Adrian Zabka and I were asked to attend the student roundtable discussion with district superintendent, Dr. Paul Cruz, on Thursday at the AISD board room downtown. At this meeting, we met with student representatives from other AISD high schools, as well as Dr. Cruz. We learned about the district and its campuses, and how the district aims to improve learning spaces across the entire district. Dr. Cruz also introduced us to what he calls the “six C’s” that AISD hopes to incorporate into its reinvented learning spaces: collaboration, communication, connection, cultural proficiency, creativity and critical thinking.
We then split into small groups and worked to design and draw out what our ideal learning space would look like.
At the conclusion of the meeting, we presented our ideal learning spaces to the rest of the students at the meeting. Dr. Cruz commented on several common threads he observed during our presentations. He noted the presence of many of the 6 C’s in the presented ideas.
For example, many students centered their classroom around tables rather than desks, to encourage communication and collaboration. Many groups also incorporated large windows with natural light or an outdoor classroom to encourage creativity and connection to the world around us. After the presentations, Dr. Cruz allowed me to interview him about the event.
Alana Raper: What was the purpose of this event?
Dr. Paul Cruz: Well for me it’s always important as superintendent, but also as a teacher, to always hear from students and see what it is that we are doing well, and what we can do to change things.
AR: What do you think you learned from tonight’s event?
Dr. Cruz: Well you know, every time I get with our students again, I find out how bright they are, the confidence that they demonstrate, I also see that they work together very quickly, because in the student roundtable, students come from all over the district, but very quickly they get to know each other and have some really strong and great discussions.
AR: How do you think communication with students has changed the district, and changed how you act as superintendent?
Dr. Cruz: Well to me it’s always about the best learning environment, and while we do get feedback from parents and teachers and principals, it’s really important to get feedback from students, and to me that’s what shapes my thinking. When I ask everyone about the learning environment, we have to ask our students because they are the ones who are involved with that every day.
AR: What do you hope students took away from this event?
Dr. Cruz: I think that one thing would be an understanding of Austin ISD. It’s a very large district, we have so many different schools, so many different needs and sort of expectations throughout the city, and I want students to be able to interact in this type of environment to be able to understand the greater Austin community. That’s just another benefit that I see to it.
AR: Since you’ve become superintendent, what have you changed in terms of communication with students, and communication overall?
Dr. Cruz: Always having different community meetings…with the Austin community, meeting with the city council, meeting with different representatives throughout the city, being involved in that on a regular basis so we’re making connections in Austin. I think one of the main ways [to communicate with students] is really just going to visit schools, getting to understand the different programs in order to implement them at other campuses, and one of my favorite ways, of course, is the student roundtable.
AR: How often do you do events like the student roundtable?
Dr. Cruz: I do these, about six a year. Almost once a month, and then there are some months that are a little bit shorter, so I may not do it that time, but that’s typically the way I run the cycle with the student roundtable.
AR: What was your favorite part of the evening?
Dr. Cruz: There’s a lot of really good things that happened, but I think that when the students started working together, and they were drawing the learning space, and you have students who had very different ideas of what that should be, but they are able to bounce ideas off of one another. I also like the way students presented their ideas. I think that’s just a real-world skill, that everybody needs. So obviously students have to write independently and demonstrate their work independently, but you have to be able to speak publicly in one way or another. I always really enjoy that.
AR: I was able to take away from this meeting a great pride for Austin ISD and the work they are doing. Dr. Cruz, through this student roundtable and the many other visits he has already had at McCallum, has proven to me how much he and the district appreciate student input. Although I am graduating this year, I look forward to seeing the changes Dr. Cruz and Austin ISD make in the future in order to better suit students both at McCallum and districtwide.
