Conversation #85 was my first in-person #100DistrictConversations interview at the recent National Conference on Education from AASA hosted in Nashville. I loved getting to sit down for an extended chat with Superintendent Chuck Perry from Broken Arrow Public Schools in Oklahoma. Chuck is a hometown hero who grew up and spent his own K-12 experience at the schools he’s now leading. It's a full-circle moment that he does not take for granted.

"Returning home to lead the district that shaped multiple generations of my family feels different. My parents, siblings, wife, children and I all attended Broken Arrow schools. When I started teaching here in 1992, I never imagined I would serve as superintendent. In fact, I left education for a brief time and quickly realized nothing fills my cup like positively impacting students. I came back to education and worked for a neighboring district in the area before returning home to Broken Arrow in 2013.

Now in my 4th year as superintendent, I have learned that change management works best when you meet people where they are, not where you think they should be. I focus on sticking to evidence-based practices and building a culture where teachers feel heard. When you take care of your staff, students win. With an 85% retention, we're doing something right in BAPS.

Leading 31 sites with 2,600 employees means I can't reach everyone directly. Since Day 1, I have visited each site regularly for listening sessions without an agenda, just asking questions like, ‘What’s working? What’s not?’ Sometimes it's fixing a key fob entrance so staff don't walk the long way around. Sometimes it’s sharing an honest answer for why we can’t solve something right now. Those small, trust-building moments matter.

Student engagement drives our professional learning focus. We have invested heavily in Kagan cooperative learning strategies with a goal of 100% staff implementation. Every student has a responsibility in the learning process, and as educators we focus on eliminating their ability to ‘hide.’ Once, during a keynote address I heard a speaker say, ‘One thing we should ban in education is hand raising.’ When done right, learning experiences draw everyone in and don’t have ways for students to opt out.

We also focus on meeting staff learning needs, especially for the sizable percentage of individuals making a career shift into education. One of our focus areas with professional development is supporting the 150+ emergency certified teachers with robust instructional coaching and training in classroom management practices. At the same time, our Director of Instructional Technology Brandon Chitty is passionate about disrupting compliance-based learning habits, particularly in hybrid and blended models. We are developing AI literacy courses for students, ensuring they understand both the promise and potential for bias.

With 600+ students in our Virtual Academy and innovative pathways like our dual-enrollment program – 70 graduates earned both HS diplomas and associate degrees last year – we are constantly evolving how we deliver education. We are working to build systems that work for everyone. From our 3,600-student traditional high school, to our new construction program, to our project-based Vanguard Academy, the key is consistency and authentic leadership that listens first."