Supercast

Lacey Paschall:
So you don't have to have any driving experience. You just need to be somebody who loves working with kids, who is passionate about safety, who wants to be a really important part of the community.

Anthony Godfrey:
That sound of the air brakes and the door opening, that's really exciting. And here come the kids.

Lacey Paschall:
There are a lot of kids who we are their only safe ride to and from school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to The Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Some classrooms on wheels are making their way to kindergarten and first-grade students throughout Jordan School District right now. The classrooms are actually big yellow school buses. On this episode of The Supercast, find out how our dedicated school bus drivers have come up with an entertaining and hands-on training course to keep kids safe on the school bus. Hear how students are loving the lessons which will save student lives.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at Copper Canyon Elementary to talk about bus safety with Lacey. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your role in Jordan School District.

Lacey Paschall:
I'm Lacey Paschall. I'm a trainer for our Transportation department and I am the coordinator of the Safety in the Schools program. So I do all of the back side of it. I do all the scheduling, contacting all the schools. I schedule all of my drivers. I train all of my drivers on exactly what our expectations are and then I've been out of schools as well this year helping them out.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now most people when they think about school safety, the first thing they think about is not bus safety. But it's really important that students know how to ride the bus safely, board the bus safely, and you start early. You start with kindergarten and first graders to make sure that they are all ready to make the most of their busing experience and to do so safely. So tell us about what the program looks like and how frequently students are trained and all of that.

Lacey Paschall:
That's a great question. So we start with the kindergarten and first grade, like you said, because we want to build that foundation of safety as early as possible. So we train them once a year and we start at the beginning of the year when it's going to be fresh in their minds a little bit better rather than at the end of the year when they're entering into summer. We teach them about the danger zones around the bus. We teach them about watching for their driver's signal, that it's safe to cross, always looking both ways. We make it fun too so that it's not a scary thing. Another thing that we do is we teach them about emergency exit evacuations as well, which if they ride the bus, they do twice a year anyway. But we take them out and we teach them that so that they know that that's not scary either. And all of this is, it's an important thing and safety's cool. We make it really fun and interactive and engaging.

Anthony Godfrey:
So we're talking about getting on the bus safely. We're talking about getting off the bus safely in case of an emergency. Talk to me about the rules of being on the bus safely.

Lacey Paschall:
We actually go over all those with them, too, and a really fun little slide show that I think that the kids like. So we talk about, you know, always remaining seated, no legs in the aisle way facing forward, nothing, no body parts out the window or throwing objects out the window. We explain to them, you know, if you can't fit it in your backpack, if it can't fit on your lap, if it doesn't belong at school, it doesn't belong on the bus.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Do you show a clip of Napoleon Dynamite about what not to do throwing something out the back of the bus on a stream?

Lacey Paschall:
I should. I do have lots of really fun pictures for them.

Anthony Godfrey:
No, actually, I think that would be counterproductive. Okay, so those are all good rules. And, you know, some of us may forget that for a young child, it's pretty exciting to ride the bus. They're excited about it.

Lacey Paschall:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you train only those who are going to be riding the bus or do you do it for every student in every school?

Lacey Paschall:
It's for every student at every school because the thought is whether or not they're on the bus now, they could ride the bus in the future. Every kid is going to go on a field trip at some point. So we want to make them excited about being on the bus, whether or not they ride the bus every day to and from school.

Lacey Paschall:
And the field trip is an important point. They're going to be on the bus at some point, so it's important for them to have this training. When you go to an all-walk-in school, and we do have a few of those that have no busing, just because of how close to the school all the students are, is there some added enthusiasm from kids who know they don't get to ride the bus every day, and they're like, "Wow, today we get to get on and off the bus."

Lacey Paschall:
I think so. I was at a school yesterday, and though there is a bus that does -- there's only one, and it's a pretty big group of kids there. So almost none of the kids that were in the assembly actually ride the bus, and they were like, "This is so cool!"

Anthony Godfrey:
You know, it was a good time of life when riding the bus was one of life's big pleasures, you know? There's a bus arriving right now. So talk to me about the things that you teach students about getting on the bus safely.

Lacey Paschall:
One of the things that we teach them is to be five minutes early to your stop so that you're never running late, you're never going to chase the bus.

Anthony Godfrey:
We had a nickname when I was growing up for the kids that were running for the bus while we were all watching.

Lacey Paschall:
What’s that?

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm not going to say -- I don't think it's bad, but maybe I just didn't understand it. But it was a very strange kind of combination of words, and I just remember not wanting to be called that name. It's like, "Mom, I have to leave. I cannot be the blank for today." And anyway, so it's a big deal to be on time.

Lacey Paschall:
It is a big deal to be on time, and that's something that's really unique and cool that we teach them is like a time management factor.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, right.

Lacey Paschall:
So that's really cool and unique. We also teach them about lining up so that they're safely away from the roadway when we get there, and I think that's especially important because we aren't there to keep them safe until we get there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, they have to be in charge of themselves until the bus arrives. And, you know, the idea of being on time and giving yourself some time so that you can be safe and not be in a hurry, that's going to help them when they're driving. That's going to help them in every aspect of their lives. You're going to avoid accidents if you give yourself a little bit of time.

Lacey Paschall:
Absolutely. I totally agree. The other cool thing that I think that we teach them unknowingly is a little bit of independence because getting to walk to your bus stop by yourself, that's a really cool independent thing that they...

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Lacey Paschall:
The opportunity that they have to do that is really cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
There's a lot they learn from that. That's true. So that sound of the air brakes and the door opening, that's really exciting. And here come the kids. Let's talk about boarding the bus. You talked about watching for the bus driver to signal and to notice you. Pedestrians are told that when you cross the street, make sure the driver... You make eye contact with the driver. So talk to us more about that.

Lacey Paschall:
Our biggest one, my kids know, and we teach this in our training department. We teach all of our drivers to teach their students that the kids don't enter into the roadway until the doors open. If the doors are open, that means that we've checked, it's safe to proceed, there's no oncoming traffic. The afternoon is actually the most dangerous time of the day for us because that's when we're generally going to have kids crossing. And that's the biggest one about our eye contact with them and watching for our little pointer signal. They're expected to take five big steps out and over so that we can see them. If they're too close to the bus, we can't see their little bodies. We teach them to still look for both ways, to still check for themselves, then look back at the driver and double check. So it's a big piece of teamwork in keeping them safe.

Anthony Godfrey:
So five steps out so that they're far enough in front of the bus. It's like the billboards that say when you're passing a semi, you have to be able to see two headlights in the rearview mirror or else you aren't far enough ahead of them to change lanes.

Lacey Paschall:
That's exactly what it is because we're up so high and we have a lot of blind spots that I don't think people realize about. Even though our mirrors are fantastic and I personally feel like I can see a lot more in my bus than I can in my car, there are still a lot of things that we can't see. If they're short, and even I'm short, so if I'm right up at the bumper, it is going to be difficult for you to see me when you're sitting that high up.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, the stakes couldn't be higher in keeping children safe. I drove a bus only in the parking lot, only with high levels of supervision and that was pointed out to me. “Okay, here are all your mirrors, check all your mirrors, look at all the view that you have. Okay, now I'm going to hop off the bus and I'm going to show you how I can hide in some blind spots despite all the mirrors that are in place.” And they would hide there and it's incredible. If you aren't far enough out from the bus, you really cannot be seen. So that stepping five steps in front of the bus is a really, really important point.

Lacey Paschall:
We have a . . . we call it a cushion of safety or our danger zones. So there's 12 feet to the sides and 12 feet to the front and the back is the danger zone. If you're there, you're potentially in our blind spot. Even though one of the things that we teach our drivers, it's called a five-point mirror check. So they're checking all their mirrors in a specific pattern for safety. It only works if they're not in those blind spots. It only works if they're outside in their cushion of safety. They're not in our danger zone. So that's one of the reasons that we're teaching them this and we teach them about like, you know, the yellow lines at all the elementary schools. That keeps them actually out of our danger zone when we're arriving at the school so that they're not too close to our mirrors, things like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
I like safety cushion more than danger zone.

Lacey Paschall:
I do too. It sounds a lot less intense and scary.

Anthony Godfrey:
I keep thinking of Kenny Loggins music keeps, you know, popping into my head. But that's for those from the 1900s.

Lacey Paschall:
Do you guys remember what the danger zone is? Very good. So this side of the yellow line is the danger zone. Can you guys show me what finger we need to see when our bus driver wants us to cross?

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. Students board the school bus for some hands-on safety training.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female voice:
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District, we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org.

Lacey Paschall:
Okay, we're going to get on the bus real quick. I want you two to a seat and I want you to go all the way to the back of the bus. You're going to start with this and we'll do a single file line. When we go on the bus, I want you guys to hold the handrails when you go up the bus. Alright, come on, dear.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure that many people listening to this think, "How do I get to be part of the Jordan School District Transportation Department?" So what do they need to do if someone wants to be a driver?

Lacey Paschall:
That's an awesome question. So you don't have to have any driving experience. You just need to be somebody who loves working with kids, who is passionate about safety, who wants to be a really important part of the community, because there are a lot of kids who we are their only safe ride to and from school. We do classes quite frequently. We're actually starting one in November, so if you go on and apply we haven't even started our interviews for that. So, if you go on and apply, it could be in our November training class and we teach you everything. So, we teach you everything that you need to know to pass your test. We actually have a testing facility on our property and you get the opportunity to work with a lot of really awesome trainers. We have a really dynamic team, so it's really cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a very engaging job. You get to know a lot of people and the kids love you and you're a really important part of their day. So anyone who's interested, check it out. Learn from Lacey.

Students:
Hi, Lacey!

Ms. Gaffney:
I'm sure the lovely principal already mentioned my name is Ms. Gaffney. I'm a school bus driver and I've been a school bus driver for six years. So, I know a lot about being a school bus driver. One of my very favorite things about being a school bus driver is coming here to show you guys about how to be safe on a school bus.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about exiting the bus in case of emergency, which hopefully we don't have to do. But I actually remember as a kid hopping off through the emergency door, and I honestly don't know whether it was a drill or not, but it was pretty crazy to think the back opens up and I can hop out. It seemed very high also at the time to be jumping out the back of that bus. And it is high, especially for some of our younger students. So let's talk about that safety feature.

Lacey Paschall:
That's a really fun thing. You'd think that it would scare the kids, but they are so excited to go out a door that they're not supposed to go out of. So, when we bring them in the bus and we kind of start going over reiterating the rules again, and then we talk about the emergency exits. One of the things I always start with is I want you to look for a red handle because all of our emergency exits, they're identified with words, but you know, younger kids who may struggle with reading. They're always going to be identified with a red handle. So I make them all point them out. They get to point out the ones in the roof and they really hope we're going out the roof, which of course we're not. We demonstrate . . .

Anthony Godfrey:

But there is an option to go out the roof.

Lacey Paschall:
There is the option to go out the roof. We have two roof hatches on our buses. They actually pop open for some airflow, too. So that's nice in the summer. But you know, we demonstrate and show them the windows.

Anthony Godfrey:
It’s like putting the top down on a convertible.

Lacey Paschall:
That's exactly what you're like. Oh, it's so nice.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's summertime, summertime.

Lacey Paschall:
But we show them like the sound and we explain to them, you know, this isn't scary, but I want you to be aware of what this noise is. Then we talk about how to safely get off the bus because we don't want them to get hurt while they do it, but we want them to be aware of how to do it in case they have to. We teach them zombie arms, which makes it a little bit fun. So, because they have to put their arms straight out because that gives them a support that we can bring them off the bus without injuring them. And they like the zombie arms.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Lacey Paschall:
We get them off the bus with the help of another driver or a teacher or even an older student.

Anthony Godfrey:
Then you grab the zombie arms and help them down.

Lacey Paschall:
Yeah, we grab the zombie arms, wrists and elbows, and then we tell them to walk away to a safe location.

Anthony Godfrey:
Because unfortunately, there's not an inflatable ramp that automatically pops out like on an airplane.

Lacey Paschall:
That would be great.

Anthony Godfrey:

To just slide down. That would be fun.

Lacey Paschall:
I would love doing emergency activities.

Anthony Godfrey:
Maybe it would be the first district to have those. OK. Well, Lacey, thank you so much for everything you do to keep our students safe. You have been a driver as well. So tell me about everything you've done in Transportation.

Lacey Paschall:
Well, I started almost nine years ago. I started as a bus attendant, actually, on our special needs routes. I have a big heart for special education. When I started driving, I was 23, and I started as a special needs driver. So that was really cool. It kind of came full circle. I had been a part of our training department in helping our special needs attendants and training them while I was an attendant. So, I was already kind of a figment of the training department. I actually didn't even have a driver's license when I started working here, and the trainers taught me how to drive. I was so scared to drive a car. So, I decided I wanted to drive and I was like, well, I trusted these guys to teach me how to drive my car.

Anthony Godfrey:
So all your driving has been with Jordan District.

Lacey Paschall:
It has. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. That's awesome.

Lacey Paschall:
I've kind of I feel like they kind of raised me and I don't know. They instilled in me a little a sense of safety that's really important. I think that that's why I'm so passionate about what I do. But I got the opportunity as I worked through being a driver, a new driver. I started doing our driver evaluations for new drivers as well. Then I started working on training our special needs drivers and wheelchair securements, and different, just different aspects that they need to be aware of. Then I slowly started working on just training drivers in general and now I'm a full-time trainer with the District. I was bestowed the opportunity last school year to bring back the Safety in the Schools program for in person. We had kind of gone away from it in 2020 for obvious reasons and it had some hiccups last year because it was new to me. It was new to everybody else. And I've been so impressed with my drivers this year who are also just as passionate about what they do. They love the kids and it has been really fun to watch the growth even in just one year. So, I'm really excited to see what next school year will look like for the presentations as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, there's a lot of hard work that goes into keeping students safe and you are at the center of it. Training students, but also training drivers so that they're at their best for students. Thank you very much for everything that you do and we're so happy to have you in Jordan District.

Lacey Paschall:
Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.

David Bowman:
So these threats look like, yeah, hacker kids in basements all over the world. It looks like cyber criminal gangs. We even have fairly consistent attacks from nation threat actors.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about the scale of the threat.

David Bowman:
Wow, shock and awe number of about four million a day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a time to reflect on the many things we do as a school district to keep student data safe and protect employees and families from falling victim to phishing and other scams. On this episode, find out how partnering with parents and the community can make a big difference in defending against cyberattacks and reducing risks online. We're talking today with David Bowman, the Systems and Security Manager for Jordan School District. Thanks for taking some time.

David Bowman:
Yeah, absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
We want to talk about all things cybersecurity. First of all, is cyber like an outdated word? Is that like a Ray Bradbury word, or is that the term, cybersecurity?

David Bowman:
You know, the only other way I kind of express it now is the idea of cyberdefense.

Anthony Godfrey:
Cyberdefense, but cyber is right in there.

David Bowman:
Cyber is still the word.

Anthony Godfrey:
Cyber feels like a 50's sci-fi word, so I kind of like it though. It has a little bit of a nostalgic sound to it.

David Bowman:
It's something, it's a word in IT that hasn't changed in 30 years. That's kind of different.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, let's talk about cybersecurity. Let's talk first about student data. What do we do to protect student data? There are strict laws in place and I know that sometimes we've actually frustrated some folks because we don't give access to certain apps that refuse to follow the rules when it comes to student data privacy. I know we're very serious about that, so let's talk about exactly what we do.

David Bowman:
You know, the biggest piece of what we do that makes it more effective for us to help protect things is it's intentional. Access to student data, what it's being used for, where it's going, we don't give or share that data to anyone without an intentional evaluation of why it's needed, where it's going, and do they need all of the things they're asking for or just some of the things.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, let's make sure that we're only giving what they absolutely need for us to be able to work effectively with them.

David Bowman:
Yeah, so a good example of what that might have looked like in the past is, you know, we have a lot of folks that may offer grants or educational opportunities like a higher ed institution. Traditionally in the past years ago, we just said, "Okay, here's student records about the students participating." Now we've learned from past history of how cybersecurity incidents have taken place, and in working with our partners that want data that they actually just need to know what grade the student is in and a first and last name and that's really all they need to help them get access to that additional resource, so we don't give them all the things.

Anthony Godfrey:
So we're more thoughtful about the information that we give, first of all. I remember buying things with a credit card and the receipt would have your entire credit card number printed out on it, so you had to be careful about throwing away the receipt. When you had an email, you know, you emailed to get your password or to reset your password on a website. They just emailed you your password instead of a link to change it. So I think over the years, the amount of information we share and the way we share it has had to evolve just based on technology and what people can be up to using technology.

David Bowman:
Well, and not only that, but we have learned that as an institution with data or whatever that is, the pushback that we provide to vendor partners or other businesses on, “Listen, we don't want you to do that with our data.,” or, “No, you can't have that type of data,” that actually is what effectuates the greatest amount of change because a lot of folks won't just stop collecting data on their own. So even here at Jordan, there's a what we call a metadata dictionary that has a list of every piece of identifying information that's collected about students that are in our systems. They're indexed on the website publicly of what pieces of data are provided to what vendors or different things along those lines. Now part of that is driven by the fact that state law made that necessary, but the good news for us is that wasn't really a new process for us. So the types of things we do now are not only anytime something new is coming in we have that evaluation. But because we've done that for a long time, most of the tools that we already have in place are being effectively audited for that. So we even have internally at the District. We have a data privacy committee, so anytime a new piece of software or tools that are being used in the District come up, they have to be reviewed by the committee. So we have a data privacy officer and a data security officer and we have a data learning officer to kind of help us evaluate . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
The DLO. Yes of course.

David Bowman:
And to help us evaluate what all of those things look like.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sure well, I appreciate the efforts that everyone makes to be sure that we keep that student data protected. Let's talk about the scale of the threat of the attacks that we have on our system every day. You are an expert that's recognized throughout the state. You were presenting to the group of superintendents from throughout the state and you asked them to estimate in Jordan School District how many attacks do they think we have per day. The numbers they guessed were woefully low; they were way off. Talk about the number of attacks we have in any given day.

David Bowman:
The wow shock and awe number is about four million a day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

David Bowman:
So when that number comes up people go, “What? Four million a day? Like, what does that look like and what does that mean?”

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

David Bowman:
That really kind of helps people understand the scope of why it takes so much for us to protect that data that we're such critical stewards over. So these threats look like, yeah, hacker kids in basements all over the world. It looks like cyber criminal gangs. We even have fairly consistent attacks from nation threat actors. These things have been constantly focused at us, at school districts. Now one of the things that, because then the follow-up question is, “Well, why a school district?”

Anthony Godfrey:
Right.

David Bowman:
What is it you know they want to have, they want to change in credit cards they don't . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
Right, you want to change in eighth grader’s English grade, you know that's not . . .

David Bowman:
Well, and you know what. In my ten years as a security person in education, I've never caught a kid trying to change their grade. Now when I was in school and the hacking movies all showed kids wanting to change their grades and that's why they would be hacked.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, when I wanted to change my grade, I just drew another leg on the F to make it into an A. That's all you did, you know.

David Bowman:
You know I wouldn't want to inadvertently disclose any private identifiable information so we maybe don't want to talk about your specific grade transcripts. But ultimately that's the biggest piece where it used to be we fought against people that had some experience or were after some individual change. Now what we fight is large groups trying to get it all at once.

Anthony Godfrey:
Get access to the system as a whole.

David Bowman:
Yeah, they want the whole thing and they want all of those records that we have, in particularly the records about our students. The fresher the data is or the least likely it is to be monitored, the more value it has. So an individual student record on, you know, the dark sides of the internet might be worth six dollars. Me, as a public school employee, is maybe worth a dollar. It's just the scale of what the value is is significantly different.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now how do we know that people have not had access to the information that we have as a district?

David Bowman:
No tool is perfect, so to say it absolutely has never happened would not be something I want you to record me saying. But we have multiple controls in place on all of the data, in particular the large repositories of data, to alert us when something shares more data than it should. So we have a monitoring tool in our Google Space is an example where, if someone were to share personally identifiable information, it actually pops up to the user and says, “Hey this is personally identifiable information. Are you sure this should be shared externally?”

Anthony Godfrey:
I think you've walked down to talk with me when I just downloaded a large file, and you know, asked me what was up and why so much was being downloaded at the same time. So I feel very confident in the tools that we have in place, just alerting us, one of those tools being you watching alerts.

David Bowman:
Well, and I would tell you the biggest piece that we have, too, that really makes a significant difference is the role that our parents and our teachers spend in this room. So yeah, we have folks that have access to lots of things and the more access you have to things, the more you get to spend time with the hacker on staff at Jordan District and get little lectures about what's going on on your computer or data.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that hacker being you, of course.

David Bowman:
I have no idea what you're talking about.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes that's right.

David Bowman:
You know the . . .  but even coming down to our students and our cybersecurity programs at the JATC. Like we are helping to teach our students those skills and that translates out into them helping mention to their teachers like, “Hey, is that a particularly secure idea?” Lots of times when we identify challenges or things going on, our parents are our biggest resource because they can have a conversation with their kiddo about, “Hey, what did you see about this?” or “Why are they asking this information?” But for us, one of the things we've really tried to do in Jordan is not take a punitive approach to students that are expressing a significant curiosity and the functionality of security and systems. So instead of saying, “Okay, we're expelling you because you tried to hack something.” Instead, we're able to reframe that and try to understand what were you curious about that you were trying to achieve. A couple of years ago, we had and this was the youngest kid I've ever seen it seen do it, but we had a fourth-grade student who was messing around on his Chromebook trying to play a game and he was attempting to play a game and got it to work. The teacher calls us just all flabbergasted about, like, “He's in fourth grade. What's he doing? What's going on?” We got a chance with the principal and the teacher and his parents to sit down and talk to him and he had expressed some real interest in trying to code something. You know a lot of our advanced classes around that nature aren't set up in the elementary school realm. But we talked with this student and he talked with his teacher and identified one of the things that his teacher has to do every day is send a report to the cafeteria of who needs hot lunch or cold lunch.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

David Bowman:
And so the student said, “Well, could I program something that could just send an automated email to the cafeteria to give them the lunch count?” So the teacher and the parents all worked together. We provided a controlled resource to the student and then he built the system that the whole school started using to help them send the lunch count to the cafeteria, so they knew what they needed. That's that type of intentional curiosity. We find that when we hone that and encourage that it's infinitely better for our student growth but then that carries on to our staff and to our students' homes. Ultimately, we have security folks in the District but there's 57,000 students and 7,500 staff, and almost a hundred thousand computers connected to all of the things, and we only succeed at it when we do it as a group.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. I can see that it takes everybody working together. So what are some of the things that we do to defend the District's system?

David Bowman:
One of the biggest things that we do is about having protection at every layer possible. So whether it be a Chromebook or a computer or a camera or a badge reader that is used to enter and exit the building, every one of those things we have different types of security software and controls for. The biggest way you look at this is what the principle in the security world we call it ‘defense in depth.’ The idea is there's not just one magic bullet, there's not two, there's not three. There's as many as we can put into place because if one gets broken, then we have another one, and when we look at those layers, we're always looking to bolster those up where they're the most significant. If you think about that, that number we were talking about earlier, about this idea of four million attempts a day, the attackers only have to be right once in four million. We have to be right every single time, and because of that, we spend a lot of . . . a little bit of losing sleep about it. Part of that is because of the stewardship focus of it as IT professionals in a school district. We have our kids that go to the school district. We feel that same way about our data. We have the general public who looks to us from a leadership perspective. I have aging parents and grandparents, and they're calling me and saying, “Hey, like what am I supposed to do about this cybersecurity thing?”

Anthony Godfrey:
So all of those layers are important. All of the people in place are important. It's obvious that you take it very, very seriously. Stay with us when we come back more with cybersecurity expert David Bowman.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female Voice:
Does your child need the flexibility to learn from anywhere, at any time, on a cruise, in another country, or simply at home, cozy on the couch? The Jordan Virtual Learning Academy is tailor-made for you and your family. It's personalized, dynamic virtual learning on your schedule. The Jordan Virtual Learning Academy is an integrated system of three schools in Jordan School District: Rocky Peak Virtual Elementary School, Kelsey Peak Virtual Middle School, and Kings Peak High School. Our programs are designed to meet or exceed District and state core curriculum standards, ensuring your child receives a superior educational experience tailored to their needs. Join us today at jordanvirtual.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
You've talked about a culture of cybersecurity and cyber awareness, making sure that we're all very tuned in to what could go wrong and how we need to protect ourselves, and it's interesting the number of ways that people who may wish us harm or want to get information from us might try to make their way in. So tell us about some of the things that you have done to train folks to really be aware and pause and think things through. Because what I feel like is that we're on the, you know, we're online and things move fast online, and sometimes where I'm going through email, I'm going through text messages, I'm trying to do that quickly, and it can be easy to click on something that we shouldn't. So talk to me about awareness and preparing people to avoid those pitfalls.

David Bowman:
Yeah, you know you actually just used a good example word when you talked about ‘fast.’ One of the most common things that happens is we are in a hurry to do all the things that we're doing, and when we're fast or not fully thinking about it as we're going through it, that's one of the ways to easily get tripped up. So one of the phrases we try to help people remember is the idea of ‘think before you click.’

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

David Bowman:
The other thing is, then I get a lot of emails like, “Hey I think I clicked a thing, I'm not sure,” and then people feel this reluctance to be like “I clicked the thing” as if somehow they did something wrong.

Anthony Godfrey:
I bother you before I click ‘the thing.’ I will email you at all hours and say, “Can you open this in your sandbox and tell me whether this is real or fake?”

David Bowman:
Even to that statement, you would think that me, as a very specifically focused cybersecurity professional, would feel comfortable saying “Hey, I don't click on the wrong stuff.” Well, guess what? I have news for you. I do. There are no things that are always foolproof.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

David Bowman:
Things become more and more sophisticated. So what the advice we give people is really about what you do after you click something that made you go, “Okay, something felt weird here.”

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I guess if you're deleting something, you can delete quickly, but if you're clicking on something, you want to pause and think it through. For those who are listening and thinking, “Okay, what should I be doing differently at home? What can I do to partner with the District to make sure that data is secure or just when family members or I am online? What are some tips for me to be sure that my information is safe?”

David Bowman:
I used to use this phrase called ‘be politely paranoid.’ The cyber threats in the world have made it now so polite is not the way to do it. Just be paranoid. The good news is if it's something that really does need your attention, they're not just gonna text you or just call you or just email you. So just because it feels like urgent in the moment, and that's the one like, “Oh no, I have to respond to this because this is super important.” If it's really super important, it's not gonna be the only way you see that contact. There's two major technology principles that we've implemented within the District, but are super important for everyone. The biggest thing is using multiple methods of verifying something. So this is called 2FA or MFA. Or you're trying to log into your bank and they're like, “Okay, we're gonna text you a security code.”

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

David Bowman:
The reason for that is it's extremely easy to get portions of data based on what we have online and the more methods that are involved in doing verification make you more safe.

Anthony Godfrey:
I do want to say, I know you won't say this yourself, but I really appreciate the level of expertise that you bring personally to this. I know that when other districts or organizations have issues, you're someone that they call for additional help. You are heavily involved with a committee at the state level to try to get support from the legislature to fund additional supports because not all districts have the infrastructure that we do to provide the layers of protection that we do. I also want to shout out the Information System staff and really every staff member in the District that helps, you know, do their part to make sure that we stay safe in Jordan. David, thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me and for all the hard work that you and others in the Information Systems department do to keep us safe.

David Bowman:
Thanks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.

Brianna Howard:
The football plays Friday night, so if there's an injury the Friday night prior, we know we have exactly one week to get them ready to go and figure out the most effective way to manage their injury.

Kaiden Brown:
Not only do we help with the athletes with emergency care on the field but we do a lot of behind-the-scenes work with rehabilitation and prevention and helping the athletes reduce and prevent their injuries.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They work hard to safeguard the health and well-being of student athletes, focusing on injury prevention on-site during practices and during games. On this episode of the Supercast, we head to Mountain Ridge High School to meet two amazing certified athletic trainers. Listen in to hear about the difference they make in the lives of students in so many different sports and activities. One of the trainers is actually a Herriman High School graduate who found huge success after high school as a four-time USA tumbling champion and a world champion gold medalist. We're here at Mountain Ridge with our athletic trainers. Please introduce yourselves.

Brianna Howard:
I'm Brianna Howard.

Kaiden Brown:
And I'm Kaiden Brown.

Anthony Godfrey:
For those who are listening who do not know what the role of an athletic trainer is at a high school, would you please explain what you do and also the relationship with the youth?

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, oh gosh, all at once. So, we work with all UHSAA, so Utah High School Activities Association student athletes that range from our band program all the way through drill and then the typical sports that you see in Friday night lights like football and your both girls and boys lacrosse and everything in between from fall, winter, and spring. All those athletes are under our care.

Kaiden Brown:
Yeah, we're basically in charge of the examination, assessment, rehabilitation, first aid, and emergency care of each and every athlete, each and every sport.

Anthony Godfrey:
I suppose there is such demand that you could never put a sign on the wall that says X number of days injury free. You probably have an injury you're dealing with every day.

Brianna Howard:
We definitely have daily injuries. I think it's probably a grand total of zero for those days. I think our best days are the days where we just have like an injury that we can maintain that doesn't have an athlete actually lose practice time or lose game time. Those are the best days of ones that we can make. We can work them through and put them in a successful spot versus having to limit that practice and game time.

Anthony Godfrey:
Managing the injuries as opposed to dealing with injuries that have just barely occurred.

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, exactly.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's not because we don't do everything we can to avoid that. It's just in athletics, students are pushing their bodies as much as they can. They're trying to get the most out of it and trying to achieve, and as a result, injuries happen sometimes. Tell me what made you want to be an athletic trainer.

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, so I definitely stumbled on the profession. I've been working athletic training since 2018. I'm from the Chicagoland area originally and I went to a smaller school in Michigan to complete my undergraduate degree in athletic training from Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Gotta shout out the alma mater.

Anthony Godfrey:
There you go.

Brianna Howard:
And so I started working for the U in 2018 while completing my master's in sports medicine and our relationship with the University of Utah Health is, we have community partnerships where we contract athletic trainers to work full-time at high schools. So I'm here at Mountain Ridge full-time but I'm also paid from the University of Utah hospital system full-time as well. The big pull for the U is just to have that community outreach and to have partnerships within the Salt Lake Valley to help just communities and also help just athletes within, just where we work as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well shout out to the U for providing that high level of support. It means a lot to our athletes and it really connects them to the U so thank you for that. Tell me about what got you into the profession.

Kaiden Brown:
Yeah, so as an athlete myself I kind of got introduced to the field of athletic training from being a gymnast. I've just had a lot of work with athletic trainers through like minor injuries. Luckily no major injuries, knock on wood, but just seeing them help me and also help my teammates and other athletes through my time as a gymnast has really introduced me to the field of athletic training. I got my bachelor's degree at the U and I knew that the U had a master's program for athletic training so kind of wanted to work into that program after I graduated and I did. Not only has the U allowed me to learn everything that I need to for athletic training, but also continue my athletics. I've been able to continue competing while learning and getting my master's degree. I graduated in May and did my intern internship here with Brie earlier this year and basically got the job right out of school and was able to become Brie's part-time athletic trainer.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the difference between athletic trainer and physical therapist and why you were drawn to this specifically.

Kaiden Brown:
For us as athletic trainers, we were able to develop a good report with our athletes and just develop a good relationship. We see our athletes day-to-day whereas physical therapists, they have a good relationship with their athletes but they see them a lot less than we do. I would argue that we kind of know the athletes more than they know themselves sometimes and we were just able to develop that good relationship and know the athlete truly. Not only do we help the athletes with emergency care on the field, but we do a lot of behind-the-scenes work with rehabilitation and prevention and helping the athletes reduce and prevent their injuries. I think that's something that sticks out a lot as athletic trainers from physical therapists.

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, I think we do a really good job of just like managing in-season injuries, of understanding the acuity and the sensitivity of trying to get people ready for game day. For example if we think football, we know that varsity football plays Friday night so if there's an injury the Friday night prior, we know we have exactly one week to get them ready to go and figure out the most effective way to manage their injury. So I think we have a really strong ability to manage that in more of an acute timeline. Then I think physical therapists are really strong and just kind of that long-term rehabilitation. They have a lot of tools in their tool belt to assist with that, so we do a really good job of working with physical therapists in the community to have that continuity of care and getting the bandwidth to kind of assist them day to day; whereas the physical therapists can do some more accessory things just like the one once a week or once a month that they're able to see those athletes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it really comes down to the relationship that you're able to build because you're working with athletes throughout their season, some athletes throughout the year, and then year to year, so you really get to know the students well.

Kaiden Brown:
Exactly, yeah we get to develop a good relationship with the athletes and I think trusting your health care provider is extremely important. Because we do get to kind of develop that relationship with the athletes, we get that trust from them and I think that is something that they don't get to develop with many other health care providers.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure that it's not quite like being a mechanic, but or in IT, but I'll bet you get a lot of requests from friends and family and neighbors as well to help with the bumps and bruises.

Brianna Howard:
Yes, I live out of state and so I do a lot of those video chat calls with family members of, “this hurts” and then trying to figure out that video chat of where to actually put the phone screen so I can see what's going on. It's a real delight after a workday.

Anthony Godfrey:
“I can't hold the phone so it shows that part. That's what hurts when I do.” That yeah, no that that makes sense.  Well, tell us about some of the things that you would recommend to parents and athletes just to think about to be sure that they're taking those preventative measures to avoid injury as much as possible.

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, I think just definitely keeping the doors open for education of understanding what it's like to really be physically active five to six days a week and what your body needs to recover. We definitely encourage athletes to stretch and stretch at home and we also encourage coaches to do proper warm-ups and cool down. With the relationships we have with the coaches, it gives us a lot of bandwidth to assist them in developing kind of proper protocols for their specific sport so their athletes are warming up in the proper way and also cooling down in the proper way. But even educating student athletes and parents of the importance of being sure they're taking care of their bodies at home. So sleeping well, eating well, hydrating well, and understanding just those different principles of overall taking care of their entire body to get them ready for game day. But also just ready to be an athlete and be successful in the classroom too.

Kaiden Brown:
It's very important that these athletes are fueling their bodies and making sure they're getting being hydrated enough for sport and not filling their bodies with junk or . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
What role does Taco Bell play in making sure an athlete is at peak performance?

Kaiden Brown:
Definitely have had some athletes prior to games fuel their bodies with fast food. It would be great after because their calorie deficit but beforehand not so much. But I would be lying if we said we didn't have athletes who did that.

Anthony Godfrey:
So fast food is fine as long as the timing is right. This is my takeaway. Chaloopas are good for me if I eat them at the right time.

Kaiden Brown:
Fine is a strong word.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh fine is a strong word? Okay, all right, well I gave it a shot.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back, Kaden Brown talks about his success in tumbling, where he hopes it will take him in the future, and how his talent is benefiting students today in his role as athletic trainer.

Male voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female voice:
Does your child need the flexibility to learn from anywhere, at any time, on a cruise, in another country, or simply at home cozy on the couch? The Jordan Virtual Learning Academy is tailor-made for you and your family. It's personalized, dynamic virtual learning on your schedule. The Jordan Virtual Learning Academy is an integrated system of three schools in Jordan School District: Rocky Peak Virtual Elementary School, Kelsey Peak Virtual Middle School, and Kings Peak High School. Our programs are designed to meet or exceed district and state core curriculum standards, ensuring your child receives a superior educational experience tailored to their needs. Join us today at jordanvirtual.org

Anthony Godfrey:
Now I understand that you're still competing as a gymnast even though you're an athletic trainer here as well.

Kaiden Brown:
I am, yeah. I've been competing on the Team USA for years now and because I'm part-time I'm able to train as an athlete but also come here and work as an athletic trainer which works perfect with my schedule.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think you're being modest about your success as a gymnast slash tumbler. I'm certainly not modest about my success as a tumbler. I shout it from the rooftops or I would if I had that success. Tell us about your accomplishments.

Kaiden Brown:
Yeah, so I've been tumbling since I was 10. I kind of, I started training here in Draper just like at a recreational level and then eventually got on a competitive team and kind of just started competing just for my club. A few years later got put on Team USA and I've been competing . . . I've been on the national team every year since. Just three weeks ago, I was in China competing at the World Games which is the highest competition for my event since tumbling isn't in the Olympics. It's the second World Games that I've been to and I've had the pleasure of winning both World Games so it's my...

Anthony Godfrey:
By winning you mean the gold medal.

Kaiden Brown:
Gold medal. Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you for clarifying that. That's fantastic.

Kaiden Brown:
Yeah so basically it's my Olympics and I was able to do really well and take home some hardware. So coming up next I have a World Cup in France in three weeks and then I'm headed off to Spain for the World Championships at the beginning of November.

Anthony Godfrey:
How many continents have you competed on?

Kaiden Brown:
They've been to Asia, been to Europe. I would love to go to Australia. Been to a lot of countries.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's amazing.

Kaiden Brown:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's incredible. Yeah, how cool to have you here and to bring that experience. But tell those who are listening what it's like to take a gold medal through, I don't know TSA at the airport in your carry on. “Oh, that's a gold medal, don't you worry.”

Kaiden Brown:
Yeah, it's incredible and even standing on the podium hearing your national anthem playing, it's like literally and it's like it's  .  . . I'm speechless. Like I still . . . just doesn't feel real and the fact that it was three weeks ago and life just like continues on after that, it's incredible. It's something . . . yeah, I don't know I'm speechless.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well congratulations on your success and good luck in your future competitions it's awesome. We're talking now with our District athletic and activities director, Bryan Veazie. Bryan, tell me about the importance of the athletic trainer position and the relationship between an athletic trainer and a coach.

Bryan Veazie:
Yeah, I think it's very clear to all athletes to all parents and to all coaches that athletic trainers are absolutely essential to the success of a program. Not only do they provide great education to each stakeholder, but more importantly, they work directly with the coaches to help them better understand the things that they should and should not be doing with their student athletes and preparing them to help them succeed on the court or on the field, to help them grow and develop and improve as a student athlete. In addition to the education, they do a phenomenal job at working with our coaches to put preventative measures in place. Above and beyond that, they do a really outstanding job at kind of being that extra set of eyes in a precautionary measure. They're able to kind of step away from the action. They don't have as many responsibilities happening all at once as a coach does and they're able to really based on the relationships they've built with athletes, and based on what they know is each athlete’s normal, they're able to identify what an athlete is perhaps acting abnormal. They're able to work with the coach to pull that individual and to do a proper assessment to determine if they're okay to continue to practice and play or if they need to sit out for the rest of the day simply because they're ill or if there's actually an injury or possibly a concussion which is one of the biggest concerns at which time they can provide that emergency and urgent care. That way they can provide the services needed to that student athlete to help them get back to the court or back to the field as quickly as possible in the most safe way.

Anthony Godfrey:
We also have principal Brady Bartholomew, athlete coach, and now high school principal. Talk to us about not just the importance of the role of the athletic trainer but of these two individuals specifically.

Brady Bartholomew:
Yes, so just having these two individuals in the in the building helps tremendously. We've talked about just what they bring to the table as far as athletic training and what they do for our athletes. But just taking a little bit of a different avenue here, the relationships that they have built with our students, it's fun to see that it is now sparking an interest for our kids to maybe you know take on a job professionally later on in life whether it's in medicine or whatever that is. It's just fun to watch these kids interact and see what goes into their job.

Anthony Godfrey:
They see it as a career option after they see what a support these two are to their to their time as a student athlete.

Brady Bartholomew:
Absolutely and they're so passionate about it and to have somebody that just brings that that energy to these kids staying in day out. Like I mentioned, it's just sparked an interest to them.

Anthony Godfrey:
And as they mentioned there, it's the relationship that draws them to this profession that you get to work consistently with student athletes.

Brady Bartholomew:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the specific things that you work with coaches on to prevent injuries?

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, so I think it's a lot of education of just like maintaining like is it smart to practice a hundred percent every single day. I know yesterday my girls soccer team had an easier practice just kind of like a walk-through practice to get ready for their game day today. That's the same thing with our football programs. The day before a game will be an easier practice and more of a walk-through just so their bodies kind of have that close to 48 hours to recover prior to game day so they're not sore going into a game but their bodies are fueled and ready to go.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do you love most about being an athletic trainer?

Kaiden Brown:
Therapist by any means but being able to able to help the athletes not only physically but also mentally through their injuries is something that I enjoy a lot. Just seeing their first time back on the field after an injury is something that is indescribable. Being able to just help the athlete go back to doing something that they love.

Brianna Howard:
I think a thing that's really fun about high school athletic training is you have a lot of autonomy. A lot of times we are the only health care provider that our student athletes will see and so we have a role to advocate for just being an allied health care provider in general. But also giving them a safe space to advocate for their bodies too. I think sometimes just in medicine it's hard for athletes with appointments and doctors trying to see so many patients throughout the day that we really do give our athletes the time and the bandwidth to listen and hear everything they have to say; from their injury to even how their school day is going how their home life is going and just giving them a space to feel safe and feel that they're always going to be protected and advocated for no matter what.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell us what it is like day to day as an athletic trainer what does your schedule look like?

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, so we're really in season for 10 months out of the year with the fall winter and spring. So I just moved over to look at my schedule here that's in our office. Today with Mountain Ridge specifically, we have a home girls soccer game so our role as athletic trainers is to be there for that home game and to be present for both the varsity and JV game physically pressing out at the field. Then our girls tennis and girls volleyball teams are both away so we're here maybe a little early to prepare them for their bus ride and get their taping needs and any treatment needs done prior to them leaving for their away game. Then we'll be on campus through the entirety of the girl soccer game helping our own athletes do preventative taping if they need it prior to the game, to do treatment prior to the game, but we are also on site for the away team as well. So we help both the our home athletes of course and we also help the away athletes when they travel here on campus for the sports as well. So that's just today but then tomorrow is just a practice day for all of our fall sports and then of course we have Thursday Friday, the busyness of fall with football, so then we have that to look forward to as well. But we also sometimes have home football games the same day that we have home soccer games or home volleyball games as well, so every day is kind of controlled chaos of figuring out what takes priority and being sure that all our athletes are taking care of appropriately. But yeah, five days out of the week it just depends on what day it is and what athletes are doing things.

Anthony Godfrey:
You've been here since the start since the hard hat days when . . .

Brianna Howard:
Yes I've been here since 2019 and the hard hat days of figuring out where the training room is amongst the school

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Yeah speaking of what we said earlier, when I was deadlifting 800 pounds earlier this morning at 4 a.m. I injured my elbow. Maybe afterward we can take a look at it.

Kaiden Brown:
I’ll take a look at it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay perfect. That'd be great. Well, thank you very much for taking the time today and for your dedication to our student athletes. When I was a high school assistant principal, we had athletic trainers when we could get them and to have both of you here is a huge, huge help to all of our athletes. So thank you very much for everything that you're doing.

Brianna Howard:
Yeah, its our pleasure.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.

Jason Weimer:
He made me stand up in front of everybody at the Maverick Center and everybody was clapping.

Barry Manilow:
We have a winner here in West Valley City. Teaches at Riverton High School. Anybody?

Jason Weimer:
I was shaking in my shorts a little bit.

Barry Manilow:
Jason Weimer, Jason!

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Could it be magic? It was something like that for an amazing Jordan School District music teacher. On this episode of the Supercast, meet Riverton High School's performing arts director, Jason Weimer. Mr. Weimer recently received the prestigious Barry Manilow Music Teacher Award for the state of Utah. The award came with a once-in-a-lifetime meet and greet with Barry Manilow himself and with Mr. Weimer being recognized in the middle of the Manilow concert at the Maverick Center. Yes, it looks like this talented teacher has made it. Listen to his incredible story

Anthony Godfrey:
We are here at Riverton High School out with the marching band talking with Jason Weimer, the director of instrumental music. Jason, introduce yourself.

Jason Weimer:
Hi, I'm Jason and I teach the sit-down bands and orchestras and AP Music Theory at Riverton High School along with Mr. Chris Jesse and Mr. Drew Holland.

Anthony Godfrey:
The sit-down bands. Tell me about how all this gets categorized.

Jason Weimer:
Well, marching band is what I like to call stand-up band. We do that outside and march around on the field and then sit-down band is the stereotypical more concert inside at night concert sort of ensemble.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stand-up, sit-down, fight, fight, fight. That's right.

Jason Weimer:
Yep, pretty much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Alright, so tell me, give us a comprehensive view of the music program, the instrumental music program overall. You mentioned some other faculty members. I think that folks who have not been in music in high school recently or haven't been involved may not realize just the scope and the range of opportunities that are available to students these days.

Jason Weimer:
So our biggest goal is to be able to meet students wherever they are in terms of what they need to get better at their instrument. So we're lucky to be able to offer three levels of orchestra and three levels of concert band and three levels of percussion ensemble and two levels of jazz band. The biggest thing that that lets us do is differentiate instruction and just sort of really cater to what the kids at each level need in order to get better. We found that that's been the best way for us to help grow the program and have happy kids playing music.

Anthony Godfrey:
You have kids entering the program, it sounds like, with varying degrees of experience with instrumental music. Some of them may be starting in middle school, some of them are starting fresh in high school, haven't picked up an instrument before, and others have played for a long time. Is that accurate?

Jason Weimer:
Oh yeah. You never know who's going to end up being your best senior or things like that, whether they start in high school as a sophomore or if they've been playing in middle school. I've had kids pick up an instrument in 10th grade for the first time and end up being some of the best players we have. Of course, kids who start learning when they're super young doing private lessons or things like that are going to generally tend to have an advantage, I guess, in terms of skill.

Anthony Godfrey:
But there's a place for everyone regardless of how well prepared you are.

Jason Weimer:
Absolutely. We'll take anybody at any skill level and do what we can to get them involved.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I love that so many options are available. We're here while everyone's setting up for marching band practice and this is, they're unloading a semi-truck. That's not an exaggeration. So tell me about what's involved every time you perform and every time you practice.

Jason Weimer:
So every time we practice, we're talking about getting 5 to 10 props in the right place, coordinating an ensemble that really in itself is three different ensembles performing together. So we have the Color Guard who does the dancing and the spinning of the flags and the rifles and stuff like that. So they have their own instructional team. We have the horn line. So that's going to be like band instruments, flutes, trumpets, things like that. They have their own instructional team. Then we have the percussion section, so drums and marimbas and things like that and they have their own instructional team. Then all of those have the visual component as well, which is the marching around the field and things like that. So you're coordinating a lot of different elements together. As you can tell from the trailer, even just stuff, we have a lot of stuff. But that's one of the best things about this activity is everybody has a responsibility that helps the team be successful, whether it's making sure the props are in the right spot or making sure the people are playing the right notes. Everyone has a thing that they need to contribute and be reliable on. Yeah, that type of responsibility is just what I've seen makes this activity so great and so appealing is everybody's starting, is on the starting team. Nobody's on the bench, so to speak. Everyone's on there the whole game.

Anthony Godfrey:
They're all very involved. You're here talking with me for the podcast after school, and everyone is just doing their thing. Everyone knows what to do. It's a well-oiled machine and everyone has a role to play. And if anyone aspires to be a roadie, I think they have some really good experience. They're ready to go.

Jason Weimer:
Yeah, for sure. They get plenty of practice at it. Everything you see the kids doing, we've practiced at some point earlier in the year, even putting repurposed cafeteria tables onto the field.

Anthony Godfrey:
I did notice that. They did seem familiar.

Jason Weimer:
They were surplus, I promise.

Anthony Godfrey:
No, I'm sure you didn't go to some elementary school and steal them. You received an award over the summer that got a lot of attention and, as you said, was pretty overwhelming. Tell folks about that.

Jason Weimer:
So it was the Barry Manilow Music Teacher Award, which, I'll be honest, I didn't even know was an award until they contacted me with the nomination.

Anthony Godfrey:
Had someone nominated you, or was it with a form that allowed you to?

Jason Weimer:
You know, it was somebody nominated me. I guess that with the venues they do concerts at, they meet with people who work at that venue and brainstorm. I'm not sure exactly how my name came up, and I haven't been able to figure out who put my name in the hat. But somebody somewhere nominated me, and I'm super grateful for that. But, I mean, the biggest thing for me is when the whole thing was happening, I hate being annoying on Facebook and social media and asking people to do things for me. So I was trying really hard not to be, you know, "Hey, make sure you vote for me today." Because the type of competition it was was one where you could vote every day once, each person could vote every day once. Then the window was so wide open that I was like, "I really don't want to be annoying." But I was super, super humbled by how much the community sort of took the reins and did that.

Anthony Godfrey:
So tell us about this award. What did it involve? I know it's money for you and for the school.

Jason Weimer:
Yeah, so normally when they did this award, they used to focus on just donations to the school. I guess this year, the past couple years, they decided to make it about the teacher and the school program. So they did a matching $5,000 donation to the school and then $5,000 for me as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now did they... Let me back up. So $5,000 for the school, $5,000 for you. How did you spend that money for the school? Have you spent it?

Jason Weimer:
I did spend it and we're still waiting on the equipment. So they partnered with a great company called Sweetwater. They were able to give us like at pricing basically on a lot of stuff. So a lot cheaper than we would have gotten that stuff had we just bought it by ourselves.

Anthony Godfrey:
And the $5,000 for you personally?

Jason Weimer:
Yeah, I spent that really, really fast as well. You know, I took my wife out to a nice dinner and then the rest, I shoveled into paying down my graduate loans. So...

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. So hey, that's... That feels great. That feels great and it's a related cost. That makes a lot of sense. Well, that's pretty fun. That's cool. So tell me about the concert and the experience. You also got to attend the concert and you got to meet Barry Manilow. Talk to me about that experience.

Jason Weimer:
Yeah. They were great seats, first of all, like right up in the front. Before we went out for the concert, they took us backstage for the meet and greet. I mean, it was really fast. But it's like meeting a movie star, right? Like, I mean, it's probably the most famous person I've ever met in my life. Maybe will ever meet. But I mean, he was really kind and I mean, he was really busy, so we didn't chat that much. You know, we found out we played the same instrument, which was pretty cool.

Anthony Godfrey:
You played the same instrument. Tell me about that.

Jason Weimer:
Yeah. So I played clarinet growing up. And I guess that's the instrument that he played growing up as well. So, you know, we have a little bit of shared trauma.

Anthony Godfrey:
Clarinet trauma. Clarinet people. The clarinet brings people together.

Jason Weimer:
The clarinet players know about the clarinet trauma.

Anthony Godfrey:
So that's cool. That's exciting. And when he handed you the check, did he say, “This one's for you?”

Jason Weimer:
I you know, I think he dropped the ball on that one. He should have he should have done that. Right.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Jason Weimer:
But, but yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
No musical references?

Jason Weimer:
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's really sad for me. I was out of town. I wanted to be there, first of all, to see you get honored like this. But I'm also a Fanilow, a big Barry Manilow fan. I've had his stuff. I bought it when I was 13. I bought Manilow Magic, the K-Tel collection. So I've been a fan for a long time and I wanted to tell him that. But it sounds like he would have been pretty busy and pretty fast in and out of the room anyway. But I was living through you because I really would have loved to meet Barry Manilow. That sounds like a really cool experience. How did it feel for you to be recognized that way?

Jason Weimer:
It was really overwhelming. I don't like public attention generally. But you know, there was a part where he made me stand up in front of everybody at the Maverick Center and everybody was clapping. And, you know, I was shaking in my shorts a little bit. But afterwards, it was pretty cool. As I was leaving, a lot of people came up and they're like, “Hey, I just want you to know, like, I had a really great music teacher. I appreciate what you're doing.” I even ran into parents of two students that I had 10 years ago when I started that just happened to be at the Barry Manilow concert, too. They came and found me afterwards to just — you know, and I got to catch up with them for a little bit. So that was that was awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's so awesome. I love that. That must have been a great feeling. What was fun for me is that I received a few texts from people who were at the concert who filmed it.

Jason Weimer:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Then would text it to me and say, did you know this about your teacher who won this award? And they were all really cheering for you. So I got to see that footage of what happened, of him having you stand up and the spotlight and everything.

Barry Manilow:
We're going to celebrate the music teacher, so we created a contest. Each city that we go to, the students vote for their favorite music teacher and we have a winner here in West Valley City.

Barry Manilow:
Let me tell you a little bit about him. He teaches at Riverton High School. Anybody?

Barry Manilow:
He’s been teaching for twelve years, and he teaches intermediate and advanced bands, three levels of string orchestra, marching band, full symphony and music theory. He’s a busy boy, eh?

Barry Manilow:
And I love his quote. The quote is “I love seeing my students' passion and watching them fall in love with making music.” Go Jason, go!

Barry Manilow:
All right. Stop. Our winner here in West Valley City is Jason Weimer! Jason!

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. Hear what band students have to say about Mr. Weimer and his unofficial induction into the International Barry Manilow Fan Club.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

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Are you looking for a job right now, looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District, we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
So just tell me, I always like to ask this, what would you say to parents of students who are maybe thinking about whether they ought to be involved in color guard or marching band or any instrumental music, whether here at Riverton or elsewhere. What are the benefits? Why should they consider that?

Jason Weimer:
You know, and I've said this a lot, is most of these kids won't major in music, but most of the benefits to being in a music ensemble are not musical benefits. So cooperation, how to work with other people towards a common goal, how to compromise, how to support your friends and your peers or invest in somebody else's success. Like those are in my mind are things we need a lot of now. And, you know, this activity just is full of that sort of stuff. I could I could go on and on and on and on and on about the positives of just those sort of ‘A. musical things.’ But honestly, like just hang out, hang out with some band kids, hang out with some orchestra kids at some point. Those are the kids who are like cleaning up after themselves and other people at school. Those are the kids who are like helping each other and, you know, and really watching out for each other. I think that that's not necessarily, you know, I think that that's because of their involvement in that activity.

Anthony Godfrey:
I agree. There are a ton of benefits and I like how you deem them to be ‘A. musical benefits.’ Like it goes well beyond music and their lessons that last forever. I also love that we have a soundtrack to our interview. We've got the marimbas going in the background and many other instruments as well. Sounds fantastic. And I went to the state competition couple years in a row. It's not just the students, but the parents. It's a very social for parents. It's a great connect. You become part of a community. Well, thank you so much for everything that you're doing for these kids. It's such an important experience for them. And I know your program is huge because of the great environment that you provide for students and the wonderful experiences they have when they're part of your program. So thanks to you and the other teachers involved here at Riverton and keep up the great work.

Jason Weimer:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
And good luck at state. We're talking now with two students who are in the program. Tell me your name, grade and what you play.

Elizabeth Fisher:
I'm Elizabeth Fisher. I'm a junior in high school and I'm the drum major.

Josh Sieverts:
I'm Josh Sieverts. I am a senior. I play clarinet.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about playing the clarinet. Your teacher also played the clarinet when he was in high school. He talked about the shared trauma of clarinet players. Talk to me about playing the clarinet.

Josh Sieverts:
Well, clarinet is definitely the best instrument. Up for debate, but not if you're right. There's so many squeaks, especially when you're learning. There's like these high pitch screams and they are so annoying. It's like learning the recorder in elementary school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Josh Sieverts:
One of those instruments your parents want you to play outside or in the basement. But then you start getting really good and it sounds really good.

Anthony Godfrey:
It sounds really cool. And does it come apart? Does it have like these, is it in three pieces or two?

Josh Sieverts:
Yeah. So you have your bell, you have your lower joint, which has the bottom hand of keys. The upper joint, which has the top hand of keys, your barrel, your mouthpiece, your ligature, which holds on your reed and then your reed, which is what makes the noise.

Anthony Godfrey:
I was going to say ligature. I'm glad that you stepped in with that. So now what do you like about playing the clarinet?

Josh Sieverts:
So I started playing it just because none of my family did, because I have a musical family. But then when I started playing it, it's like the perfect instrument for me because I love playing melody because I love being the most important.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right.

Josh Sieverts:
Well, then I also love harmonies because I love how they blend and clarinet is right in the middle. So you get to do both.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow.

Josh Sieverts:
So it's my favorite.

Anthony Godfrey:
That’s great. Do you plan on continuing to play after high school?

Josh Sieverts:
Yeah. So I plan on going to college for music education, actually.

Anthony Godfrey:
Outstanding. So you can come back and work in Jordan District.

Josh Sieverts:
Oh, yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Fantastic. All right. Now tell me about your instrument. You are a drum major. So does that start out with being a major or with playing the drums?

Elizabeth Fisher:
Well, that just means I conduct the band. So I don't play the drums, but I play other instruments. Basically, I just keep time and hope that everybody stays with me and my co-partner, the other drum major.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so there are two drum majors.

Elizabeth Fisher:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
They're not the drum minor.

Elizabeth Fisher:
No, no. I'm technically the junior drum major, but we're both kind of equal, I guess.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Would she say that too? Or would she say that you're not even?

Elizabeth Fisher:
I'm not completely sure, but  . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm not trying to create drum major drama here. I'm just trying to understand.

Elizabeth Fisher:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
So as a drum major who does not play the drums, what do you do? You have to stand up on that precipice, up on that platform.

Elizabeth Fisher:
Yes. Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what is it like to be in Mr. Weimer's program? So he won an award. It seems like he's pretty awesome.

Josh Sieverts:
Yes. So I'd say he's the best band teacher because lots of band teachers are super strict and it's all about being perfect. And it's never talking. It's always just quiet and you're listening and attentive. He does that, but he makes it fun. So like, we can have a great time. Like sometimes we'll just get a pizza because we can. We'll just have a party during class.

Anthony Godfrey:
How about for you?

Elizabeth Fisher:
Yeah, basically the same thing. He has a really good balance of finding fun and being productive together. He's just a really cool guy in my opinion. I've had different situations where he's just like super friendly, super caring. He's inspired me to want to become a band teacher when I'm older. So I feel like that's like the best compliment someone can receive is just like — he's just so inspiring to me and I want to be like him when I grow up.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, there's not a better compliment than that. That's fantastic. So you both want to be music teachers. What is, if you had to name one thing, what's the best thing you've learned from Mr. Weiner?

Josh Sieverts:
Honestly, how to play clarinet because I played for three years before I came here and I thought I was better than I was. I could hardly play it and then within like two months of having him as a teacher, I had excelled dramatically.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. How about for you?

Elizabeth Fisher:
I feel like just teaching me how to be like a really good person. He's an awesome person and he makes sure that we know how to treat people correctly. You know, we're teenagers. We're still trying to figure out our lives and who we are and just making sure that everybody around us is okay with us being around them and making sure that we're always grateful and just ready to be good people. I think that's something I've learned from him.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. What an incredible combination! The technical skills and learning just to be a better all-around person. What more could you ask for? So thanks for being such an important part of the band and I'm excited to see your performances coming up. So keep up the great work. Thank you for joining us on another episode of the supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.

(upbeat music)

Graham Bany:
The more students know that you are willing to use AI to support them, even if you don't know what the subject is, we can use SchoolAI Spaces, the chatbots, to help create these tutors for the kids. School's supposed to be fun I'm not supposed to be bored here all day.

Anthony Godfrey:
It should be fun, absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Teachers in Jordan School District are transforming their classrooms with more personalized, efficient, and engaging lessons than ever before, thanks in part to the use of SchoolAI. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside an amazing classroom at Valley High School. It's where students are thriving, and the classroom experience is more dynamic, thanks to a teacher who is diving in, using SchoolAI to reach and teach students in a way that is elevating the educational experience for everyone.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at Valley High School with one of the teachers in the District who has used AI earliest and most often. Graham, go ahead and introduce yourself.

Graham Bany:
Yeah, so I'm Graham Bany. I'm an English Language Arts teacher at Valley High School. I also do digital coaching and my co-teacher Rachel and I are over the school newspaper, which we've kind of reimagined in kind of a digital form. It's a little less formal, a little bit more creative. I'm going to do a lot of fun things here at Valley.

Anthony Godfrey:
For those who don't know Valley High School, explain what Valley High School is all about.

Graham Bany:
Valley High School is the best school to go to. It is an alternative high school and alternative is often viewed as a pejorative. Alternative in this sense just means different. We have smaller class sizes. We have more deep and meaningful relationships with students. We take the time to understand every kid, every situation, every story. We are given the opportunity to try things in different ways that may be better for students. It's an incredible building that is a playground of creativity and innovation with the main goal to support students who have not been as successful in buildings where they have previously been and to try to push them towards their most successful and fruitful lives, whether that is in formal education, whether that is a trade school, or whether that's just going out and being the best version of themselves that they can be.

Anthony Godfrey:
Very well said. And there's an incredible collection of very dedicated educators here at Valley. And like you said, I like the way you put that. It's an alternative. It's a choice. What are the alternatives? This is one of those choices, and for students, this becomes the right choice for a wide variety of reasons. People might have ideas about what reasons they think kids have for coming here, there are many, many more than what you might imagine.

Graham Bany:
Honestly, my favorite are the burned-out honors kids that just need someone that's going to challenge them and remind them that it's okay to not be entirely as perfect as they felt they've had to be or the kids that are just looking for a second chance and want a teacher who knows nothing about them. It's just the beautiful opportunity to welcome every kid every day and create meaningful learning environments and opportunities to just support them.

Anthony Godfrey:
You get to redefine yourself when you come to Valley.

Graham Bany:
Everyone. Teachers, students, this is a beautiful, beautiful place, and it is the only place that I want to be.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I'm very proud of what happens here. It's just incredible results in graduation rates beyond conventional high schools elsewhere in Utah. So lots of great results beyond just the relationships and the support that really honestly lasts a lifetime because of the impact that teachers have on students here.

Graham Bany:
It would not be without the support of the District and you that allows us to do the amazing things that we do. We get to do this because it is needed and it is supported because it is successful and good.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's an easy place to support that way. So let's talk about your journey with AI. You started with AI before we adopted SchoolAI as an entire district. You were dabbling already because, as you just demonstrated, you are focused on your kids being successful, and you wanted your students to have every opportunity that others do. You were also feeling a little bit overwhelmed at teaching at that point. Is that fair to say?

Graham Bany:
Yeah, I think burnout is a part of the story. We cannot ignore that teacher burnout is one of the most common experiences in education. Between years three and five, the majority of teachers leave the profession. So I was at the end of year three and I had switched from a different school over to here, and I was picking myself back together as a teacher. It is hard to admit that sometimes, no matter how much we love the job, no matter how great we are at the job, no matter how perfect everything goes, that it is exhausting and it is difficult and it is a grind. So AI kind of started--AI has been around for a long time, but this iteration of generative AI where students started using it and we started noticing that uptick in cheating, is really when it started to pick up on my attention. So I had students--we read--it was EpiCac by Kurt Vonnegut where a computer falls in love with someone and I had my students use ChatGPT to write a love poem. So they were using it. I had no idea what things were and tried that. I was like, "Oh, this is kind of clever. It's creating interesting things. I think I can use this for lesson planning." And I was a tired teacher who had agreed to teach summer school and I had a two-week unit that I had not prepped or planned for. So I quietly, late at night, stayed up trying to figure out how to use to help me prepare the materials I had and create my objectives. I used it as a lesson planning partner for the very first time and summer school was much easier than it had been in the past. So it kind of got easier. Then I went to these coaching meetings where I get harassed by Teaching and Learning into using a fun new tool and they lovingly took my hand and guided me towards SchoolAI. I had never met any of them, but it was just the friendship and the collaboration that they brought to these different things that were going on in the District that really gave me the opportunity to try things, test things out.

Anthony Godfrey:
When you hear people talk about AI in the classroom, that it will create more distance between teacher and student because you've got now artificial intelligence doing everyone's work, in fact, it sets aside the menial task that is-- the menial tasks associated with teaching and learning — and allows you to really connect in a more personalized way. Would you agree with that?

Graham Bany:
Yeah. I mean, mathematically, like, we don't have to be upset and think, "I can't do everything for a student." When I have 100-plus students in my classrooms a day and I'm supposed to be providing them meaningful feedback, which is the greatest way to support them and help them. What kind of feedback can I give a kid if I'm limited to, "I got two minutes per kid and I better have the same brain power for every kid all day from 9 a.m. until when I'm done?" It doesn't happen and we can't expect that and then if we want to do that meaningful feedback, we're taking it home. So using AI in these places to accelerate these things that we're doing, still verifying everything that we are using and using it in a way to help us be as effective as possible to the most amount of students while still maintaining our own life and humanity, because the happier the teacher is, the better the classroom feels. If you're not spending your Saturday grading, you're going to come back to the class so much more refreshed and ready to go which brings you back together with them.

Anthony Godfrey:
But the same is true for students. If the menial task is set aside and the engaging, creative, personalized tasks are all that you have left, then learning becomes much more exciting than it might be otherwise.

Graham Bany:
When we have these things that are new, unique, creative, that we can find use cases for that the students have no clue could be a thing. We excite them, we engage them, we feed their hunger and curiosity. We can make it fun, right? School's supposed to be fun. I'm not supposed to be bored here all day.

Anthony Godfrey:
It should be fun. It should be fun, absolutely. So you mentioned earlier this question of cheating. When people talk about AI and cheating, what do you say in response?

Graham Bany:
People have always cheated. Always. I remember in high school, one of my buddies was using his older sister's current events that she had saved, like the write-ups that she had done, and he would bring them into class. The teacher wouldn't read them, so no one cared, and it was fine. Cheating's always happened. Cheating will always happen. It's just more convenient for the students to generate slop that they then pass off as their own. But cheating is cheating, and you can address it in any number of ways. But the whole goal should be finding a way to get the kid excited and engage them in the task, but also keeping that openness about it happening. We're not dumb. We know what AI writing sounds like. I don't know if at the District level you all have seen AI resumes or cover letters.

Anthony Godfrey:
It starts with "How are you doing?" and then there are "M" dashes all throughout it.

Graham Bany:
The "M" dash is crazy. I got an English degree, and I know how to use them, but I don't even like using them. So when I see a kid use one, or I've never seen you use a complete sentence, every sentence, for an entire page, something's the matter. The solution to cheating is engagement. That's always been the question in education. How do we engage our students? How do we get them excited to come to class? How do we keep them excited while they're in class? We're moving phones out of their hands. We are trying to be as engaged constantly in whichever ways and whichever approaches, but in a lot of ways, if you know the kid and you understand how they write and you understand how they sound, you can catch the cheating. It creates that opportunity for a conversation and connection, which you can maybe figure out why they want to do that. When you find out the "why," you can actually address the problem. To be honest, I don't think kids cheat other than something is not fun to do, but usually they're cheating because they don't understand. When you can figure out why they don't understand and teach them and show them you care enough about them, maybe they'll come to you and ask next time, and maybe it's just never actually going to be a problem again.

Anthony Godfrey:
Sometimes it's AI that creates the space that allows you to do that and to have that connection because so much has already been taken care of.

Graham Bany:
The more students know that you are willing to use AI to support them, even if you don't know what the subject is, we can use SchoolAI Spaces, the chatbots, to help create these tutors for the kids.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. More with Graham Bany and SchoolAI.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female voice:
Does your child need the flexibility to learn from anywhere at any time, on a cruise, in another country, or simply at home, cozy on the couch? The Jordan Virtual Learning Academy is tailor-made for you and your family. It's personalized, dynamic virtual learning on your schedule. The Jordan Virtual Learning Academy is an integrated system of three schools in Jordan School District: Rocky Peak Virtual Elementary School, Kelsey Peak Virtual Middle School, and Kings Peak High School. Our programs are designed to meet or exceed District and state core curriculum standards, ensuring your child receives a superior educational experience tailored to their needs. Join us today at JordanVirtual.org.

Anthony Godfrey:
When you talked about your journey with SchoolAI and with AI generally, you were one of the early superusers that first summer who really helped shape what SchoolAI is doing across the country at this point.

Graham Bany:
Internationally.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes.

Graham Bany:
Yeah. They're all around the world.

Anthony Godfrey:
They are. So it was your input and the input of a hundred other educators in Jordan that really helped shape things because you're saying, "Hey, well, what about this? Can AI do this? Can SchoolAI help us accomplish this?" It really was exciting to watch how quickly it took off in Jordan and how, as you indicated, how far and wide SchoolAI has taken off as well. Let's talk about some of the tools that have sparked your interest lately and some of the things that you're able to do. Let's talk about concretely how it helps you as a teacher and how it helps your students in class.

Graham Bany:
So when it comes to AI in the classroom, there's two basic ways that I think we can look at it: Teacher-centered and student-centered. So the teacher-centered is going to be these different AI tools that we can use or the different ways we can use the tools to accomplish what we're trying to. So in the course of a week as a teacher, I'm using AI to help me go through my weekly planning. I'm using it to help me organize my to-do list and maybe kind of set things up in a way that's a little bit more accomplishable. I'm using the built-in AI tools and different software to help quickly generate from my lecture notes slides that I'm going to be using in Canva. All sorts of different things. Whether we're doing lesson plans, I'm creating word banks, I'm using it to adapt assignments to the different WIDA levels of students in my classroom so that I can make sure every student has an engaging activity or assignment that is actually at their level and challenging them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Explain to folks what WIDA scores mean.

Graham Bany:
WIDA scores are essentially just a measurement of the student's current ability with their language. So if we have a student that is a multilingual student, being able to use AI to maybe adapt for a specific low reading ability, which as they're developing their reading ability in multiple languages, right? They're a super smart kid, but maybe they just need things to be at a different way or maybe they need supports for what they're reading, like a word bank. And for us to sit down and do that, maybe that takes 15 minutes and that's a worthwhile use of our time. With AI, we can do that maybe 15 seconds and have a support for the student that is appropriate to their level that allows them to engage in the classroom activity or reading or assignment in the same way as the rest of their peers. When we know what we're doing and we know what we need to do and we know how we can do it well and quickly, job becomes fun again.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Well said. Absolutely. So let's look at some of these tools that you're using lately.

Graham Bany:
Okay. So this first one, we came up with this last year. So what we did on SchoolAI with Spaces, these would be their custom chatbots, we can custom-program them to do whatever we want them to do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Custom Spaces, describe Spaces for those who aren't familiar.

Anthony Godfrey:
Spaces essentially is a chatbot that is running through the SchoolAI filter which is built to be appropriate for students and to be kind of centered more towards these educational goals. So teachers go in, they write a prompt and the prompt is not coding, the prompt is really strong creative writing skills explaining exactly how you want the experience to go.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right.

Graham Bany:
And then we tested a bunch of times to make sure that even our most engaged students aren't breaking it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Graham Bany:
And we use it with the kids. So this would be where we are at student centered. So instead of just teacher centered, this would be the thing that is student facing only.

Anthony Godfrey:
Spaces allows you to do almost like a ‘choose your own adventure’ sort of experience where you're put into the Revolutionary War or on an expedition with Lewis and Clark and you're interacting with you're interacting with SchoolAI in a way that creates a personalized adventure and experience.

Graham Bany:
Exactly. So I went to our school librarian and I had Tierca export from the library catalog, the list of the most frequently checked out books and the entire library catalog. So this is a bot that is set up with PDFs. So I uploaded those PDFs and it has basic prompting to engage the students in helping them try to find a book. So me the librarian or me and the other adults in there may not always know everything or may not always have all the free time to sit and help a kid pick a book, especially when we're in there. So they have the option where they could scan a QR code, pull this up and go through books by any sort of way that they would like to.

Anthony Godfrey:
And limited to the books in the library. What a great idea. So it's right there on the shelf if they once they find a book that they're looking for. Let's try it out. Can we launch it here?

Graham Bany:
Yeah. So if you just go into send a message right there. It is set up with summaries of each of the books. so it has a basic understanding about what's going on.

Anthony Godfrey:
So I just chose books similar to the ones you like. Tell me a book you like and I'll suggest similar titles from our library. All right. I'm going to try The Pigman. That's a book from the 60s. Let's see if they . . . Here are some books from the library. They're similar to The Pigman focusing on teen life, friendship and real-world struggles. The Outsiders is a great match for that. Winter Girls: Leah Struggles with Loss. Boy 21: Basketball and friendship help two boys cope with grief and change in their lives.

Graham Bany:
Wow.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. I want to read all of these books. That's pretty awesome.

Graham Bany:
So our librarian then took these as a basis and started building different experiences with the chatbots. So it would be like a murder mystery where the kids were going around finding different books. So we've kind of used these as a basis that kind of sets off other people's creativity and so she's used them to do different sorts of activities with students in the library.

Anthony Godfrey:
What has the reaction been from your students as they have had the opportunity to use AI to enhance their learning?

Graham Bany:
Like any good thing, we can overuse it. We can overdo anything.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right.

Graham Bany:
There have been times where we've done it multiple days in a row where they want to break. And I think that's a true testament of what's kind of going on in our world. The kids want to be disconnected more. So I think AI used in very controlled doses, very intentional moments, is very beneficial. Just like Shakespeare, bad Shakespeare happens to everyone. Right. Bad AI can happen to everyone. Good AI is possible and we have to be very selective of the moments. I like to use within myself, if there is a better way to do something, I'm going to try to go that way. So if I can think of a better way to do this that doesn't involve AI, maybe I'm going to go with that.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love how intentional you are about that, being very aware of where the kids are, how they're feeling about things and AI isn't the only way to get things done, but it's an additional way. Like you said, it's an alternative. It's another option. It's another way of doing things. You could have the best meal in your life and if that's the only meal you were able to have for the rest of your life, it would become a terrible meal. The same is true with AI, but it's also true with things that we have traditionally done in the classroom and not been intentional or thoughtful about evaluating.

Graham Bany:
We need a nice variety. So the more that we are critical of ourselves and not overdoing something, and the more that we are engaging with our students and understanding where they're at, because if they really like something and say, “Hey, we should do more of that,” then we do more of that. When I ask my kids, “Hey, how do we feel about this?” And they're like, “Eh,” then maybe we take a couple weeks off and circle back with something different, or I try to find something that's really ridiculous that we can try.

Anthony Godfrey:
I continue to watch as you become an influence and a positive impact on helping shape SchoolAI right from the start, but helping inspire teachers to really engage, try new things, and be at their best for students. I just can't thank you enough for everything you do for students and for the people around you.

Graham Bany:
Thank you for providing a culture within the school district that allows people like me to take chances, to be creative, to have the opportunity to fail and learn and re-approach. It really would not happen without the kindness, the leadership, and the dedication to curiosity that our district has.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you. Thank you. There are a lot of great people doing a lot of wonderful things here, and you are one of the great examples of that. So thank you. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you'll do today!” We'll see you out there.