Published in the August 15 – 28, 2018 issue of Morgan Hill Life

Steve Betando

The Morgan Hill Unified School District community is excited about opening the new 2018-’19 school year with the first day of classes Aug. 16. Earlier this month, we gathered our administrators together for a two-day “Leadership Charge” held at the Granada Theater.

The theme of this year’s school year kick-off event was “all hands on deck.” We encouraged all school principals, supervisors and directors to have fun together around the book “Lead Like a PIRATE: Make School Amazing for Your Students and Staff” by author Shelley Burgess. The word PIRATE serves as an acronym for Passion, Immerse, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transformation, and Enthusiasm.

We had MHUSD leaders break into small groups and name their “ship” and choose a captain. We gave them a downtown “treasure map” which gave them clues to take them to various businesses and other locations to discover downtown Morgan Hill’s treasures. We wanted to take advantage of the fact we have a unique and quaint downtown, and we wanted the new people working in the district — as well as people who have been here for a while —  to explore the downtown. When they got to their destinations from the map clues, they had to do a team-building or a leadership activity to highlight the experience they went through.

One of the topics brought up at our Leadership Charge was the importance of upholding our school district’s six values approved by the board of trustees. We developed an action plan around these values:

  • Promote Safety and Inclusion
  • Think Critically
  • Be Present
  • Focus on Achievement
  • Embrace Diversity
  • Nurture Community

The board believes all students learn best in an all-inclusive, safe environment. That was the top value identified.

The second value, thinking critically, is important because we want students to be problem-solvers who thrive in the challenges and the opportunities in the 21st century. We’ve moved forward in education from teaching our students academic information to teaching them how to learn and how to access resources. In our modern world of digital devices providing us with an unending deluge of information, thinking critically has never been more important. That’s what Common Core is really about, teaching how to think, not what to think.

The third value, to be present, holds that daily attendance and engagement in the classroom are essential to learning. Being present doesn’t just mean a student being physically at his or her desk. It also means being mentally attentive and focused on understanding the lessons.

The fourth value, focus on achievement, requires that every available resource must be used to support academic achievement and growth for all students. This goes back to the idea of using academic resources to provide the best education we can to all our students. The end game for this value of course, is a graduation celebration and a successful college and career future as students move on in their lives.

The fifth value, to embrace diversity, means that the learning outcomes for students are maximized when a diverse group values individual strengths to work toward common goals. We see this value as one of the most important pieces of what we do in public education. To feel safe as an individual means no matter what your religious preference, sexual preference, ethnicity, gender or any other difference, you feel safe in that environment and are included in the school community.

The sixth value, nurture community, broadens our activities beyond the campus where we encourage parents and community to be more engaged with students’ learning success. The school is not just a building and it’s not just the people who work in the building. The school is the community and you are the community.

We at MHUSD encourage the entire South Valley community to be engaged in the values of our schools. We hope every resident and business will be part of the process of training our students to develop themselves both in and out of the classroom for a high-quality life in their and in our tomorrow.

Steve Betando is the superintendent of the Morgan Hill Unified School District.