: So my advice, the best one step really is to get connected and give proximate to your people, but also for, for superintendents or for other leaders out there, it's to also have that connection and to get in proximity of, of like- minded people who are trying to solve the same problems that you are, right?

Amy Dujon: So do that. Everything that we've talked about today, AI integration, screen policy, getting kids back into building, saving teachers, right? It all runs on the trust as tr- on trust, right, as the main operating system. And so trust is, is really built one conversation and one interaction at a time.

Brett Roer: Yep. And for all the talk we keep having about AI, innovation, education, I mean, you said it, it's really relationships.

Brett Roer: You know, I know you have some great colleagues in the space, like, you know, one of our former podcast guests, Jen Womble.

Amy Dujon: I was just gonna say, Jen Womble. Thank you

Brett Roer: for me. No, no, I wanna make sure you ha- I, I knew it too. I just wanted to fit it out there first, but yeah. So Jen and other people that are almost as equally as amazing as Jen, feel free.

Brett Roer: The floor is yours.

Amy Dujon: I mean, there's so many people I can name. You know, I have to, I have to give flowers to, like, the, my colleagues and my team, right? So Jen is our, is our conference producer, you know, content producer for, for FETC and just the way that she intentionally stays really close to what's happening in the field, not just in the world of ed tech, but also just, um, it, with leaders and connecting and making sure that she's staying tight to what we're doing in the DA Leadership Institute.

Amy Dujon: Like, there, the education community, you can ... There's always someone that's, like, six degrees to somebody else that is within the organization. And so, you know, those are ... I'm fortunate and incredibly blessed that in my career, I have been able to work alongside and, and for some really ex- incredible leaders.

Amy Dujon: And so, but right now is my favorite because I get to work with incredible people like Jen and, and Jody Buenning , who's been helping us a lot. Um, I, I can name everybody on my team and that would probably ... My editorial staff that is working on DA, like Micah Ward and Alcino and, and Matt Zalaznick is lastly, like, they, they really are doing everything they can to make sure that they're, they're bringing that journalistic lens to it as well.

Amy Dujon: But most importantly, I just wanna acknowledge this, again, to the superintendents that are out there, the weight and, and the amount that, like, the, the uniqueness of, of the time that you're leading in right now matters, right? And the fact that they are able to do that. So if I could name every superintendent, I would do that right now and just say that no matter where they are in their journey, you're, you're doing great, and just keep going.

Amy Dujon: Just keep pushing.

Brett Roer: Well, thank you again for all the wealth of knowledge you bring, all the people you support, your numerous roles you play in education and ed tech, and for all of our listeners out there, please, you know, find Amy Dujon, look for district administration, hope you can make it to FETC next year.

Amy Dujon: Absolutely. So again, the, obviously FETC, but if you're superintendent out there, we want you to be a part of our DA Leadership Institute and join us at our superintendent summits.

Amy Dujon: If you're a woman leading in education, we want you to come to the Leadership Network for Women's Summit that happens in September. It's a really unique space, and so we invite you to do all that, but you can find me on LinkedIn, you can also find me ... I'm sure you will drop all my contact information in here, but I would love to hear from you, connect with you.

Amy Dujon: Always looking for phenomenal leaders to spotlight, to speak at our events, and to share the work that they're doing. So Brett, really, thank you for the opportunity to be here and to, to talk about the meaningful work that's happening.

Brett Roer: Yeah. So thank you again, Amy. Thanks to all of our AmpED to 11 listeners for joining us today.

Brett Roer: And as always, go out there and make every day like today a jumbo cannoli day, live your best life.