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Jeff Kubiak: Hello, everybody.

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This is Jeff Kubiak from K12, and welcome to the Better Learning Podcast.

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I am coming to you from Bellevue, Washington today, and I am so excited to have Dr. Heather Sanchez, the deputy superintendent of this amazing school district Welcome, Dr. Heather Sanchez

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Thank you.

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I’m very happy to be here with you this afternoon.

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Jeff Kubiak: Oh, we’re excited to have you with us.

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Maybe you could give the audience of the Better Learning Podcast, which is comprised of, there’s a lot of architects, designers, school leaders,
facilities, maintenance, all sorts of great people that listen to our, messages across the country, and give us a little bit of background about Dr.

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Sanchez.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Okay, I’m happy to do so.

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Again, my name is Dr. Heather Sanchez, deputy superintendent, Bellevue, Washington.

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Um, I was… Little bit of background on me, I have been a public school educator now for 26 years.

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Mm-hmm.

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So I’ve been at this game a while.

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I’m originally from New Mexico, so I’m completely on the other side of the country from where I was born and raised.

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A product of Albuquerque Public Schools, initially.

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Born in the eastern side of the state of New Mexico, and I started my career right on the US-Mexico border in a small district as a mid-high teacher at the time.

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So I started my career as a secondary teacher, so high school, middle school for several years, uh, language arts and social studies, humanities and that sort of thing in New Mexico.

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And then I spent 10 years in Colorado, and at that time I, you know, I got married along the way.

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I have three boys.

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Um, you know, and then I moved into being a literacy coach, and then leading a professional development department in Colorado, and then I became a school principal and so we moved here.

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We’ve been up in the great Pacific Northwest for 14 years now, and at the time I was a school principal, so I’ve been an elementary school
principal, and then I became a director of teaching and learning, choice innovation and learning programs in another adjacent district.

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And then I’ve been an executive director of schools, a chief of schools, a chief operating officer, and now the deputy superintendent.

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So, um, I’ve done a- almost every job there is in, in education.

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A little bit of everything.

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I love the work that I do.

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I am, I am myself a first-generation college attendee, first in my family, and my, uh, first generation to go to college.

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And I am sitting here with you today because there were some educators who saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself when I was younger.

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I went through Title I schools the whole way through, and so, you know, I’m a lifer in education.

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I believe in the power of education to transform lives, and I intentionally, a couple years ago, began shifting from, you know, strictly speaking the instructional side of the
house- And then as I moved into a chief of schools role, of course, there’s a lot of operational components that go along with that, HR, staffing, operations, those sort of things.

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And so a couple years ago, I transitioned from chief of schools into really operational leadership.

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So in my current role as the deputy superintendent, I, uh, oversee human resources, finance, business services, facilities, um, safety and security, athletics and
activities, nutrition services, transportation, the welcome center, enrollment, basically everything that makes the district run- except the instruction, right?

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So I think what’s been really, really cool is that I came from the instructional side of the house, and I’m now on the other side of the house, so to speak.

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And I think that has really been such a gift in the work that I do here in the district in terms of really connecting the learning experience of students to everything else that’s going on around them.

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You know, how they get to school, the space that they’re learning in, how that space is designed, the conditions for learning, and then of course, the money part of it, right?

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Um, bonds, levies, school finance, all of that.

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And so, you know, every day is a little bit different.

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Uh, I’ve been back in Bellevue for eight years now, and initially, a couple years as a principal, and then I took a field trip in another district and came back, so a combined 10 years in Bellevue now.

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Jeff Kubiak: That’s phenomenal.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

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Jeff Kubiak: Wow.

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You have, uh, many hats in your closet- … and you’re still active, actively are using all of them too.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yes.

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Uh, yeah, and depending on the day, and sometimes the minute- … it depends on which hat I need.

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Jeff Kubiak: Oh my goodness.

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That’s amazing.

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Let’s start off, from your re- leadership perspective, so as a district leader, how do you balance the immediate operational challenges while still protecting the long-term vision for what learning should look like from, you know, now to 20-plus years?

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

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I think that’s really an important question because anybody who works in education or even adjacent to education, there is a lot happening.

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I mean, there’s 20,000 students in this district that I’m serving in now, and on any given day, there’s all sorts of things happening, and a fair amount of it requires an immediate response.

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And so that can be anything from a crisis, a safety and security incident, to a health issue, to a community, uh, an issue with a community group.

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And so I think that one of the things that can happen is that you kind of get… You know, there’s sometimes kind of this high to solving problems, firefighting.

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You know, you’ve been a school, you’ve been a school leader.

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It’s very easy to sort of get stuck in the reactive space, and you can spend all your time there because there’s no, no shortage- … of things to react to, right, on any given day.

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And so I think what’s really important is, you know, there are day-to-day operational challenges.

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You know, you have… A couple years ago, we had a bomb cyclone, I mean, here in the Pacific Northwest.

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That’s surely an operational challenge.

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Mm-hmm.

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You have issues with the power going out somewhere.

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Um, you know, you have a shortage of bus drivers.

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You know, there’s a problem with a facility, a building floods, something like that.

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There’s always those things.

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And so those things usually happen at 4:00 in the morning or earlier, and so there’s this space where you just have to solve a problem.

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And so, and on that note, I think it’s really important to have really clear systems in place around who’s doing what.

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I work with a great team of leaders.

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They’re outstanding, and I can rely on them.

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So when something’s really going sideways in facilities, I know the executive director of facilities and operations is gonna be on it.

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We’re gonna have clear communication channels.

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We’re gonna have a clear communication plan around who, who is brought into the loop and how we’re communicating what’s happening, and that’s all really essential.

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And if you don’t have really clear structures around communications, organizational charts, and all of that, then you’re gonna miss things, and that’s not to say we don’t because we certainly do sometimes.

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But it’s essential that you have those in place.

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And I think what I would say, Jeff, is those are necessary but not sufficient because that keeps you where you are, right?

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That keeps you, uh, that keeps the system in the status quo and running.

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And so we want our systems to run, certainly.

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We want our school districts to run, but we want them to thrive.

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And in order for them to really thrive, you have to be able to do some vision casting, and that’s where the strategic priorities of a district come into play.

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And so, you know, sometimes when people talk about a, a strategic plan, they’re like, “Oh, it’s some boring, you know, piece of paper on a shelf or something somewhere.” Right.

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But that’s not the intent of it.

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And so as a district or a system is developing its vision, part of that must be what do we want the experience to be of our families and our students three years down the road, five years down the road, 10 years down the road?

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And that requires some really… a totally different kind of thought space, and that requires prioritizing to community engagement,
listening to the community, listening to students, listening to families, and incorporating that into every aspect of your strategic goals.

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So for example, in Bellevue, one of our key strategic priorities that came out of our most recent strategic plan was around human-centered systems.

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And so, you know, you don’t see a lot of strategic priorities around necessarily that sort of thing.

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Jeff Kubiak: Yeah.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: And so we have that as one of our key strategic priorities, human-centered systems, because when we went out and listened to our community as we designed our next set of priorities, there were members of our community
who said, “You know, Bellevue’s really high performing, has a great reputation, great academic programs, great facilities, beautiful campuses, wonderful location, and sometimes we feel like the relationship is a little bit transactional.”

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And so we now have that as a priority in terms of how do we really h- center humans in our systems and our processes, and that includes the
design of new buildings and the construction of new buildings, of which we have one that’s gonna open, our latest will open in the fall.

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Jeff Kubiak: Mm.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: And we have two others, like, on the docket, right, that we’re in the design phase with.

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That includes how we prioritize our strategic priorities around finance.

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How do we align our budget to what we think is most important?

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And then of course, the bread and butter of what we’re here for, are students able to read, and are they experiencing academic success?

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So what I would say is, you know, you have to really thoughtfully have systems to manage those day-to-day operational challenges because they’re
just not gonna go away, and you have to intentionally cultivate space for dreaming and vision casting, and that cannot be done in isolation.

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Jeff Kubiak: Yeah, exactly, and I love that you brought up the human-centered focus, especially in an AI-heavy world right now.

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Mm-hmm.

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AI- Mm … thought-heavy world.

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You just came out of a meeting about AI.

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About

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: AI, yes.

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Jeff Kubiak: And to still focus on the students, the community, and the actual people that are doing the work- Mm-hmm … is, is tremendous- Mm-hmm

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at this time still, so.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah, I mean, well, you can’t forget at the end of the day, I mean, we are all here serving students.

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Jeff Kubiak: Right.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: You know, if there were no students, none of us would have jobs.

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Correct.

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I mean, that’s just the bottom line.

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And, um, you know, and we have the ability to dramatically impact the trajectory of a student’s life in so many ways on a day-to-day basis.

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Jeff Kubiak: 100%.

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100%. So that, that kind of leads us, you had talked about these amazing facility pr- projects that you have.

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Mm-hmm.

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You have, uh, current capital and technology investments that touch everything from cloud or b- STEM learning, cybersecurity, safety, sustainability, and students’ experience.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

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Jeff Kubiak: So how do you help the community see the efforts as investments in learning rather than infrastructure upgrades.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

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Well, I mean, I’ve spoken about community engagement in establishing the strategic priorities, but then I think the other side of that is, uh, engaging the community
in the design process itself, and then communicating or telegraphing out the outcome of that, some of which is really, really visible, and some of which may not be.

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So there’s the storytelling part of that because, you know, if you don’t fill in the blanks for people, they, they will fill them in themselves.

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Um, but also there’s just so much to be proud of.

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And so there… I can give you a few examples of how we, um, are doing this, and but it’s just a, it is a constant challenge to make sure that we’re effectively
communicating and telling the story of the investment, the capital investment, the capital tech levy dollar investments that we have in our district.

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Those are really to, uh, a large… And, and we’re very grateful for those, but those are voter-approved investments, and so those are taxpayer dollars.

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Jeff Kubiak: Right.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: And so we wanna make sure that our community and our taxpayers see that investment upfront.

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That looks a few ways.

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So as an example, in terms of our building design, we were just talking the other day about some of our more recent builds that are aligned to our sustainability efforts, but also our fiscal efforts.

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So, for example, Puerta del Sol Elementary School in our district was the first, uh, net negative district, uh, school, excuse me, in the state of Washington.

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So that just means that the school produces more energy than it uses.

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It was the first in Washington state to do that, and we engaged the community with that design process as well as architects and i-i, you know, there was, uh, and students.

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And so then as a most recent example, we, uh, recently opened a welcome center using some of our investment dollars.

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So just next door, uh, from the building we’re sitting in right now, we have a welcome center.

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And so we also have a partnership for some of that space that we’ve cultivated with the City of Bellevue.

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So this is… You know, a lot of universities have a welcome center.

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Jeff Kubiak: Yes.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: School districts usually do not.

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Jeff Kubiak: Right.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: A-as a matter of fact, I think we may be the only one in Washington state at this point that has one.

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Okay.

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It was a relatively low investment prospect.

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We took a building next door that we had offices in that, you know, families would walk into this space, and it was kind of like a dark, long tunnel.

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Like a, like a, you know, almost near-death experience- … the dark, long tunnel.

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Families come in.

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There’s doors that are closed.

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It’s a dark, long hallway.

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They’re trying to get the student placement.

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They’re trying to enroll their student, and that’s the first experience they have So we completely changed that space with feedback from the community.

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I mean, comprehensive feedback from the community.

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We worked with an interior designer that donated her time, we worked with students, and we worked with families, and we designed a welcome center.

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So now when a family walks into that space, they can walk in there for anything they need and, and it’s a wide open, beautiful space, and they can enroll their child, they
can get information on afterschool care, childcare if they need school supplies, backpacks if they need connections to community resources, and it’s a very opening space.

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Multilingual access.

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The community can see that, and so we tell that story, uh, but it’s also very, very visible.

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Um, and we have a space, as I mentioned, with the City of Bellevue where we partner and they can, they can run city programs in this joint shared space.

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So it’s partnering with the local community.

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And it wasn’t a particularly high fiscal note.

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It was just thinking about the experience of our families when they walk in the door and what that feels like for them, and wanting it to feel welcoming, right?

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Um, just one other recent ex- example is w- our school that is gonna open the soonest would be our Big Picture campus-

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Jeff Kubiak: Mm

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: which is opening in the fall, this upcoming fall of 2026, and that is one of our choice schools, and it’s, uh, part of the Big Picture instructional
model So as we went through the design of that particular building, we took into account the learning model itself, and the architects took that into m- into consideration.

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We got feedback from the community, and, uh, the students at that school interned, and they need to have collaborative pods.

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So the design of the school is intentionally designed to support their time to work with mentors and in their internships and in pods.

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So the design looks different than some of our other schools, as well as the physical placement, very close to Metro so that the kids can hop on the bus if they need to and go to their internship.

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Those are just a few examples.

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Uh, on the technology side, we are a one-to-one district.

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Mm-hmm.

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And that comes through our l- our technology dollars as well, and, uh, ensuring that families see that the tools are being used responsibly to augment learning.

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And, and then we’re taking community feedback.

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You know, currently right now, there’s a tremendous amount of community feedback around the use of AI, technology period, screens, screen usage, particularly for younger students.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so we’re getting a lot of community feedback around that.

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So we are launching, um, we’re launching a design team to get some feedback around that, and it’s great that we have the technology, but should we really be using it as much as we are maybe at the younger grades?

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Jeff Kubiak: Right.

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: So it’s, it’s helping the community see visibly what those investments are, but how the design of them is responsive to the community itself that is critical.

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Otherwise, it doesn’t feel… It, it may feel like the dollars are just going somewhere and, the community might not really understand why, or they… Or worse, they might feel like it’s not, not responsive or meeting a need.

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So that’s the most important thing is what me- what need is it meeting for the community?

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Jeff Kubiak: Yes.

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Yes.

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I, I love the theme that you keep coming back to the word community, and it’s so important, especially, you know, throughout the West and Pacific Northwest, there’s a lot of districts that have school closures-

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm

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… Jeff Kubiak: because of declining enrollment.

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Mm-hmm.

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So how are they gonna bring the community in?

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And maybe walk the listeners through our, the Welcoming Center just a little bit more.

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So how many languages and are there, like, right where you go, go through the doors, what do you see as someone that’s coming in there the first time?

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Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

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I mean, before I do that, I will just say, ’cause you mentioned school consolidation and closure, our enrollment is currently stable, um, in, in the
Bellevue School District, and we are, um, one of few in Western Washington that at this time that it’s not rapidly declining for, but it was previously.

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So it has stabilized in the past few years-

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Jeff Kubiak: Got it

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… Dr. Heather Sánchez: and, uh, which we’re very happy about.

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But we did have the experience, and I, I had the experience to lead through not just COVID reopening, right?

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Which I was one of the key, you know, leaders for.

00:18:12.538 –> 00:18:20.588
But also, we had a year three years ago where we did close two schools because our enrollment was rapidly declining post-COVID.

00:18:20.588 –> 00:18:21.148
Mm-hmm.

00:18:21.148 –> 00:18:26.408
And I had a whopper of a year where, as a leader, I was supervising at the time all of the elementary schools.

00:18:27.088 –> 00:18:33.453
We closed two schools in one year and opened one, all in the same year and that was one for the books.

00:18:33.463 –> 00:18:33.493
Mm-hmm.

00:18:33.503 –> 00:18:43.563
And that was becau- and that was Puesta del Sol, which I mentioned was the one we opened, um, because there was a concrete strike and all sorts of other things coming out of COVID, and so it delayed the opening a little bit.

00:18:44.133 –> 00:18:50.413
So I had this whopper of a year where we, uh, had to close two schools because of declining enrollment and, and we opened one.

00:18:50.833 –> 00:19:00.463
And I learned a lot about community engagement through that process, and I will be the first to tell you it, it was imperfect at best, you know, in terms of our community engagement, and perhaps that’s why I keep coming back to it.

00:19:01.093 –> 00:19:15.233
‘Cause over my career, I’ve just had lots of opportunities to learn about the importance and the ways to go about best engaging the community, sometimes because I did it well, and sometimes because it could have been done a whole heck of a lot better, right?

00:19:15.233 –> 00:19:17.333
But all of it, all of it ways to think about it.

00:19:17.953 –> 00:19:24.973
So coming out of consolidation and closure and the opening of a new school, um, and the welcome center, so we’ll go back to that.

00:19:25.513 –> 00:19:28.123
It really… The inception of it was really small.

00:19:28.123 –> 00:19:29.593
It’s kind of an interesting story.

00:19:30.063 –> 00:19:43.673
I was walking over into the building next door one day, um, with our former deputy superintendent, and I was having a conversation at the time with, um, the individual who was supervising early learning, which happened to be in that building, right?

00:19:44.123 –> 00:19:48.133
And so, uh, she was saying to me, she’s currently one of our chiefs of schools.

00:19:48.733 –> 00:19:48.763
Mm-hmm.

00:19:48.813 –> 00:20:04.633
She said to me, “You know, when families walk over here and they’re trying to get to early learning or student placement, it’s kinda like dark, and there’s no-
there’s nobody there when they walk in. It’s just kinda like this long hallway, and they kinda wander around, and they’re not sure where they’re supposed to go.”

00:20:05.253 –> 00:20:24.363
And she said, “Wouldn’t it be fun if we just were able to put a desk or something here so that there were p- there was somebody when they came in, you know, ’cause we have a receptionist
over in this building, but in the other one we did not.” And that was the inception of it, that one small conversation, and I cannot take any credit from where it went from there.

00:20:24.643 –> 00:20:30.773
But then that one conversation led to other conversations and other conversations around, well, what, what might it look like?

00:20:31.363 –> 00:20:40.413
And then we had our former deputy superintendent w- and some other people that were taking their kids on college tours, and then they came back, and there was another conversation.

00:20:40.413 –> 00:20:54.063
“Well, wait a minute. These colleges all have these super fancy pants welcome centers, and what if we, what if, what if? What if we did something like that?” And, you know, fast-forward, that became the welcome center.

00:20:54.123 –> 00:21:06.503
The inception of it was a small idea of the experience that somebody has when they enter into a space and, and the feedback from our community as we worked on our strategic plan when they were telling us, “Hey, you guys do a great job.

00:21:06.533 –> 00:21:21.615
This is such a great… You know, it’s a good district, and we don’t necessarily always feel heard.” And so, you know, we took all of that and, and these, you know, kinda like breadcrumb conversations became the Welcome Center.

00:21:21.625 –> 00:21:21.645
Yeah.

00:21:21.655 –> 00:21:26.215
Then we worked with our facilities department, who are amazing, and said, “What if…”

00:21:26.615 –> 00:21:40.815
And they just have a tendency to go like, “Yeah, we can, we can figure this out. We can figure this out.” So I will tell you, our executive
director of facilities was not in the recent past over next door in the Welcome Center on a Saturday building IKEA cabinets- … himself.

00:21:40.845 –> 00:21:43.905
He’s over there put- Oh, that’s great putting them in.

00:21:43.905 –> 00:21:44.995
So that became the Welcome Center.

00:21:45.015 –> 00:21:51.315
And so fast-forward, now when you walk into that space, it’s open, it’s bright, it’s welcoming.

00:21:51.675 –> 00:21:52.805
There’s seating.

00:21:52.815 –> 00:21:54.795
There’s soft sofa seating.

00:21:55.085 –> 00:21:56.435
There’s low tables.

00:21:56.685 –> 00:22:00.275
There’s spaces that are separate quiet meeting spaces.

00:22:00.695 –> 00:22:14.965
Uh, and the staff over there, there is a, there is a desk where you walk in where they welcome families, but rather than families sitting down
to fill out forms, a Welcome Center staff member or volunteer will come to them with a laptop and say, “Where, where would you like to sit?”

00:22:15.265 –> 00:22:16.215
Sit with them.

00:22:16.435 –> 00:22:19.425
There’s a kitchen play area for, you know, children.

00:22:19.795 –> 00:22:21.045
There’s books.

00:22:21.375 –> 00:22:29.785
Uh, there’s lots of, you know, little nooks and crannies that you can tuck into where people will be most comfortable, and they just get what they need.

00:22:30.365 –> 00:22:36.845
And, uh, in terms of languages, we, you know, we use PocketTalks and language transition, translation devices.

00:22:36.845 –> 00:22:38.135
We have multilingual staff.

00:22:38.625 –> 00:22:48.125
But, you know, in our district on any given day, we have, you know, muscle mentals more or less, families speaking 127 languages coming from 121 countries.

00:22:48.125 –> 00:22:48.355
Yeah.

00:22:48.365 –> 00:23:03.315
This is incredibly diverse, and so we want families to know that, you know, we don’t have staff that speak 127 languages, but we have tools, technology-based tools, where we can sit with you and have real-time interpretation.

00:23:03.385 –> 00:23:03.415
Jeff Kubiak: Right.

00:23:08.467 –> 00:23:13.197
You know, when we work with schools at K12, it’s not just about furniture or design, it’s about impact.

00:23:13.477 –> 00:23:17.567
Our radically student-centered approach puts students at the center of every decision.

00:23:17.947 –> 00:23:25.977
From that first conversation to the final walkthrough, we’re focused on creating spaces that actually work for the kids, the teachers, and the community.

00:23:26.297 –> 00:23:30.037
So if you’re looking to do more than just check a box on your next project, let’s talk.

00:23:30.357 –> 00:23:40.147
Visit k12.com, that’s K-A-Y-T-W-E-L-V-E.com, and see how we’re helping schools transform learning one student at a time.

00:23:40.647 –> 00:23:44.667
Because at K12, it’s not just about projects and furniture, it’s about purpose.

00:23:49.722 –> 00:24:10.464
Dr. Heather Sánchez: So the latest iteration of the Welcome Center, just to, you know, bring this around, is we’re now adding a cafe And so the cafe will be opening next fall, and we’re doing
that in, in conjunction with one of our local restaurants, um, that supports, um, many, many parts of the community, but specifically individuals who may have developmental disabilities.

00:24:11.244 –> 00:24:19.144
And so the cafe will be connected to the Welcome Center, and it will… the kids working in that will be from our Transitions program.

00:24:19.994 –> 00:24:30.384
And so those are, those are, uh, young adults who may have developmental delays or disabilities, and they work in– we have a small kinda cafe downstairs now, but they will work in the new cafe.

00:24:30.774 –> 00:24:49.584
And so in addition to the seating and the open space, there will be a cafe d- And the design is down to making sure that the selection of
the coffee maker that we have in that cafe is easy to use and accessible for the people that may be working in it and not overly complicated.

00:24:49.594 –> 00:24:49.614
Yeah.

00:24:50.034 –> 00:25:00.034
And so we’re partnering with, um, one of our programs, but also our local community, the Belden Cafe, specifically is, is partnering with us around the launch of this.

00:25:00.034 –> 00:25:01.874
So that will launch this fall.

00:25:02.114 –> 00:25:03.194
Jeff Kubiak: That’s wonderful- Yeah … tour.

00:25:03.194 –> 00:25:03.684
Thank you.

00:25:03.944 –> 00:25:14.158
So- I love the power of a district and the leaders within that district that have the propensity to say yes when they’re offered the what if or can we, should we?

00:25:14.168 –> 00:25:14.758
Mm-hmm.

00:25:14.988 –> 00:25:15.228
Dr. Heather Sánchez: And

00:25:15.238 –> 00:25:18.188
Jeff Kubiak: the more that educators are challenged with saying yes-

00:25:18.268 –> 00:25:18.688
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm

00:25:18.708 –> 00:25:21.648
… Jeff Kubiak: I believe really empowers our community and students.

00:25:21.928 –> 00:25:22.368
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:25:22.588 –> 00:25:24.028
Yeah, I mean, I totally agree.

00:25:24.438 –> 00:25:30.128
You know, and that’s been a part of, you know, some of the, some of the coolest things that we’ve done operationally.

00:25:30.128 –> 00:25:31.478
The, the design of the buildings.

00:25:32.038 –> 00:25:37.798
I mean, right now we’re in the design phase for, uh, for rebuilding Interlake High School, right?

00:25:37.798 –> 00:25:40.558
And so it’s not gonna be a build from the studs up.

00:25:40.568 –> 00:25:40.598
Mm-hmm.

00:25:40.608 –> 00:25:41.928
You know, we’re renovating it.

00:25:41.938 –> 00:25:55.508
But just yesterday, or no, it was the day before yesterday, um, I received an email presentation, and there are a couple of high school students that go to Interlake High School that are interning, uh, as part of the design process.

00:25:56.048 –> 00:25:58.038
And so they put together a presentation.

00:25:58.038 –> 00:26:05.188
They’ve been working with the architects, they’ve been working with the facilities team, and they influenced the design of the new Interlake High School.

00:26:05.658 –> 00:26:18.158
Not only did they influence it, they have a, they have a slideshow to show where they, uh, impacted the architectural design and the layout for part of the new build, and it’s now in the design phase.

00:26:18.718 –> 00:26:30.158
And so those students, uh, we’re working on bringing them to an, um, upcoming board meeting where they can share how their voice directly contributed to the design of the new Interlake High School.

00:26:30.618 –> 00:26:36.298
And, you know, that comes from a willingness to, you know, there’s … A curiosity is so important.

00:26:36.748 –> 00:26:42.148
Curiosity as a characteristic is so important in life, period.

00:26:42.748 –> 00:26:53.196
Um, and e- especially in terms of how we’re serving students and the willingness to say, “Yeah, but,” or, “What if?” and you know, as they say, everything is figureoutable.

00:26:53.196 –> 00:26:53.816
Mm-hmm.

00:26:53.816 –> 00:27:02.319
And that really helps, stretch our thinking on the design of spaces, uh, in particular, but so many other things as well.

00:27:02.429 –> 00:27:02.709
Jeff Kubiak: Yeah.

00:27:02.709 –> 00:27:06.819
And I think another word that comes to mind is the word yet, right?

00:27:06.869 –> 00:27:07.239
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Right.

00:27:07.339 –> 00:27:16.073
Jeff Kubiak: And maybe sure, not yet, but Learning from our students is something, I think it’s a lost art-

00:27:16.853 –> 00:27:17.073
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm

00:27:17.073 –> 00:27:21.703
… Jeff Kubiak: and we need to get back to it because they teach us as much or more than we’ll ever-

00:27:21.913 –> 00:27:22.583
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Oh, for sure

00:27:22.593 –> 00:27:23.603
… Jeff Kubiak: be able to feed them, right?

00:27:23.603 –> 00:27:23.783
And- And

00:27:23.783 –> 00:27:24.963
Dr. Heather Sánchez: they’re usually pretty direct.

00:27:25.273 –> 00:27:25.653
Jeff Kubiak: Uh-huh.

00:27:25.653 –> 00:27:26.373
Yes, they are.

00:27:26.603 –> 00:27:29.953
Dr. Heather Sánchez: If you just ask, they’ll, they will level with you for the most part.

00:27:30.033 –> 00:27:30.503
Jeff Kubiak: Yeah.

00:27:30.743 –> 00:27:44.707
So getting back to some of your new, um, new builds or renovations you’re talking, what, what does meaningful transformation look like in the Bellevue District beyond just the construction or renovating the buildings?

00:27:44.853 –> 00:27:45.293
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:27:46.113 –> 00:28:11.169
So in terms of buildings in particular, what I would say is meaningful transformation is designing a space that is, that is thoughtfully designed to,
um, improve or, or augment or accelerate the experience of the people in the space And so that in of itself is not necessarily the nuts and bolts part.

00:28:11.979 –> 00:28:16.569
It is thoughtfully engaging in who is gonna be in this space.

00:28:17.079 –> 00:28:22.209
How, how old are the students gonna be that are in this space, the adults?

00:28:22.459 –> 00:28:24.689
Um, what sort of learning is happening here?

00:28:24.689 –> 00:28:27.449
What sort of learning do we want to be happening here?

00:28:28.039 –> 00:28:33.649
And how do we think about every detail designing around that?

00:28:34.309 –> 00:28:38.069
You know, it’s kinda like, like I would say, like, um, I like to host.

00:28:38.079 –> 00:28:45.819
You know, when our family gets together and we have holidays, I, I love to host because I like thinking about every little thing.

00:28:46.099 –> 00:28:50.219
From the time a guest walks into my house, what does it smell like?

00:28:50.219 –> 00:28:51.169
What does it look like?

00:28:51.179 –> 00:28:52.949
What’s the first thing they see?

00:28:53.259 –> 00:28:54.509
Where are they seated?

00:28:54.519 –> 00:28:56.539
Uh, what kind of seat are they in?

00:28:56.539 –> 00:28:57.789
What’s the lighting like?

00:28:57.799 –> 00:28:58.579
Is there a napkin?

00:28:58.579 –> 00:29:04.119
You know, all those thousand little details that impact the experience that somebody has.

00:29:04.289 –> 00:29:06.679
Students are the same and their schools are the same.

00:29:07.359 –> 00:29:10.559
You know, I heard… I don’t know if this is actually true or not, disclaimer.

00:29:10.859 –> 00:29:29.399
I heard, uh, a long time ago somewhere, uh, that when somebody’s thinking about buying a house, that they will, they will make a decision within the first seven seconds that they enter
the space about whether or not they’re gonna buy the house just based on kind of sort of the vibe and all that, everything they’re taking in, you know, as soon as they walk in the door.

00:29:29.839 –> 00:29:31.479
I do not know if that is true or not.

00:29:32.359 –> 00:29:35.299
But that stuck with me and there is some relevance to that.

00:29:35.729 –> 00:29:54.849
So as we think about designing spaces that are transformative, if you go about it with that mindset and you surround yourself with a team
that can offer multiple perspectives, that’s where you come up with really interesting ideas that are not necessarily cost exorbitant.

00:29:54.859 –> 00:29:59.229
In fact, we don’t want them to be because we must be good stewards of our taxpayer dollars.

00:29:59.239 –> 00:29:59.269
Yes.

00:29:59.609 –> 00:30:03.829
That’s an obligation that we have and I take that– I do not take that lightly.

00:30:04.609 –> 00:30:11.829
But when you’re designing a space and you’re thinking about it being really transformative, the question you have to ask is who are you asking?

00:30:12.509 –> 00:30:13.439
Who are you asking?

00:30:13.859 –> 00:30:40.369
Because a teacher is gonna give you a different set of feedback than the principal might, than a parent might, than a student might, than an architect might, than, um, you know, a construction, the, the, the superintendent on site might, you
know, at the, at the work site and all of those are really important and you have to be willing to, uh, do the legwork really to get that feedback and to take it into consideration and that’s where you really design transformative spaces.

00:30:40.779 –> 00:30:45.859
When you skip any of those… You know, everything, everything in life is about like putting in the work upfront.

00:30:46.319 –> 00:30:47.079
Everything in life.

00:30:47.079 –> 00:30:58.809
I, I’ve just learned over the years um, that, you know, putting in the work upfront and then, and then going from there is, is really an investment in the relationship, uh, that you’re building but also design.

00:30:59.175 –> 00:31:01.075
Jeff Kubiak: I want you to reflect for a moment.

00:31:01.085 –> 00:31:05.105
We’re gonna kind of take a fun sidewalk, and I want you to

00:31:07.445 –> 00:31:25.005
keep yourself as Dr. Heather Sanchez, but reflect back to a younger Heather Sanchez, pre-doctor, early educator, what is something you could look at and would like to have known to be able to tell her then?

00:31:25.505 –> 00:31:32.235
And then also something the young Heather could do the same to the seasoned Dr. Sanchez.

00:31:32.315 –> 00:31:32.765
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Okay.

00:31:33.045 –> 00:31:34.505
Those are really good questions.

00:31:34.545 –> 00:31:38.025
I may ask you to repeat the second part- … ’cause I was already thinking about the first part.

00:31:38.045 –> 00:31:38.855
I was like, “Ooh.” Of course.

00:31:39.485 –> 00:31:45.815
So, um, I think what’s important to know the young Heather, if I may, I’m gonna go back to before seasoned educator.

00:31:46.295 –> 00:31:54.835
The young Heather, the 9 or 10-year-old Heather, would never believe that I’m sitting here right now, and I am the first in my family to get a doctorate, master’s degree, go to college.

00:31:55.345 –> 00:32:03.035
Um, the 9 or 10-year-old Heather would have not even had in my schema at all that it was possible to be sitting here.

00:32:03.357 –> 00:32:05.177
I, you might as well told me I was gonna be on Mars.

00:32:05.527 –> 00:32:16.617
You know, like, the fact that I would be sitting on the opposite side of the country as, you know, deputy superintendent with a doctorate, you know, doing, you know, serving families, uh, the best that I am able to, I would’ve never believed it.

00:32:16.700 –> 00:32:28.290
and I think that that’s important because I think there’s lots of kids out there that were just like me, um, who were, you know, came from really challenging circumstances like I did and who just don’t think they’re, things are possible.

00:32:28.730 –> 00:32:36.550
And, um, and I, and I saw possibility because others saw it in me, and so that is in part, in large part why I’m an educator anyway.

00:32:36.570 –> 00:32:45.837
That’s why I do what I do because, you know, there are many students who are give, are very fortunate to have, have a different set of circumstances growing up, but there’s a lot who don’t.

00:32:45.837 –> 00:32:48.017
So that’s the first thing that I would say.

00:32:48.057 –> 00:32:52.697
Um, and but the young Heather, what I would say to myself now-

00:32:52.827 –> 00:32:53.057
Jeff Kubiak: Mm-hmm

00:32:53.087 –> 00:33:01.617
… Dr. Heather Sánchez: what I would say to myself now, I think the, what I would’ve said to myself now would be like, “First of all, y- I knew you had it in you.”

00:33:03.957 –> 00:33:08.977
“I knew you had it in you, and, um, I’m glad you didn’t give up.

00:33:09.667 –> 00:33:16.327
I’m glad you didn’t give up.” And the young Heather would say to the Heather now is, “Keep at it.

00:33:16.927 –> 00:33:19.031
Keep at it, and stay curious.”

00:33:19.171 –> 00:33:19.361
Jeff Kubiak: Yeah.

00:33:19.391 –> 00:33:19.741
I see.

00:33:19.741 –> 00:33:20.311
I love that.

00:33:20.361 –> 00:33:24.221
It’s both saddening but empowering for me to hear that, right?

00:33:24.261 –> 00:33:24.301
Yeah.

00:33:24.301 –> 00:33:35.821
So there’s too many… As, as an educator, teacher, principal, there’s too many of our young female l- girls that don’t get that.

00:33:36.021 –> 00:33:36.281
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:33:36.281 –> 00:33:38.651
Jeff Kubiak: That don’t- Agree … get that pump up, that encouragement-

00:33:38.721 –> 00:33:38.991
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm

00:33:38.991 –> 00:33:40.961
… Jeff Kubiak: the same way that maybe some of the boys do.

00:33:41.041 –> 00:33:42.091
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:33:42.171 –> 00:33:43.411
Jeff Kubiak: And they need that belief.

00:33:43.511 –> 00:33:43.781
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:33:43.781 –> 00:33:56.821
Jeff Kubiak: Just one little thing and for you to have the road that you’ve traveled upon and you can look back and see those amazing accomplishment is, excuse me, so incredible.

00:33:57.625 –> 00:33:58.815
Because that’s what our girls need.

00:33:58.815 –> 00:34:06.955
They just need that one chance, that one person that believes, that one teacher, that coach, whomever it is- Mm-hmm … so that they can say, “Yeah, I can do it.”

00:34:07.535 –> 00:34:07.945
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

00:34:07.945 –> 00:34:13.355
You know, I was, um, doing a panel, uh, recently at an event, and I was sharing a little bit about that.

00:34:13.375 –> 00:34:17.465
And, you know, I, I kind of like the analogy I would use is the butterfly effect, right?

00:34:17.465 –> 00:34:27.515
So when, when a butterfly flaps its wings, there’s this, uh, you don’t necessarily see it, but there’s this impact that goes for quite a distance, right?

00:34:28.315 –> 00:34:43.845
And so I think that working in education, I, you know, and growing up in some very challenging circumstances, you know, there are people who had an impact on me that I, I’m quite certain to this day never knew it, but did, right?

00:34:44.465 –> 00:34:46.055
And I think you’re, you’re spot on.

00:34:46.055 –> 00:34:50.365
There are, um, there are girls and young girls out there, and, and boys too- Sure.

00:34:50.375 –> 00:34:53.055
Oh, yeah … you know, um, but I’m gonna stick with the girls theme.

00:34:54.415 –> 00:34:59.825
Lots of young girls out there who didn’t, did, did not have a mindset of possibility for a lot of reasons.

00:35:00.245 –> 00:35:10.975
There are people out there that can, you know, sponsor them and, and help move them forward and, you know, who, and, and understand that the sky really, really, really, really is the limit.

00:35:11.475 –> 00:35:15.555
And so, yeah, I mean, that’s what I, I try and do now.

00:35:15.995 –> 00:35:38.229
Um, I try and model that, uh, to every degree possible, and that’s part of why I wanted to completely switch over to the operations side of the house, both so I could understand how, sort of how the whole ship runs in a,
in a large district, which has been incredibly insightful, but also because there aren’t necessarily a lot of women who do it- um, or, you know, have come over from the instructional side and now are- in a role like mine.

00:35:38.229 –> 00:35:43.959
And so I think that that helps me, and I think that it helps others who are watching me.

00:35:44.129 –> 00:35:44.429
Jeff Kubiak: Right.

00:35:44.769 –> 00:35:45.079
Right.

00:35:45.079 –> 00:35:45.099
Yeah.

00:35:45.099 –> 00:35:49.295
So I’m gonna use a phrase radically student-centered

00:35:49.395 –> 00:35:49.815
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm

00:35:49.845 –> 00:35:50.125
Jeff Kubiak: Okay?

00:35:50.155 –> 00:35:53.375
Now, that’s a phrase that drives my work because of the company I work for.

00:35:53.445 –> 00:35:53.785
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:35:54.035 –> 00:35:56.685
Jeff Kubiak: So what, what did that, what does that phrase mean to you?

00:35:56.835 –> 00:35:56.855
Mm-hmm.

00:35:56.865 –> 00:35:58.265
radically student-centered.

00:35:58.455 –> 00:35:58.825
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:35:59.355 –> 00:36:16.883
You know, when I think about that, I think, to me, that means keeping students at the center of all the decisions that are made, and the radical part, to me, uh, radically means, uh, new, different, pushing the limits, having curiosity.

00:36:17.223 –> 00:36:32.943
And so to me, that means when I think about something being radically student-centered, that means not only keeping students and families at the center, but keeping the… keeping what’s possible, keeping in mind that that really is up to us.

00:36:33.543 –> 00:36:35.353
You know, what’s possible is really up to us.

00:36:35.353 –> 00:36:36.003
Yes, it is.

00:36:36.003 –> 00:36:38.513
Uh, funds are not lim- I mean, certainly, you know?

00:36:39.423 –> 00:36:46.683
I’m just gonna say school finance is tough, you know, and, and school budgets and funding are tight and super-duper thin, and resources are very limited.

00:36:47.143 –> 00:36:51.233
I mean, financial resources, human resources are very, very limited.

00:36:51.233 –> 00:36:53.503
That’s just the reality of working in public education.

00:36:53.993 –> 00:37:01.263
But what’s not limited is the ability with which we can think about how we are serving students in creative ways.

00:37:01.313 –> 00:37:07.293
So to me, and, and being relentless in that pursuit because honestly, students deserve it.

00:37:07.763 –> 00:37:08.063
You know?

00:37:08.063 –> 00:37:19.193
Students deserve the very best we have each and every day, and so I think it really is incumbent upon us to constantly push the limits of our thinking around how we are serving students.

00:37:19.473 –> 00:37:20.413
Jeff Kubiak: Brava to that.

00:37:20.943 –> 00:37:24.283
And on a final note, let’s think about looking ahead.

00:37:25.173 –> 00:37:32.523
What gives you the, the most optimism about the future of education and the environments where the students learn?

00:37:33.003 –> 00:37:33.353
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

00:37:34.043 –> 00:37:39.093
You know, um, I think what gives me the most optimism is the students themselves, first of all.

00:37:39.613 –> 00:37:43.773
I was at an event, um, ’cause, you know, it’s event season, right?

00:37:43.783 –> 00:37:43.803
Mm-hmm.

00:37:43.803 –> 00:37:50.053
We have graduations coming up, and we have all the fundraising events, and all the dinners, and all the galas- Uh-huh … and all the PTSA awards things.

00:37:50.053 –> 00:37:53.723
And it’s, like, every single day, but it’s exhausting and very exciting, right?

00:37:53.723 –> 00:38:02.963
So I was at an event recently, and there were some students presenting, and I was just blown away, and I am consistently just blown away.

00:38:02.963 –> 00:38:10.293
And my student intern just came in to… is listening to me right now, who’s a high school senior, Stella, um, who’s interning with me this year.

00:38:10.593 –> 00:38:15.203
And so the students that I see on a day-to-day basis are just incredible.

00:38:15.533 –> 00:38:31.626
And so I turned to somebody who was at this event with me and I said, “Dang, I don’t think I was that smart when I was in high school
or that talented or that creative.” Like, I’m just blown away with the things that, um, young people are doing today, that excites me.

00:38:32.156 –> 00:38:38.276
And, you know, the, our young people today are really, you know, they’re just not, not taking it.

00:38:38.286 –> 00:38:43.046
You know, they’re, they’re bold in a way that, I don’t know, at least I didn’t feel that bold when I was their age.

00:38:43.046 –> 00:38:55.206
And so that’s what, that’s what gives me optimism, is that I see the things that students are doing, and saying, and advocating for, and it’s just so incredible to me.

00:38:55.216 –> 00:39:01.216
And, and that’s, that’s why I, you know, I’m so excited about the future of education, as challenging as it is.

00:39:01.626 –> 00:39:02.876
I mean, we have lots of challenges.

00:39:03.236 –> 00:39:07.366
And in terms of the spaces that they’re learning in, education is changing.

00:39:07.896 –> 00:39:14.896
Coming… There is no denying the fact that coming out of COVID, it’s changing in ways that, you know, it’s accelerating.

00:39:15.196 –> 00:39:30.131
You know, students want and need and, and are really in so many ways, spoken or otherwise, demanding that their learning opportunities really meet their needs, and that includes the spaces they’re learning in.

00:39:30.711 –> 00:39:42.861
And so I think that as we think about that, some of the best ideas are, are right now, and will be, coming from people coming out of the system who are saying, “Yeah, but.

00:39:43.709 –> 00:39:47.049
Yeah, but have you ever thought about… Yeah, but what if?

00:39:47.229 –> 00:39:48.039
What about this?

00:39:48.059 –> 00:39:56.129
And I think, um, it’s so important to cultivate that in students because I can tell you right now, I’ve heard ideas from kids that I never would’ve thought of.

00:39:56.769 –> 00:39:58.639
You know, I never would’ve thought of.

00:39:58.649 –> 00:39:58.669
Yeah.

00:39:59.039 –> 00:40:16.639
And I think that as we think about designing spaces, learning spaces specifically for kids, it is that, um, curiosity about possibility and willingness
to do things differently, in some cases maybe radically differently, uh, that is going to propel forward the learning experiences that our students have.

00:40:16.839 –> 00:40:24.899
Jeff Kubiak: 100%, and I think the word legacy fits well into that because the students wanna leave their mark, right?

00:40:24.929 –> 00:40:25.029
For

00:40:25.029 –> 00:40:25.369
Dr. Heather Sánchez: sure.

00:40:25.389 –> 00:40:28.459
Jeff Kubiak: What they’ve done, they want to be better for the next gen.

00:40:28.489 –> 00:40:29.219
Dr. Heather Sánchez: As they should.

00:40:29.259 –> 00:40:29.939
Jeff Kubiak: As they should.

00:40:30.019 –> 00:40:30.409
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Mm-hmm.

00:40:30.409 –> 00:40:32.039
Jeff Kubiak: And, uh, I wanna thank you.

00:40:32.049 –> 00:40:32.069
Yeah.

00:40:32.079 –> 00:40:33.749
This has been amazing.

00:40:33.749 –> 00:40:34.959
I really appreciate this.

00:40:35.579 –> 00:40:35.779
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

00:40:36.039 –> 00:40:39.979
Jeff Kubiak: Once again, this is, uh, been a great conversation with Dr.

00:40:39.979 –> 00:40:41.689
Heather Sanchez- Mm-hmm … of Bellevue.

00:40:42.159 –> 00:40:48.189
And shout it out to someone you might, uh, share this conversation with, uh, Better Learning Podcast.

00:40:48.209 –> 00:40:49.309
We love all listeners.

00:40:49.309 –> 00:40:54.359
If you’re interested, go on the Better Learning Podcast website and ping us if you’d like to be on the show.

00:40:54.379 –> 00:40:56.049
But thanks again for being with us today.

00:40:56.069 –> 00:40:56.309
Dr. Heather Sánchez: Yeah.

00:40:56.309 –> 00:40:56.809
Thanks, Jeff.

00:40:56.809 –> 00:40:57.509
It was my pleasure.

00:40:59.657 –> 00:41:04.077
The Better Learning Podcast is produced by Matt Rogers and edited by Kelly Jones.

00:41:04.787 –> 00:41:14.187
The views and opinions shared on this podcast are those of the individuals speaking and do not necessarily represent the perspectives of their affiliated companies, organizations, or associations