Interview with Dr. Scott Wyatt, SBCSS Area Director - Part 01 of 03

First in a three part series with Dr. Scott Wyatt, Area Director for East Valley Student Services, SBCSS

Transcript

Interview with Dr.Scott Wyatt part 1 of 3

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

education, program, kids, wyatt, credential, juvenile hall, school, board member, access, master, graduated, redlands, community, talk, uniforms, students, high school, home, called, learned

SPEAKERS

Scott, Don

Don  00:04

Hello, and welcome to our Children Deserve SuccesP podcast. My name is Don English. And I bring to you today it is my distinct pleasure. Dr. Scott Wyatt. Dr. Wyatt, how are you this morning?

Scott  00:17

I am fantastic. Mr. English, how about yourself?

Don  00:20

I'm doing really well. You know, I'm loving this actual visual that I'm seeing. I'm upstairs in the Taj Mahal where Dr. Wyatt resides. And we see a wonderful view outside. And so it just brightens our day. But I'm gonna jump right into this podcast. So Dr. Wyatt, if you could, please let our audience know your educational background?

Scott  00:40

All right, Mr. English, great question. And thank you for the opportunity, first of all to be here and with your program Children Deserve Success. I know the amazing work that you guys do. So it's, I'm just fortunate to be a part of it and be a part of your team. As for my educational background, while this, you know, goes all the way back to high school, elementary school, I grew up in Fontana, California, where I graduated in 1987. Absolutely amazing public experience for my education. You know, it was a one high school town at the time. So there was a lot of pride in our town and, and our city and our schools. So, you know, that was something that I think has been a real strong foundation and platform for myself, not just for education, but my work ethic. You know, we were called the steel mill town, we at Kaiser steel there. So, you know, we're blue collar town. And we were in like an indoctrination process from about four or five years old, to different athletic programs in our city, specifically football, but about working hard, playing hard and working as a team. So that's kind of a mantra I've kept with me my entire life my entire career. So I moved on from there really wasn't 100% sure what I was going to do thought about going into medical field. So I went over to RCC Riverside Community College, wasn't my best experience, because I wasn't disciplined yet. So dang near flunked out of college my first year. And I said, this isn't for me. So I'm gonna work construction. So I worked construction for a couple years while I was going to school. And I found out that construction isn't that consistent either I can even go back to school. So I went to Chaffey Community College after that. And I thought about being an x ray tech, X ray technician, because it's about a two to three year program. And I didn't know if I was cut out for long term education. And so spent a few years there. And I learned well, you know, I can't do this. And so now we're talking about four years now to high school took me about two and a half years to get my credits to transfer to Cal State San Bernardino. So now we're looking at about five years out of high school. And I transferred to Cal State San Bernardino and I had made a decision that I wanted to be a criminal justice major. And so I either wanted to work in law enforcement or education. So it's like, Oh, how's criminal justice go with education, well, really doesn't but I new as one of the things that one of those two fields I wanted to work in. So I graduated in 1994, with my BA in criminal justice, so seven years later. And I was very fortunate to have a friend who was a neighbor that had asked me if I ever wanted to teach and I said yeah, I've thought about teaching, you know, and just by chance, and I'll be honest, by miracle of God, that this guy asked, Would you like to try to teach in juvenile hall? As a juvenile hall, you know, that was you know, about doing all two. I definitely didn't know that school in juvenile hall. So he told me when you when you graduate, take your CBEST right now and you could soak for me. So I took my CBEST, which is, you know, he tends to be a substitute teacher, my senior year in college, I graduated, and I called him up. I said, Hey, I got my degree, and I got my CBEST. So I'd like to serve. So he put me right to work. First job I ever did was in what was called an RFP program. It was more about horticulture ROP program. And so I worked with landscaping, horticulture and building skills and actually fell in love the job. I said, Man, this is where I want to be. So I went on with my education to get my multiple subject teaching credential, so I could actually become teacher there. So I did that. adventually, got hired full time in 1998. With County San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and started a community school and worked in Victorville Community School in Apple Valley Community School, as kind of like the fireman I was putting out fires up in the Desert Mountain region. Then I finally got the chance to inspect juvenile hall. So I got back juvenile hall, I found out there's really a need for our students with disabilities in juvenile hall because so many of them came in with disabilities, learning gaps, diminished skills, you name it. And so I said, I need to go back get my special ed credential. So I went back to work on my own special ed credential, mild, moderate credential. So I can better serve those kids in that those particular kids in the facility and actually is one of our first prototypes for dual credential teacher in our juvenile court school program, and eventually our community school program Alt Ed. So I did that and then from there, start working on a master's in Education Technology. I was doing that and I didn't quite finish my master's in ETech but I did get a graduate certificate in it because I needed to finish

05:09

my master's project and I ended up having an opportunity to get promoted. So you know, through my work at juvenile hall as a teacher, I became the lead teacher there which is like a vice principal then opted for principal came up and had talked to me about that, so I had to do immediate shift in my education, so I had to leave the tech program enrolled at University of Redlands for my Education Administration Credential, which once accepted that program gave me the opportunity to become principal. So complete that program became principal and really did enjoy my experience at University of Redlands so I went get my Master's in Education Administration there. So I transitioned my credential into my masters which is only about three more four more classes. So get my masters really enjoyed that so they started doctorate program over at University of Redlands and so at that point, I was I was faced with a really hard decision, you know whether to go to USC because I had folks that wanted me to go to USC, I had folks I wanted to go to Pepperdine. I want folks to go to Laverne. But University of Redlands is like a home to me and the way they treated me there. You know, they knew me by name and made you feel like family made my learning experience a very positive learning experience. Plus, it was an educational, social, educational, social justice and leadership. So we're looking at equity issues. That's what the whole program is designed for. It's to create greater access of equity for all students, pretty much all over the place. So I entered the doctorate program, I completed that in 2010. Obviously moved on to my career in become my Area Director of Student Services, which I am right now was ventually. Also, like the San Bernardino City Unified School District School Board, something I didn't ever imagine doing. But I had some colleagues talk me into doing it. And it was a privilege and definitely an honor. That's where I'm at right now in my career as a school board, Vice President San Bernardino City Unified School District School and also continuing as the Area Director of Student Services for SAn Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. And then, you know, in the last couple of years as a new school board member, I went to get my education in Boardmanship, Brown Act, and then also a master's in governance all through CSBA. So I've done a couple ACSA of programs, people services, school business management, and I'm currently enrolled in the human resources and personnel administrator program. And that's where I'm at.

Don  07:31

Wow, Dr. Wyatt that is quite a career thus far. And you still have quite a ways to go. 

Scott  07:35

Yes, sir. 

Don  07:36

All right. So with that, let's move on to talk a little bit about your educational philosophy.

Scott  07:44

Okay, well, you know, I think a lot of people throw terms around kind of freely, you know, we've talked about transformational leadership, that's been a term that's been around a long time, actually. And it was the basis for my master's program. And in my doctorate program, we just talked back in the day, you know, what does that mean to transform education? Well, back then it really meant to create greater access for marginalized student populations. And we could go into that in tremendous detail. But really, it was all about access, right access, making sure that every student regardless of their color, race, disability, gender, country of origin, had the same access to a quality education that, you know, maybe a student who was considered privileged would have, you know, and so that's kind of the whole, you know, idea behind it. But as time has moved on, and we look at transformational education ship, that level of access, and opportunity has really grown. I think COVID-19 really taught us a lot, right. Just because we provided technology to kids maybe say in the classroom, didn't really mean that they had that access at home. So we really had to transform how kids were educated and learned at home. So actually, through the pandemic, we created, you know, the one to one smart device ratio for all our kids, both in county schools and in city schools, as well as giving them WiFi access, because a lot of our kids who were marginalized and low socioeconomic status, didn't have those things and have a smart device that didn't have Wi Fi at home. So when they weren't at home, you know, they had to depend on maybe going somewhere that might be had WiFi, maybe going to a school library, staying after school, wherever that may be. But now they have the same access that a student that maybe was privileged to add smart devices at home and WiFi in their home. They have that now, too. So that was a big piece in regards to talk about transformational education and how we educate kids. I think all of us, all of us in education have really transformed how we have learned to teach kids as well. So it's been a learning curve for us. We're getting pretty darn good at it. But like you said, we can always get better. What we're doing right now as a part of technology podcast. As you know, I know you do a lot with technology on Mr. English you utilize an NEPRIS, you utilize, you know, web based conferences and summits and trainings all up and down the state, as well as just meetings throughout the county that we participate in. So the bar has been raised tremendously in regards to education, not just for our students, but ourselves as professionals and our staff. And I like to think that, you know, I've always been at the forefront of that. But at the same time, I'm always learning about it, and work with folks just like you, as well as other professionals in our field. And putting together think tanks really, really challenges us to think outside the box. There are jobs out there right now that kids will have in five to 10 years we didn't know about. So how do we even educate them for the unknown? So we got to really incorporate our youth, as well as our local corporations and businesses. What is the job sector look like in the future? And how do we prepare our kids for that?

Don  10:59

Doctor Wyatt it is obvious that you're a champion for all kids, for all students? So my lead, my next question kind of leans to that. As an elected official, how do you see your role as it relates to the community? 

Scott  11:12

Wow,Mr. English? Great question again. And at first, I really didn't know what my role was, I didn't really know the influence of board members could have on a community and on the district, I knew what I wanted to do. And that was to help kids and help our community make the city a better place to live at and grow up in. But wow, did I find out that our board members, our school board has tremendous influence over how a district is ran, you know, how our policies and procedures are implemented, you know, how our budget is, you know, allocated throughout our programs and how we prioritize expenses. So all those things were a huge learning experience for me, but also very positive learning experience. I was telling people about my first board meeting, meeting I went to as a board member and some actions we took that night, which were absolutely phenomenal. And this is really what painted the picture in taught me what I could do as a board member for this city in this district, and the kids and families within this district as well as the staff and that was, we had a parent come in fact, Mama Daniels, I believe was who came in Jayden Daniels, his mom, who's now playing a quarterback for ASU. She brought in a tattered, worn out uniform. She said, This is what our kids have to wear when they go out and play against other schools. We already have a city that struggling we already have a city that's poor. So now our kids feel like that when they go and play. And I said, Wow, that's crazy, you know, really does make sense, you know? So myself and another one of my colleagues, Mr. Danny Tillman, you know, had started discussion about, well, what will it take to give our sports programs, boys and girls middle school to high school, to give them brand new uniforms, and then allocate a half million dollars every year to upkeep those uniforms. So we talked to our CBO at the time, which was Miss Janie Christakis and said, you know, that's gonna cost about a million dollars to make happen right now. So we asked our board for action, our board agreed, and we approved it right on spot $1 million to get our sports programs, new uniforms. That same evening, same evening. I brought up a concerned that we had about 1500- 1800 kids on a waiting list for an after school program called CAPS. You know, it's a safe place for our kids to go for tutoring for different types of clubs, different kinds of programs, different types of activities, as well as food in the afternoon. So as a safe haven for kids who go to another place that gets them off the streets Another place that allows maybe working parents or single parents to have their kids somewhere safe that they can, you know, feel okay with. But yet we still have to make kids on a waiting list. I said that we can't have that. Every kid has to have access to the after school program. There is no excuse for waiting lists. So once again, you know, we had a discussion with our board on once again, I asked our CBO Miss Janie Christakis, how much would that cost approximately 1.5 million. Talk to the board had a discussion, as for action made it happen. So my very first night as a board member, $2.5 million that didn't exist in programs immediately was now in programs and created significant change. That's when I learned that as a board member, yes, I have a major impact on this community and a major responsibility to ensure that every one of our kids has equal access again, and is treated equitably across the board.

Don  14:38

Wow, that's fantastic. Your school sponsored programs are really a catalyst for not only students remaining, not running afoul of the law, but actual having a safe place to be and then learning some things outside of the educational realm that we know. You've reached the end of another episode of the Children Deserve Success Podcast. Our interview with Dr. Scott Wyatt continues next time in part two of this very special three part interview. As always, we hope you stay well and continue to transform lives through education.