VPA Podcast VPA Podcast

In this episode we hear from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Executive Director, Dr. Earl Franks. I was joined by the VPA’s assistant executive director, Erica McLaughlin Dr. Franks is a veteran association executive and advocate for public education and school leadership with over three decades of pre-K–12 education experience. In his role as NAESP’s executive director, Franks advances the Association’s mission to lead in the advocacy and support for elementary and middle-level principals and other education leaders in their commitment for all children. He represents the nation’s pre-K­­­­­–8 principals on the Board of Directors of the Learning First Alliance, the National Policy Board for Educational Administration, and as a member of multiple national educational organizations and coalitions. Prior to his selection as the NAESP executive director, he served as executive director of the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools (CLAS), Alabama’s leading umbrella organization for principals and school administrators. He was inducted into the Alabama Educational Leadership Hall of Fame in 2018. Franks received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He received his Master of Science in Education, Bachelor of Music Education, and Educational Specialist degrees from Troy University in Troy, Alabama.

In this episode, we talk with Glennys Sánchez and Leah Tuckman of the Great Schools Partnership. We talk about the research and reports that have been conducted the past few years in regards to the needs for diversifying the educator workforce in New England including the Call to Action for Increasing the Racial, Ethnic, and Linguistic Diversity of the Educator Workforce (2020) and the Regional Landscape Report Snapshot (2022).

Mikaela Simms has been working as the Diversity Coordinator for the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union for more than a decade. She is the co-director of the Spark Teacher Education Institute, and has been on the planning team for the VPA’s Equity Practitioner’s Network since the fall of 2020.

In Part 1, Mike talks with Lashawn Whitmore-Sells. Lashawn has been a teacher and school leader of color in Vermont since 1992. She currently works in the Champlain Valley School District as a Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) coach in Shelburne Community School. In this conversation Lashawn shares some of her own history with helping to lead past recruitment and retention work for diversifying the educator workforce in Vermont.

Ronn Nozoe is a lifelong educator and the Chief Executive Officer of NASSP, an organization dedicated to transforming education through school leadership. Nozoe previously served as associate executive director and interim executive director at ASCD where he led the development of their Whole Child Network and Activate, an online professional development library of resources. Prior to this, Nozoe was deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs at the U.S. Department of Education, where he worked on initiatives to build state and local capacity in the areas of teacher quality, school safety, rural education, and migrant and Indian education. In his home state of Hawaii, Nozoe served as deputy state superintendent from 2010–15, during which time he amplified principals’ voices in statewide decisions with the creation of the Deputy’s Principal Roundtable; and leveraged federal Race to the Top funds and School Improvement Grants to increase statewide achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment. Prior to that, he served as district superintendent of the Farrington/Kaiser/Kalani complexes, and as a principal, vice principal, and teacher in various schools across the state. Nozoe holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in education and teaching, both from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Rob Miller is a master's Crossfit athlete, father of two and four-time cancer survivor. He grew up in South Africa playing any sport he could. His love of sports helps drive him in his career and the constant pursuit of his goals. We talked about athletes making great employees and how he uses many of his athletic endeavors in his business world.