- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Giving all Newark students the opportunity to achieve.

Valley Bank.

Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.

Seton Hall University.

Showing the world what great minds can do since 1856.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Johnson & Johnson.

And by The Adler Aphasia Center.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

Keeping communities informed and connected.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

The magazine of the Garden State, available at newsstands.

- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with Amy Panitch, who is the principal of Park Elementary School, as part of our series "Urban Education That Works."

Amy, how you doing?

- Doing very well, thank you.

- Tell everyone where Park Elementary School is.

- Park is located in the North Ward of Newark.

- My home- - Right by the park.

Beautiful view of the cherry blossoms.

- I was at Ridge Street School back in the day.

A great school then and a great school now.

- Yes, we're right near there.

- Yeah, let me ask you this.

This is, again, part of our "Education That Works" series.

What about Park Elementary School?

I mean, you have 21 years experience.

You come to the school, it's your first year as principal.

It's got this great reputation.

Students are doing better than students everywhere else, recognized as one of the highest-performing public schools in the state of New Jersey, thrives on high achievement teacher support and professional growth.

Why the heck are you doing so well?

- So this is my first year as principal at Park.

However, it's my ninth year as an administrator.

I have been in Newark for the past, as you mentioned, 21 years.

So a lot of the work that I was doing, my previous school was also in the North Ward at Franklin Elementary School.

So a lot of the work, I worked closely with the former principal, Miss Esteves, of Park.

And a lot of the work we did was the same.

And currently, a lot of the work that's happening at Park and that has happened at Park is being done throughout all of Newark to try to increase, to get the achievement everywhere, based on many of the practices that have been occurring at Park.

So the number one focus, and I think most important than anything, is teacher quality.

We have to make sure, because students come to us with different challenges.

It doesn't matter what challenges they face externally, all we can control is internally, what we do for the students.

And it starts with teacher quality and making sure that we have, in my mind, the goal is to have a highly effective teacher in front of every child.

And a lot of the work that we do is consistently focused on growing teacher practices to ensure that that is happening.

- Let me ask you this Amy.

We've had your superintendent on who's talked about this and we talked about standardized tests and where Newark students perform on those tests.

And he said, "Look, it's more complicated than that."

But what would you say to those who just spout out statistics and say, "See, too many kids in Newark are not reading at grade level and that shows that there's a serious problem," which it's significant, it matters.

But why is it more complex than simply the test results?

- Well, the state test is one data point.

And yes, we could look at third grade test scores, which I know we're here to talk about it.

But when you break it down, and to me, data can be looked at as, we can say, this many students are not reading or we could use the data to dive deeply into it and determine where students are doing well and where we should focus our instruction to improve student achievement.

And through a lot of the work that I've done, we're seeing tremendous growth in all of our school, in all of our students.

And growth really needs to be looked at.

Our third grade, for example, so Park's third grade, 60% had passing scores on NJSLA last year, which is remarkable.

Another 10%, they were very close to passing, just not there.

So to me, what I do as an instructional leader is to take a look at those scores and dive deeply into it to say, "What can we do to support those students and why are they struggling so much?"

And it's usually with the writing piece.

So they're reading well, they're able to answer the questions, understand what they're reading, but they struggle sometimes in putting their thoughts onto paper.

And so, a lot of the work that we do is really focused in class, building that academic discourse, working on comprehension conversations in which they're discussing the text in order to be able to then transcribe their thoughts onto paper.

Because sometimes, they have that knowledge, it just doesn't always show.

And then, adding to that, we know that our students come with different barriers, challenges.

I always say my job, as a principal, is not to create more obstacles, but to eliminate any barriers that our teachers face to help them reach the needs of every student and help them grow.

And even in schools where the numbers of passing might not be what we wanna see, there is tremendous growth, and we see amazing things happening with our students.

- Let me ask you something, Amy, I'm always fascinated I'm sure there were multiple reasons.

What was the most significant reason why you chose education and then educational leadership?

- Very interesting for me because I was not always on this path.

As a young child, I always loved school, wanted to work with students, but as I grew up, went through high school, I went to University of Pennsylvania for undergrad with Wharton, and I was just very focused on the business side of things because I felt like that was the path I was kind of moving towards.

I graduated, I worked for three years in the business world, and I didn't feel fulfilled.

I hated going to work every day, it just wasn't...

I just couldn't see myself doing this for the rest of my life.

So I went back to school.

I obtained my master's in education and I started working right away in Newark and my entire life changed.

- Why Newark?

Did you grow up in Newark?

- No, I grew up in New York, but I went- - You grew up in New York and you chose Newark?

- Well, I live in New Jersey now, yes.

(laughs) - No, no, but why Newark?

- Well, if I was going into education, I wanted to be meaningful.

I wanted to be that person who, I know it sounds cliche, right, but I wanted to make a difference in people's lives.

I wanted to- - It doesn't sound like a cliche.

- I wanted to be that person that helps students who didn't maybe have opportunities in their life.

I wanted to provide them with those opportunities.

- That's powerful.

- And so, I worked, and then it changed my life.

And then, once I was at Franklin, the leaders that I had there continued to always believe in me and saw leadership within me.

And then, I was always approached for the next step.

So I became an instructional coach, I became a vice principal, a principal.

And because of all the leaders that helped me grow, my approach to leadership is the same in which I have the mindset of empowering teachers and trying to grow my teachers to become leaders themselves.

And so, tapping in and leveraging our teachers to do that and giving them a voice, that's how we grow more leaders within the district.

- Amy, keep doing what you're doing at Park Elementary School.

To you and your colleagues and all those in our public schools, particularly in urban communities that are working every day to try to make a difference, well done.

Amy Panitch, thank you so much.

Appreciate you joining us.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

Recently, together with my colleague Mary Gamba on our sister series, "Lessons in Leadership," we sat down with a not-for-profit leader.

She is Elizabeth McCarthy, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.

What do we talk about?

Not-for-profit leadership, food insecurity, the role of philanthropy in very challenging times.

Let's check out that conversation.

- Elizabeth, great to have you with us.

- Thanks for having me.

- We got the website up right now.

Tell everyone what the food bank is.

- Community Food Bank of New Jersey is the largest food bank in New Jersey.

We serve 15 out of the 21 counties and we work with about 800 partners throughout the state providing food to soup kitchens, to pantries, to child feeding programs as well as increasingly and more importantly, kind of getting to some of the root causes of hunger.

So really trying to work in health systems, trying to make sure that people have the nutritious food that they need, not just, you know, canned food of food banks of yesteryear.

- So everyone go on the website, find out more and be supportive if you can.

In that spirit, Mary and I in our leadership coaching talk about all kinds of leadership tips and tools and people will say, well, a not-for-profit, which the Community Food Bank of New Jersey is, well, you know, it's not the same leadership as in business.

Well, it's not the same-same, but it's pressure-filled and challenging.

Talk about leadership in the not-for-profit world that you live in.

- Yeah, I often tell people that I'm like a non-profit is still a business.

We don't pay some taxes, but we still are a business.

I still have to balance a budget.

The thing that I think is different is many of the people who work at the Community Food Bank have lived experience with food insecurity.

We run a lot of reentry programs, so some people have, you know, sometimes very recent prison history.

It's a population that has been traumatized in some ways.

So I do think the approach is a little different.

I had a great mentor who always, who taught me first about servant leadership and I think that model has always been really important to me and really resonated for me working in social service.

That I am really here to serve, of course, people in New Jersey with food insecurity, but also the staff of CFBNJ.

- Well said.

Mary.

- Elizabeth, where are we right now when it comes to food insecurity?

We talk a lot about leadership, fundraising, bringing in those necessary dollars, also the donations.

What has changed, where are we?

I know, right while COVID was really running rampant and things were, we were in it, a lot of donations I'm sure were coming in, but now that we're a little bit away from it, talk about the latest trends in food insecurity and what more we need to be doing to address that challenge.

- You know, it's a great question 'cause people were so connected to the issue during the pandemic and I think, you know, there's a lot going on in the world.

Other issues have kind of taken the headlines, and unfortunately food insecurity has gotten worse, not better.

You know, the cost of living has gone up.

Wages haven't always kept pace.

We see a lot of working people online to pantries because they kind of just can't make it to the next paycheck.

And our donors are amazing and so we have, you know, we've been able to retain a lot of donors, but it has dropped somewhat since the pandemic, even as the numbers have gone up.

So it's a challenge.

- You know, in many ways, Elizabeth, as the leader of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and the work you've done before this, you're an advocate, fair to say?

- Absolutely.

- Talk about the connection between leadership and advocacy.

- Yeah, I think it's a very important connection, especially working in social services.

We can do our best to, you know, get food out to people, get programs out to people.

We do some workforce development, but if we're not working with our government partners and letting them know what we're seeing on the frontline, we're really missing the boat.

So making sure that they know which policies matter and which things actually we think can have an impact.

You know, we do a lot of enrolling people in benefits, things like SNAP.

But if there's really long turnaround times or there's blockades in the government, we have to tell them about that so that we can all work together to find a solution.

- And SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps, correct?

- Yes.

- Last question on my end before Mary jumps back in.

Your passion for this work comes from where?

- My family was always just really social justice-oriented.

Both of my parents, neither of them worked in nonprofits or any of that, but we always, as a family, I'm the youngest of six kids, we were always volunteering out on picket lines during the Cesar Chavez sort of movement.

My parents just kind of had that orientation and I think passed that along to us.

- And by the way, check out Cesar Chavez, the work they did with migrant workers and their working conditions.

Historically significant in the 1960s and changed things dramatically for the good.

Mary, last question.

- Yeah, my last question, Elizabeth, really goes back to leadership and wellness.

I'd have to imagine that the people that work for you, the volunteers getting the buy-in and everyone to, it's really challenging work.

How do you encourage a culture of wellness with the work that you're doing when there are so many challenges that you are facing in that regard?

- It is a great question and it's something very top of mind for us.

You know, the work is hard and it's often, especially coming up on the holidays, it's a very busy time for us.

And so we really actively had some programs for people.

We've done some guided meditation programs for staff, all optional, of course, but created a wellness day.

We had just sort of a time for staff.

Everyone kept saying, we really like our coworkers, we never have time to kind of just be together.

And so we had a day and there were yoga workshops and other things that people could do.

We kind of had one day where we were not delivering food.

So we're always really trying to listen to staff, see what can help, what helps them in their own lives, and keep that wellness as a top priority.

- Mary, you and I talked in another segment about intentionality.

Elizabeth and our team are clearly intentionally focusing more on wellness and wellbeing in these challenging times.

Elizabeth McCarthy, President and CEO of Community Food Bank of New Jersey.

Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you both.

It was great to see you.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're joined once again.

It's been a while, but he is back by popular demand.

He's Scott Kobler, and he's a partner at a great law firm, McCarter & English, and also the chair of NJ PBS, our longtime partners in public broadcasting.

Scott, good to see you - Steve, good to see you too.

- You've been in the field of law for a few years.

Do you admit that counselor?

- I do.

I concede.

- Okay, 2025 and forward, compare the practice of law, leading in the practice of law today versus just say 10 years ago.

Please, Scott.

- So, Steve, you know that when it comes to leadership and the practice of law, we'll be full of platitudes today and probably generalizations too.

And you know that the practice of law can vary from being in a big law firm such as mine to being on the bench, to being in public interest, to being a public defender or a prosecutor.

Obviously, the pandemic has changed the playing field, technology has changed the playing field.

There's a lot of introduction of the concept, and I think to a great fault of artificial intelligence, I started practicing before there were fax machines, when there were just memory typewriters before there were computers, before there were things like this.

And so I think that the practice of law has changed because of the expectations of people entering this, the word "boundaries".

The fact that when I started to practice, Steve, and I'm in the transactional side, that if you wanted a prospectus printed, you went to the printer and you stayed all night.

Now everything is done on a desktop.

Now things are sent electronically.

Now correspondence can occur in the middle of the night.

And I'm not sure that's entirely a bad thing because it used to be when I began practicing that everything would get backed up.

Now things can be addressed and dispensed with.

- Hmm.

And also, I was remiss, let me disclose that McCarter & English is an underwriter of some of our public affairs programming, particularly State of Affairs.

Let me try this, Scott.

What I'm really curious about when it comes to you and other lawyers who, beyond your practicing law at a major firm, make a commitment to be engaged, involved, and be a leader in the not-for-profit community.

For you, it's the arts.

For you, it's public broadcasting.

Where does that come from?

- Well, I think that's a question that might take eight to 10 hours- (Steve laughs) You know, because it's in our DNA.

I Counsel people who want to get involved that they should align themselves with something about which they feel passionate.

They also should feel a little uncomfortable, maybe be outside of their usual wheelhouse.

I've had the great luxury of being in a firm that has been supportive of, and that a great platform for a public service.

It's interesting when people speak about a dedication to public service as a, you know, 100% public interest lawyer.

That there are so many ways in so many sectors of the law where given your expertise, given your relationships, given your passion, where you can make a difference.

And I have to say whether it was something that comes from the way I was raised or the support of my wife or it's been long standing and it's been a pleasure.

Actually, Steve, I would tell him that while some might think I'm credentialed on the professional side and have accomplished great things, I think I'm defined, my life is better defined by what I've done on the public side.

- Let me also be clear with that, Scott Kobler, very engaged not only in public broadcast NJ PBS and previously New Jersey Network before it evolved to be NJ PBS under the umbrella of the WNET group, very engaged in NJPAC.

Actually saw a good friend and colleague John Schreiber yesterday at an event down there at NJPAC.

We love NJPAC.

And also the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra where you've been elected as a life trustee.

Question.

- Right, right.

- Younger lawyers coming into the profession, Scott, do you have to teach coach, motivate, cajole, what for them to understand that there is a side outside of bringing in money to the law firm?

Listen, if we didn't bring in money, we wouldn't be able to do what we do.

But along those lines, the whole question of community involvement, making a difference outside of making money in the law, is it more challenging with younger lawyers?

I know it's a loaded of question.

- I don't think it is.

I will tell you, I am extraordinarily optimistic from what I see at our firm and from their colleagues whom I get a chance to meet.

There's so much pro bono work being done.

I've often felt that my skillset has been more aligned with the board work and other charitable work that I do, more so than pro bono representation.

Just not in my area of expertise, I don't think I would necessarily be that effective.

But that doesn't mean that I haven't on the pro bono side, done a considerable amount of corporate work on behalf of nonprofit clients in addition to the time I spend as a board member.

But I am very excited.

I am encouraged by the interests and attitudes of the young people who I see in our firm.

- Question.

I do a fair amount of outside of my broadcast work, and I know you know I do a fair amount of coaching in the field of leadership and communication.

Our mutual colleague, Neal Shapiro, the president of WNET group, and I have a whole range of conversations about leading and just leading, just leading, right?

Question.

When it comes to developing business development skills, leadership skills, Osmosis Training, what?

Does it just happen?

Go ahead.

- So I think the best leaders are, are leaders by example, leaders who approach things from, I'm gonna say this, a parental perspective.

When I mentor, my expectation is that I want my daughter to be treated with the same dignity and civility that I would be treating someone who's working for me.

I recognize that you need to share that you are not always right, that there is a latitude to have someone speak truth to power, that there are certain things that I can impart, Steve.

I think that one of the great parables of leadership is do no harm.

That you really want to advance whatever the enterprise might be, that clients are looking for value.

They're not looking to be spoken down to, they don't need to know the sources of a house closing, going back to the Magna Carta.

They want you to be effective, they want you to be effective in executing.

They view law often on the private side as a commodity.

And it isn't.

It's like working with a physician.

You're selling your collective expertise.

But when you get out of law school, you don't have the benefit of the years of residency and fellowship training that a physician might, it's an apprentice's profession and you are sometimes dealing with extraordinarily bright individuals.

They have to learn to be relatable to clients.

They have to learn how to be efficient, but they also can't be given serial mind-numbing exercises for the sake of doing work.

And I felt that our firm in particular has been pretty good over the years or the decades that I've watched it in trying to keep people, bring people along with the balance of teaching them.

And then personally, I feel as if you have to share.

And so I've have a group of folks who've worked around me for a long period of time, and I think, Steve, the underlying value for me is being a parent.

You want to see your children do well.

- How dare we think of leadership as parenting?

Which I often do.

No, they're not children.

We get that.

But taking that approach is a very healthy one.

- You love you love them like that.

So there you go.

- Yes, not that they do what... Nevermind.

That's another story.

- That's another session.

- That's another one.

Scott Kobler, I want to make it clear, not only is he a partner at McCarter & English, but the chair of NJ PBS, the Public Television Station, Public Television Network, part of the WNET group in New Jersey.

Thank you, Scott, for not just the work you're doing in law, but thank you for being the chair of our board.

Thank you.

- Steve, I do want to go on the record so that while I'm here to, again, thank you for telling the stories of New Jersey.

I think it's a state of over 9 million people with no commercial television.

My line is always, "but for us," and people like Steve Adubato we wouldn't have the unifying feeling that we get from PBS.

- That's kind of you Scott.

But as you well know, it is our team that makes that happen.

- It's a village.

- It does.

She was right.

That's Scott Kobler.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Valley Bank.

Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.

Seton Hall University.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Johnson & Johnson.

And by The Adler Aphasia Center.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

- At the New Jersey Children's Foundation, we believe all children should have access to a high quality public education regardless of where they live.

We believe schools should place students on paths to success, and we invest in schools and educators who are meeting those needs.

Whatever your seat on the bus: student, parent, teacher, business leader, you have a role in our mission.

In Newark, district and charter schools show great education is possible.

We're working to unite people across the city and state to provide students with the schools they deserve.