(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato with my co-host and colleague, Jacqui Tricarico.

Jacqui, it says in your chyron, when you're on the air, Special Correspondent, One-on-One.

Jacqui's got eight different titles.

She's the Executive Producer of "Think Tank."

She's the Executive Producer and Co-anchor of "Remember Them."

And a special correspondent, One-on-One.

Tell folks what you were doing as a special correspondent at the New Jersey Education Association Convention, in Atlantic City, and what that has to do with LaShawn Arrington.

- Yes, we were both down there at the NJEA Convention this year, talking to so many different people, educators, keynote speakers, all types of people that we got a chance to connect with.

And LaShawn was one of those folks.

She is a part of this New Jersey labor management collaboration.

I said, "That's a mouthful," you know, I really wanted her to get into it.

She does a great job explaining it.

And what the essence of it really is, is all about equal power between everybody that's under the branch of education, right?

So those are our support professionals, our support staff, our educators, the principals, the vice principals, just everybody having a voice and feeling like they have a chance to have their voice heard.

So she's been working really hard.

It's this whole five year plan that she's doing with the New Jersey Education Association and New Jersey's public schools to really get everybody on board to be a lot more collaborative in our approach- - Hold on, Jacqui, the assumption is that collaboration, I'm not gonna say it's not the norm, but that it's very hard and that people have to be taught, coached to collaborate.

- Yep, and that's the work that she's doing along with several others on this team.

And they're seeing that implemented in so many ways already.

And that's not only just going to help with how they are educating the students and the students' experience within the schools, but also with staff retention and keeping our teachers in the classrooms.

We've seen teacher shortage firsthand here in New Jersey, and we've seen it all over the country.

And it's just so important to support our teachers and everybody else in the school districts to continue to do the great work that they're doing.

'Cause we need them, parents need them, our students, our kids need them, and we need to make sure that they're feeling heard and feeling appreciated, and this is one way that we can do it.

- Do you know what's so interesting, Jacqui?

When we talk about collaboration, and LaShawn is with the National Education Association, as you said, she's a fellow at the Labor Management Collaboration.

So the word collaboration, I'm not gonna get on this whole big thing about collaboration, but easier said than done.

Like on paper you could say, we really need to collaborate, we need to share ideas, we need to listen to each other, we need to support each other, but because we have, I'm not gonna get on a whole thing about our team, but we have no choice but to collaborate with each other because we're too small, or any school or whatever, to say, "No, I'm just gonna do my job.

I don't need to collaborate, I'm just gonna do my job."

That doesn't work, does it?

- No, it doesn't, and so many different aspects and so many other different careers, and you know, LaShawn too, you can see her commitment to this and her passion for this, and it stems back too, and she talks a little bit about it in her interview, she has a vast variety of background here.

And part of that is being in the Peace Corps and seeing education in other countries.

And you know, sometimes I think we take it for granted here, that education is so important to us in our country, and everybody has access to it, and that's not the case in so many other countries, and she's seen that firsthand and that helps drive her to continue to do this work.

- You know finally, as we go to this interview between Jacqui and LaShawn Arrington, the expression, "It takes a village," some people mock it.

It's true, especially when it comes to education.

It takes a village and it takes collaboration.

Let's check out another terrific interview led by Jacqui Tricarico.

- Hi, I'm Jackie Tricarico, on location at the New Jersey Education Association Convention here in Atlantic City.

And I'm so thrilled now to be joined by LeShaun Arrington.

She's the National Education Association Fellow, at the Labor Management Collaboration.

A little bit of a mouthful, LeShaun.

It's a lot going on, yeah.

- Well we're gonna get into that.

Because the Labor Management Collaboration.

Describe first for us, what is that, and what is the goal of that collaboration?

- Okay.

The Labor Management Collaboration is when stakeholders, all of the stakeholders in a school setting work together.

You have the administrators, you have the staff, you have the school board, you have the community, you have the supervisors, we all work together as opposed to working separately.

We have shared purpose.

There's also shared decision making.

There's also joint problem solving.

So you work together, because we all have different perspectives.

Like a custodian's perspective is different from a superintendent's perspective, different from school board perspective.

But when you put 'em all together, that provides the best educational opportunity for our students to have all those voices together.

- For the students, like you said, for the educators.

And when we're talking about coming together, that includes some advocacy groups, including the NJEA too, them working together instead of in silos.

Talk about how you've seen that collaboration unfold, and what have been some of the, you know, most interesting, important things that have come out of that, especially when it comes to the kids in the classroom?

- Okay.

I'm very excited because New Jersey and California are the only two states where it's on a state level.

California has it within the Department of Education, but in New Jersey we have the four education advocacy groups.

So I'm gonna say real quick, it's the N-J-A-S-A, which is the superintendents.

We have N-J-P-S-A, which are the Principals Supervisors Association.

You have N-J-E-A, which is the Education Association, and you have N-J-S-B-A, which is a School Board Association.

So you have all of us coming together for this work, for this work to work.

- And, so seeing all those come together, and this is part of a five year plan, right?

So it's been going on a couple years now.

We're in the third year of this roll-out plan.

- [LeShaun] Mm-hmm.

- Tell us some of the things that you've seen firsthand happen in the classroom, and within our school district.

- The thing that I've seen are members on all of those, their voice being empowered.

Because a lot of times people think that their voices are not being heard.

So actually seeing the things that members from all different groups put into the space, and seeing that they're being act upon, that they're improving student's score, they're improving, they're increasing staff retention.

Because when the staff feels that their voice is being heard, it makes them wanna participate more, it makes them happy to be there.

And also, I've noticed from the administrator side, they don't feel like they're alone in this.

They feel like they have other people that help them with solutions.

And from the student side, because you have all those voices inputting, their level of education is improving, because everyone is doing the best that they can, or everyone is contributing for their education.

- And you talk about teacher retention, right, and we have- - Well staff.

It's not only teachers.

- Right.

There's so many layers.

- It's staff retention as well.

- Yeah.

And we're seeing a shortage in a lot of different areas when it comes to our schools.

How do you see this collaboration pin-pointing that as one of the areas that it really needs to focus on, and staff retention, and just getting more teachers, educational support staff in the classroom and in our schools that we need.

- Okay.

Part of the reason staff retention goes, is low, is because educators don't feel valued.

Right?

- Yeah.

- They feel like their voices are not being heard.

So this brings them into the problem solving process.

It's not someone is dictating them, and telling them what to do.

Because with the collaboration, everyone has a equal voice.

Everyone has equal power.

So it's not a hierarchy.

So if I'm in a school building and, I have people who think they have power over me, then I might not feel comfortable to stay.

- Right.

- But if I'm there, and I know I have equal power, like my power is the same as the superintendent, the same as the principal, I'm a custodian, like I know we have that equal power, and I know my voice is being heard.

So that, and it's not only those people, it's everyone's that's a part of it.

So that helps.

- Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

So tell me too about your background, and kind of what led you to this new role.

You were an educator 25 years, ESL in New Brunswick shool district.

You've traveled the world, you've seen education in a different light in places like West Africa, Haiti.

How has all of that really shaped who you are today, the educator, the, and this this new position for you?

- Well, the Peace Corps, I was a Peace Corps volunteer.

I can go on forever for that, but I won't.

But I will say, when I first became a Peace Corps volunteer, I was, I don't wanna say a typical American, I didn't really realize the value of education, until I lived in other countries where education wasn't free.

Like it wasn't, you're right.

And that- - Especially for women in a lot of places, girls, little girls.

- For any, yeah.

So it really showed me how important, like I say that, in some of these places, education is a luxury, and for here we take it for granted.

And so that is what made me wanna go into education.

Because it's so, it's so, I don't know what to say other than "It's so."

Because without education, and I don't even wanna get into the politics of how people are trying to take education away.

- Yes.

Yeah.

(laughs) - So education is the number one key.

Because without education, you have nothing.

That is the only thing someone can take away from you.

They could take away your money, they could take your this, they could, but they can never take your education.

And with your education, the sky's the limit.

And I will briefly talk about how I got into labor management.

So that brought me to ESL, because I had to learn different languages when I went to other countries.

And I realized how important it was to know the language of your country.

So that is why I taught ESL.

The reason I got into labor management collaboration, and it's even crazy that I'm even sitting here telling you this story, because one thing I'll back-track a little bit was labor management collaboration is not a us against them thing, it's a we thing.

- Yeah.

- And so- - We need a lot more we things in our country.

- Exactly.

It's not the administration, it's a we.

And we are here for the students.

So I was the biggest us against them person, until I went to a conference, and we talked about the staff retention, and previous student grades, and interacting with different people that were already in the collaboration.

And seeing that at the end of the conference, all of New Brunswick was sitting shoulder to shoulder in a circle.

Because when we first went to that conference, the administrators was at one table, we were at the other table.

- Okay.

Yeah.

- We didn't even talk to each other.

- Just the way people were sitting, and being presented- - We weren't talking.

- Shifted and changed.

- Exactly.

But once we attended, and we saw how, we sat together and we said, "We're gonna make this work."

And it's like night and day.

Because, I will use this.

When I was association president, before labor management, you would go into a meeting with administration, and you're just tense.

You're just...

But after it, because you have that common language, you have that common goal, you have that shared purpose, you shared decision making, joint problem solving, there's no more tension, because you know you're going in there to achieve something, to get something done.

You have your perspective, I have my perspective, they have their perspective.

Let's put it all together, and let's get it done.

As opposed to, "This is my way, this is your way."

We're not gonna see each other.

- And making sure that that's reflected in the leadership as well.

Yeah.

It is a we, but the leadership presenting that in that way to make sure that everybody does feel like they can be heard, they can- - Exactly.

- Voice their concerns, their opinions, their ideas.

- And you have to make it safe.

It has to make it safe, psychologically safe.

Because a lot of people are nervous about expressing their feelings.

So it- - Especially in today's educational climate.

- And it takes a while.

It takes a while to build trust.

I saw a study that show it takes seven acts of you saying you're gonna do something and you do it.

- Yeah.

- Before you even begin to trust.

And that's the biggest thing with Labor Management Collaboration, because we're so used to "my way, your way," it takes a while to build that trust.

But once you build that trust it, it's just phenomenal.

And it, the thing is it doesn't happen overnight.

- Yeah.

It's part of this whole plan that's, that you're helping to make sure it gets done, gets done right.

Thank you so much for telling us a little bit about what you're doing, to make sure that our teachers, our educators, our staff in all of our public schools, as well as the children, the most important part, - Thank you.

- Are being taken care of.

And we're doing the best that we can as a- - Thank you.

- As a we.

(laughing) - It's a we thing.

- It's a we thing.

- It's a we thing.

- I like that.

- Yes.

Yes.

Definitely.

- Thank you so much, LeShaun.

- Thank you so much for having me, Jacqui.

I appreciate it.

- Thank you.

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

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