James Faulk: This is "Headline Humboldt."

I am James Faulk.

Thanks for joining us.

As our body politic becomes increasingly divided, and both ends of the political spectrum compete for the hearts and minds of youth across the country, more and more, our schools are becoming ground zero for America's culture wars.

COVID-19 has only exacerbated this trend, as has the tragic fact that the gun-control debate centers around school shootings and the lives of American students.

These kids, including those from Humboldt County, are now faced with a supremely sophisticated media environment that preys on their appetites and prejudices and seeks to defang their critical faculties.

In this environment, how can local educators work best to prepare our students for the future and enable them to see through all the glittering digitalia to perceive the real world and its real problems.

We sat down with Michael Davis-Hughes, superintendent of the Humboldt County Office of Education to talk about these issues, his passion for long-haul bicycle races, and how the two of these may be more similar than even he realized.

James: So let's first start with your background and how you've ended up in education and what your arc has been in that field since you, you know, graduated from college.

Michael Davis-Hughes: Sure, let's start with my background.

So, I am a Welshman.

I grew up in Wales and came over to the United States as an exchange student in the spring of 1989, over to Long Beach State, and decided to stay in the United States after finishing my degree back in Wales and did my teaching credential and got into education.

So I, first of all, started as a teacher.

I was a teacher for nine years in a couple of different places, actually three different places in Lake County.

I was a teacher down there for six years.

I met my wife down there and we moved to El Salvador and we were both teachers there for two years.

Returned to Humboldt County; my wife is a Humboldt County native.

Spent a year teaching Fortuna while I was doing my administrative credential and then for the past 19 years I've been in--an administrator within Humboldt County.

So I was an assistant principal at McKinleyville Middle School for three years.

I was a principal at Morris Elementary School in McKinleyville for seven years, before becoming superintendent at McKinleyville Union School District and then I moved over to Eureka City Schools as the assistant superintendent of educational services.

I was there for six-and-a-half years before having this opportunity to be appointed as the superintendent of schools for Humboldt County.

James: Your predecessor retired, is that right, or-- Michael: My predecessor took a job with the CCEE, which is the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, so.

James: Okay, excellent, now to back up into that story a little bit, what made you decide you wanted to stay in the United States or come back?

What led you to that?

Michael: Just an amazing experience, James, when I was an exchange student.

You know, I grew up in this very small farming community in Northwest Wales and the opportunities within the United States were such that, I mean, it excited me.

I'm an enthusiast of the Great Outdoors and, obviously, in California there's just so much opportunity for, you know, going on adventures.

Really, the people also drew me and maybe that's what made me stay more than anything else is just the friendships that I forged, the hospitality, the kindness that the people showed me here.

And it was just somewhere I wanted to explore.

And I really didn't think I was gonna--become a citizen of the United States, which I eventually became, but you know, every year that bond with this country and its people grew stronger.

James: Yeah, excellent.

Now, so, can you describe for me, I mean, you're in education, but you went to school in Wales until you ended up in an exchange program here.

What's the difference--I mean, I imagine you were probably a little bit younger in university.

Isn't that how it works or can you describe for me how it works over there?

Michael: Yeah sure, I graduated high school, went straight into university and-- at 18 years old.

So, you know, a three-year course.

That's mostly what people have is a pretty prescribed three-year course.

You have to declare your major much earlier than you do in the United States.

So in the United States, usually the first two years of college is around general education, and then you really determine, you know, the path that you wanna take as far as a major.

Whereas, in the UK you have to make that determination, really, at 16 years old because the subjects that you take for the last two years of high school, really, are prerequisites for going into the university and then you stick to that, whatever course that you have.

And if you change course, then you've got to kind of start over in many ways.

So, yeah, it--you do have to declare earlier in the UK.

James: Yeah, any thoughts on which system seems better at this point since you've experienced both?

Michael: Yeah, that's a good question.

I believe that I like the opportunity to explore different avenues.

I knew some friends back in Wales that, you know, they got into their first year of university and realized this is not for them and they really didn't have anything to fall back on.

They hadn't been exposed or experienced other tracks and I think that that, you know, put 'em at a disadvantage.

And I think that here, that opportunity is there to explore first, make a decision later.

James: Yeah, now you were, before we started recording, we were talking about some of your passions.

You mentioned the Race Across America.

I don't know if I got that name right.

Michael: That's correct.

James: But sort of, extreme sports, long-distance endurance activities.

What--first of all, describe for me what it is that you like to do in that regard and why.

Michael: Yes, great question, and yeah, this is something that I discovered, really, later in life so in 2016 on a whim, or as a challenge to myself, I entered a 24-hour bicycle race.

I've always enjoyed extreme cycling or extreme adventure and this was an opportunity to really test myself.

Did pretty well in it and thought, "Ah, I wonder what the next step is on this?"

And it was a qualifier for the Race Across America which is a 3000-mile bicycle race from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland, and so I decided to go all in and, you know, take that opportunity.

I think that the real reason-- I've really questioned myself here and others have questioned my sanity, of course, for taking on something like this.

But I think that the reason is that we live in a life of relative comfort here or I certainly have lived a relatively comfortable life and I think that, you know, innately, there is the need for challenging ourself--ourselves and, for me, that challenge has come through ultra-endurance events.

James: Yeah.

Do you think that, you know, the lessons that you learn in this realms help--apply themselves to the work that you do every day and the administration here?

Michael: Yeah, absolutely.

What I learned most of all through this experience of both preparing for and engaging in an ultra-endurance race like the Race Across America, is the importance of relationships and how valuable those are.

And no matter what you apply yourself to, is that you cannot do, you know, things that are difficult alone.

And that's certainly the same thing in education, you know.

It takes a village, so to speak, to be able to support the students that we have here in Humboldt County and to support the staff, and realizing the importance of those relationships and brokering those relationships to be able to achieve something significant.

And that's certainly something I have applied in my own professional experiences.

James: Yeah, so let's dissect, you know, the organizational structure a little bit.

Some people are confused about what the Office of Education does when there are School Districts.

Can you sort of relate for people how, you know, the various functions overlap and don't end up redundant?

Michael: Yeah, certainly.

There isn't a great deal of overlap, actually.

And what you've just mentioned is there is a misunderstanding about the role of the County Office of Education, i.e., I think that people think that the County Office somehow has authority over all the Districts and in this case it's 31 different School Districts in Humboldt County.

And really, we don't have authority; we do have some oversight.

And that oversight really comes from fiscal oversight so we have to make sure that the Districts remain solvent and that their budgets balance.

And then we also provide some oversight in terms of the-- some of the plans, some of the state plans that they have to submit, like the Local Control and Accountability Plan, or LCAP.

So, really, the fiscal oversight piece is in terms of District impact; but, however, our relationships with the Districts are very close.

We provide a great deal of, well, helping them with building capacity around staff training, professional development.

We also run our own programs.

So we're responsible as a County Office for county-run programs that are separate from those 31 School Districts.

James: What's an example of that?

Michael: We have a Court and Community School, for example.

We also offer itinerant preschools.

We have therapeutic learning centers that are offered throughout the county, so you know, a number of different programs.

And then we have our Glen Paul programs which provide services for students with disabilities.

James: You know, one of the major focuses that it seems like that I've experienced and I've done some work in this area, is childhood trauma, ACES, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and how that informs later behavior, whether it be, you know, addiction or antisocial behavior or whatever else, and there seems to be a real effort to sort of recognize those problems early and address them so that kids can go on to have a more successful career and school and in life.

What kinds of programs does the Humboldt County Office of Education support in that realm?

Michael: Yeah, yeah, so that's a great question.

I think the support comes both in direct support from the Humboldt County of Office of Education in terms of addressing student needs around socioemotional learning, trauma-informed practices, mental health care.

So we have specialists in that area, school psychologists, counselors, who we can deploy to assist with direct support to students, but then also our responsibility and I make mention of this earlier is to build capacity of the staff.

So how could we ensure that our frontline teachers and support staff, our classified staff, have the knowledge and the skills to be able to address student needs firsthand in this area.

And of course, the issues around trauma, childhood trauma, and socioemotional needs have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and we're certainly seeing the results of that now.

And it's an absolute challenge and one that, you know, we recognize as being something that we need to focus on, as a County Office, to support our schools, Districts, and our students.

James: Now, a question from-- on the mechanics a little bit.

Is it something like the County Office of Education monitors, say, performance of the various schools and figures out what kind of problems might be running through the whole community that it can help address globally?

Is that part of it or not?

Michael: Yeah, it is part of it, James.

And the way that we look at that, so we do look at data.

We're able to look at data for each of the School Districts and we look at data, everything from suspension rates to how students are performing in their English language arts, and math on their state tests to graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, you know, those kinds of metrics are things that we look at.

And then if there are common needs or common areas where we're falling short, then we can look at, you know, kind of economies of scale of offering something at the County Office level that can serve all the Districts who have that same need or are experiencing that same gap for students.

James: Yeah, let's talk about COVID.

I mean, you brought it up and, obviously, it's been a major issue.

I have four kids, three of which are in school.

And you know, what a year and a half it has been in terms of telelearning and keeping our kids on track.

But then, not wanting to put too much pressure on them because of all the stresses they are already under because of being, you know, at home all the time and not having much of an outlet.

So I guess, I mean, what would you say has been the most direct impact of the pandemic on children and, you know, the big question is, are we gonna recover?

People talk about this year as if it was a lost opportunity.

Kids did learn, though, and they are gonna take something from this that other generations of kids didn't have.

I mean, I firmly believe that it's possible within each generation for them to take their experiences and make it into something spectacular.

So, I mean, I think that there is going to be an advantage to it as well.

But what are the disadvantages, do you think, from taking that time off and, you know, all of it?

Michael: Yeah, certainly.

I think one of the biggest issues has been it's interrupted that community of learning that they've had within a school, for example.

And so, students have been out of school, you know, essentially for over a year and we're going, what, 19, 20 months now of the pandemic, is that it's that interrupted at the classroom level, that classroom community.

So we talked about that socioemotional learning and the importance, especially at a young age, of, really, understanding how to play fairly together, how to interact with other-- with one another in a healthy way.

So there's that aspect of it and that's certainly been an interruption.

Then also there's the academic, people have called it learning loss or interrupted learning or unfinished learning.

But we have data that, you know, supports the fact that many students, most students, have fallen back.

And for me, you know, something that troubles me is that it has also exacerbated some of the inequities that existed before COVID.

I'm talking specifically around kind of that opportunity gap that exists, especially with some of the different demographics that we have.

So we're talking about students who are living in poverty, for example.

What's been the impact of COVID for their learning?

Students who are English learners, students with disabilities, students who are foster and homeless youth.

So, really, having to focus on what's been the impact there and how do we bridge that gap that existed before that now has been exacerbated in many ways by this pandemic.

I mean, it's a huge responsibility but also, as you mentioned, it's a huge opportunity.

I firmly believe that, you know, obstacles such as this can help propel us to actually be stronger on the other side of it.

The challenge right now, James, is that it's very difficult to see the other side of the pandemic 'cause we're all operating in this whirlwind that is COVID-19 and it seems that every week we have, you know, new mandates or new requirements or new recommendations that come out.

And so our responsibility as a County Office, and me as a superintendent of schools, is to not only deal with the here and now of that pandemic, but also to help our educators see beyond the pandemic.

You know, what does it mean on the other side of it?

And you made mention is what are the long-term impacts, you know?

And is--are we going to be able to catch up?

And I think we are.

I'm--I am an optimist, also a realist, but I am an optimist.

I have to be, right?

We have to be if we're in education.

And so, on the other side of this I see that students can be stronger, more resilient, more flexible, and not only our students, but our educators as well.

And I think that they'll--those qualities, those skills, those attributes, will actually help students and our staff go further than they would have if the pandemic had not occurred.

But it's gonna take some strategic, thoughtful focused thinking and action to make that a reality, right?

We just cannot, you know, kind of wander in the wilderness.

We have to be very clear about what our intended outcomes are, be realistic about how long it's gonna take to get to those outcomes.

But we've got to set that path.

James: Is the approach basically that since they had this year where there was missing time and missing-- missed opportunity, to cram more of it into the next year?

I mean, that seems so simplistic, but how do you begin to address that, you know, the loss?

Michael: Yeah, indeed, so there are a number-- James: That's the big question, I guess, probably.

Michael: It is.

It is a good question.

One of the things that many schools are looking at right now and, in fact, there's been some state guidance and some state requirements around this, is expanding that school year.

So, looking at how can we extend the school year, not only in terms of number of days which right now is a minimum of 180 days, but many School Districts are looking at summer school programs, for example, or intercession programs during those breaks, where students can come to school and be able to focus on their academics as well as their socioemotional learning.

We also have extended-day opportunities for students and I'm talking about after school and before school.

So, really taking advantages of those opportunities and there are some funding sources that are coming in from both the federal government and also our state government for those kinds of programs.

And I think that that's where we're gonna need to be doubling down and providing intervention for students in order for them to, you know, essentially catch up or at least be further along than they would be without those interventions.

James: Yeah, and you mentioned staff and the impacts there as well.

I mean, obviously, it's been very difficult for a lot of teachers to, you know.

I mean, just watching some of my kids' teachers where they go from one Zoom meeting to another Zoom meeting and it's like back to back to back, and I know how much I don't like a Zoom meeting.

So I can imagine the emotional toll, I mean, that it takes on folks, especially if you're dealing with kids and their focus may wander if they're, you know, staring at a screen.

Lots of challenges there.

But there's also the fact that there's a teaching shortage.

So, I mean, does one compound the other?

How are you guys dealing with that overall strategic problem of there not being enough teachers or has that been addressed, I mean-- Michael: Yeah, well, it's certainly an issue, let's put that out there right away.

I mean, staffing shortages are something that our School Districts are dealing with continuously.

I was talking to a superintendent of a local District recently.

He had 42 classified employee vacancies for certificated vacancies and this was a medium-sized District within Humboldt County.

I mean, those are-- they're a direct impact, of course, of not being able to fill those positions in terms of, you know, student outcomes.

And so, how can we, as a County Office, be able to attract individuals to the teaching profession and to the field of education?

I'll give you a recent example.

Something that we did is the County Office offered a substitute-teacher training and we had well over 100 participants come in.

And we offered some incentives around that, so that we could have, you know, a workforce for substitute teachers because, of course, some of our teachers have had to take time off because of this pandemic and so how do you-- how do you bring someone else in the classroom?

The kids are there, you don't have a choice.

And it's been a really--you know, our principals and site-based administration has had to step in at times to be able to teach a class because there's simply not enough staff to be able to do that.

James: Yeah, you know, one of the other things that's happened and I think part of it is COVID, part of it is also just where our culture is at.

But there seems to be a much larger force of-- for politics to get into education these days.

I mean, there are a lot of issues where people are trying to interject their worldview into, you know, education curriculum or they seem to think that the other side is doing that so they react really strongly against that.

How can, you know, a small District where they have School Board meetings and if parents come in and they're all predominantly of one kind of political strain or another, how do you resist those elements?

And can you?

I mean, obviously, it's a democratic-- you're democratically elected, so maybe you're supposed to go along with those kinds of zeitgeists, but, I mean, what are your thoughts on that?

Michael: Yeah, gosh, that's a really--that's a deep question and, obviously, it has repercussions not only what's happening at the school site or the District level but just really, you know, reflective of what's going on in our community as a whole.

I can appreciate that non-educators have an interest in education.

And I think that's a vital part of any educational community.

However, we cannot use students as pawns to further a particular doctrine or a particular political agenda.

Our responsibility as educators is to make sure that we have students that graduate, that are prepared for a global society.

And that means that they not only understand the-- their community and what it means to be a successful citizen within their community, but also beyond the borders of their own community, i.e., in kind of that global society.

So it is teaching them, you know, what it means to have equity, what it means to be-- to have tolerance.

What it means to be accepting of other ways and other perspectives.

And it's, you know, it does trouble me that we have people on extremes, on both sides in terms of extremes, that come in and try to push a particular agenda or a particular viewpoint upon schools, upon educators, and upon our students.

And I think that our responsibility and my responsibility is to make sure that we have, you know, kind of that broad perspective of equity within our schools and, as I said at the beginning, prepare students for success in a global society and all that that entails.

James: Yeah, another facet, I guess, of that kind of problem, I mean, you know, I went to high school and we didn't have social media.

We had--we kind of had the Internet, but not really.

A little bit later than that.

I mean, I graduated in the mid '90s so we didn't have the Internet really.

We had, you know, Apple or Windows computers, just barely, Windows 95.

But that is a whole different universe for kids.

I mean, the levels that peer pressure can, you know, mold a young mind, it's like it's exponentially grown over the years and not all of that is healthy and not all of that is smart or intellectually consistent.

I mean, it's just-- it's all over the map.

And I think it causes a lot of anxiety for young girls and young boys, and I guess what I'm asking is how can a School District or the Humboldt County Office of Education help to make kids more resilient to the onslaughts of misinformation that they may be getting online?

I mean, how do we make them critical thinkers without giving them a college degree when they're, you know, 16?

I mean, what can we do to make them stronger in the face of that onslaught?

Michael: Right, right.

I think you speak to kind of a fundamental shift in education that's occurred, you know, perhaps over the last decade and the teacher no longer being kind of that imparter of knowledge, but rather being the facilitator in the classroom.

And so, it is around that kind of inquiry-based learning for students, which means that, you know, we're teaching 'em how to be critical thinkers.

And how--and kind of guiding them through and advising them in looking at information that comes to them in a myriad of different ways.

You talked about social media.

You know, students are bombarded with information and so how do you help students, how do you help guide them through that to make sure that what they're receiving is accurate information, has multiple perspectives, and then what do you do with that information?

You know, it's information overload, so how do you--how do you go through all of that to determine what information is important?

What's gonna help you be successful going forward, you know?

What--let's eliminate the garbage or let's put the garbage aside and let's focus on the things that are gonna help you be successful in college and career.

And I think that's the responsibility that we have in the classroom.

Then of course, the responsibility that we have to build capacity of our staff, our staffs around the county, to be able to do that in the classroom, to be able to help students in that way.

James: Yeah, I mean, now that you've actually sort of elucidated it for me here, basically, when I was in high school, they taught you how to get information.

Like, they told you, you can go to the library or you can, you know, all the different sources where you can get information.

Now, it's almost like judging the quality among the thousands of possible sources of which information is, you know, the good kind and how to weigh it for its quality.

That is a--it's a totally different way of operating in the world, and it's fascinating.

Michael: It is, and I would say that still, fundamentally, at the earlier grade levels, you know, we're teaching kids how to read, right?

And there are best practices around how to teach kids how to read.

You know, so it's--when I say teachers as facilitators, we also have to be very explicit and systematic about how we move students forward and some of that involves just, you know, helping them to learn to read, for example.

James: And then I guess, it really depends on the age of your kids, right?

I mean, like, I have a seven-year-old who's learning how to read and then I have two teenagers who are constantly on social media and dealing with all of the-- that maelstrom of things, so.

Michael: Yeah, I think the other part of it, James, as well is that, you know, you're talking about students, some of it good, some of it bad, in terms of the effect of social media on the emotional health of students.

You know, we hear about things like cyber bullying, for example, an increase in teen suicide because of their being bullied online or having a less than stellar self-view of themselves based on, you know, comments of others.

What's important in a school community is that you-- if you really build a respectful and trusting school community, students will feel comfortable to share that information with a trusting adult.

And we have trusting adults in the school.

And they can help students navigate that, you know?

So, that is the other piece that I think that we can help schools with is, you know, how do you build a trusting school community where those conversations can take place?

Where parents can turn to get advice and to help them through some of these difficulties because, you know, parenthood does not, it doesn't come with a manual.

You have to work through that.

And I think, as schools, we can be brokers of achieving, you know, kind of a more holistic service for our families, not just students in the classroom, but our families and how to navigate these difficult educational times that we have and these challenges that students are having in our society.

James: That's all the time we have for today, so I appreciate your answering our questions.

Michael: Yeah, my pleasure.

Any time.

James: Thank you so much.

James: That's all the time we have for tonight.

Thanks for joining us.

Stay tuned, stay informed.

Merry Christmas.

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