As Desert Sands Unified changes leadership, the district is sticking to its mission, vision and values

Editor's Note: This is the first story in a series of Q&A discussions between The Desert Sun and the superintendents of each of the Coachella Valley's K-12 school districts. 

“The future is here.”

That’s the tagline for the Desert Sands Unified School District. Now, with a new superintendent at the helm, the future really is here for the valley’s largest school district.

But, in many ways, the future looks to be a continuation of the district’s already-set vision.

Kelly May-Vollmar assumed the district’s highest office this month after Scott Bailey retired on June 30. Bailey had been the longest-tenured superintendent in the Coachella Valley, having served as the leader of DSUSD since 2017.

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May-Vollmar had been the assistant superintendent of educational services, and before that, she was the district’s chief innovation and information officer. She's been recognized as a trailblazer in education technology, a field in which most leaders are males. And, she’s been at Desert Sands since 2004 as a teacher, academic coach, International Baccalaureate coordinator and elementary school principal.

So, yes, the future has arrived for Desert Sands, but the transition to May-Vollmar’s leadership also marks the district’s commitment to continue down the path it’s on: Sticking with an internal hire to carry out its longterm vision to “be the district of choice to successfully prepare every student for college, career and life.”

On Bailey’s last day in office, he and May-Vollmar sat down with The Desert Sun for a joint hourlong interview to discuss their greatest accomplishments and challenges at the district, their leadership styles and their vision for Desert Sands Unified.

Together, they stressed the importance of innovation, positive workplace culture and a student-centric approach to management.

The following conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

The Desert Sun: How are you feeling about the leadership transition?

Bailey: As I reflect on my superintendency, I was in the right place at the right time doing the right work. Yet, it’s hard to explain how I’m feeling right now. You know this moment’s coming, but you’re not ready for the moment when it happens. What centers me is to know that we have a great leader coming into my chair.

May-Vollmar: And, I feel very excited about the future, but at the same time, I was just saying to Scott, ‘Are you sure you want to go?’ Because it’s been really wonderful having him as the superintendent and being able to work together under his leadership. So, as much as I’m excited, I’m torn and sad at the same time.

There’s nothing wrong with change, but it’s hard even when it’s good. So to have a seamless transition with an internal appointment such as myself and with Scott still available, I think that means a lot to our employees because there won’t be major upheaval and major change. We’ll continue to build on the amazing foundation that Scott has laid.

Dr. Bailey, you’ve said you’re retiring to spend more time with family. But, in a way, do you feel like you ‘re letting go of a (Desert Sands) family?

Bailey: Yes and no. It makes me sad to depart from what I perceive as family. Desert Sands is very much a family, but having said that family is always family, so I will hopefully always be family to Desert Sands.

I equate my time at Desert Sands to a five-plus year lease. I feel like I’m being returned to my family after a lease with a few extra miles on me, but I look forward to giving back to my family because they’ve given to me heavily throughout a 32-year career in education. Now, I get to do an about face and better support them. I can’t wait to hold my little granddaughter as much as possible in the near future, and I’ll have the flexibility to do that.

May-Vollmar: You will always, always be part of the Desert Sands family. We’ve got some special ideas for how to keep you around.

What accomplishments are you most proud of in the last few years at Desert Sands?

Bailey: Overall, I would have to say one of our biggest celebrations is the fact that during unprecedented stressors caused by the global pandemic, I really feel that students, staff, parents and community banded together to get through a very difficult place in history. I might add that we got through successfully, all things considered. I’m extremely proud of that. I’m blessed to have worked with a great team of educators to polish the gold standard that the district has always maintained.

My grandpa always said, ‘Leave things better than you found them.’ Even though we went through a pandemic, I look back at our accomplishments and I feel proud.

And, over the past five years, I celebrate the innovative spirit that served the students and the community so well.

May-Vollmar: The innovative spirit is definitely something to be celebrated in Desert Sands. Probably one of the most exciting projects that I ever had the opportunity to lead was the district building its own LTE network, which really poised us to be in a great position when the pandemic hit such that while other districts were working to get devices and connectivity for kids, that’s something we didn’t have to grapple with. We already had that in place, so it made dealing with an overwhelming situation a little bit more bearable.

And, to echo what Dr. Bailey said, I feel very proud of the innovative approaches we continued to take through the pandemic, such as with hybrid learning. We were able to give our students four days of instruction utilizing technology. They got two days face-to-face with teachers and two days livestreamed, which really was a very innovative approach to how to handle that hybrid situation.

Clearly, DSUSD is a recognized leader in innovation. Dr. May-Vollmar, How will you continue that leadership as superintendent?

May-Vollmar: One of the things that I’m most committed to is maintaining that climate and culture of supporting innovative projects and ideas, and I know that’s very important to the board, as well. They’re forward-thinking, and their willingness to support innovation is really crucial to the work that we do in the district.

I think the other thing is just continuing to stay abreast of emerging technologies because technology changes at such a rapid rate these days. We also have to be incredibly selective about which technologies we’re going to implement in the district. Technology is shiny and fun, and it’s easy to get caught up in that. We’ve done a very good job in the past at really thinking about student outcomes first, and then seeing technology as a tool to help us achieve those outcomes. And when you implement technology that way, you get the right technology for the right purpose. I think continuing those practices is essential.

Dr. Bailey, the pandemic was a very difficult time for so many people and organizations. How did you maintain a good climate and culture at Desert Sands?

Bailey: Prior to the pandemic, we did a rebranding of the district where we developed not only a revised mission but a vision and values. Then, we added into that a values-based employee recognition program, and that program continued to thrive through the pandemic even though we were all isolated. It kept us at our true north during a storm.

Some people would say culture trumps everything. In an organization, especially one this big, when you have an environment where people feel free to take a risk or bring ideas forward that might have a districtwide impact to have better outcomes, that pays dividends.

Where do you both get the confidence to be risk-taking in terms of pushing the limit of what services a school district can provide?

Bailey: I think it’s a track record. You look in the rearview mirror, and you see the results of that culture. If it’s paying dividends, you want to encourage that.

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May-Vollmar: I would just add that we’re really focused on students first. There’s an overwhelming sense of it’s best for students, we will rise to the occasion and we will make it happen.

How do you engage students to participate in the district’s innovative culture?

Bailey: Our Goldfish Bowl was born. It’s a derivative of the Shark Tank concept (students pitch products or business ideas and district leaders evaluate them). One winning team created an emergency preparedness to-go kit. We springboarded off that concept and ended up getting emergency to-go preparedness kits for every classroom in the district.

We also formalized regular ASB interactions with the superintendent and superintendents’ cabinet.

May-Vollmar: Throughout the pandemic we relied on the student voice to help guide the decisions we made. When we were concerned about graduation — obviously, we had to adhere to health and safety guidelines, and we still wanted to make the ceremonies as memorable and as meaningful as possible — we brought students in to help us discuss what that should look like and how to make those plans.

We’ve talked about establishing an organizational culture, and that starts with leadership. Dr. Bailey, how have you built a culture here, and what do you do to reinforce that culture when you interact with your approximately 2,800 employees and 25,000 students?

Bailey: I think you’re constantly in an engagement role as a superintendent: engagement with staff, with students, with community, always keeping everyone centered on our true north.

I’ll refer again to our robust employee recognition program.

When we reworked our vision and mission, the feedback largely came back around the importance of relationships. And, I think you’ll see that reflected in our values.

There are so many pieces to a school district, from nutrition to grounds maintenance, operations and business services. Describe some of the challenges of managing this massive organization through the earliest days of the pandemic.

Bailey: It was March 13, 2020, when we had to do the hard shutdown. Cabinet immediately gathered in my office. We sat in here for 17 hours a day for about six weeks. We had to keep the pool circulating, but workers couldn't come in. We had to pay people, but employees couldn't come in. We just had this huge list (of tasks), and this office became like a war room. How do we keep the central nervous system alive, let alone try to get our heads around how we’re going to educate the kids?

We had to figure out different ways to do things and get a better outcome. I call that forced innovation.

Dr. May-Vollmar, how would you describe your leadership style?

May-Vollmar: I would describe my leadership style as a mix of transformational and servant leadership. The idea is that people need inspiration and a vision to rally around — capitalizing on the power of inspiration. So, the idea is really creating inspiration and the best opportunities for our students, but then also rolling up my sleeves and getting down in the trenches and doing the work.

Speaking of getting in the trenches, what are your top priorities as you take office?

May-Vollmar: We’ve already talked about continuing the district’s focus on innovative practices, and that’s certainly one of the priorities. I think another thing you’ll see over the next year coming out of Desert Sands is a real focus on early literacy. Because as we venture out to make sure that every student’s ready for college and career and life, we’ve got to make sure they’ve got a great foundation for us to build on in middle school and high school.

I think the other thing is — certainly, under the pressure of the pandemic, just being in distance learning and being in isolation, it really fractured some of our relationships a little bit. So, really, we are working to strengthen our collaboration and have every educational partner have a voice in the work that we do. So, we’ll be launching a campaign in the fall to reconnect with people. We’re calling that 'Listen, Learn, Grow Together.’ We’re really excited about getting into the communities and the school sites and hearing from everyone involved about what’s important to them and what are our opportunities for improvement.

It sounds to me like: Although the district is focused on implementing new technologies, at the end of the day it’s all about the people.

May-Vollmar: Absolutely. It’s all about the people.

(The superintendent's role) is about creating alignment in the district, so that people understand the ‘why.’ It’s a collective ‘why.’ When you get people centered on a mission and vision, it becomes their mission and vision.

On that note, not everyone in the community has bought into the mission. A vocal group has been speaking up at board meetings for months to express their discontent with the district’s leadership. They've even nullified the appointment of one board member and have tried unsuccessfully to recall others. Dr. May-Vollmar, what will be your approach to communicating with members of the community who don’t necessarily agree with how the district is serving certain students?

May-Vollmar: That really goes back to the community engagement campaign we’ll be launching this fall. I think the most important thing is if we really can listen and learn and grow in our understanding of our different stances and different philosophies. I think we can find a place where we can work together to find what’s best for our students. And that’s really what it’s all about. Making sure that students have the best opportunities available to them.

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So, lots of transparency, lots of great communication, really being out there talking with people and listening to people. That will continue to serve us in a great way.

Another topic at the front of everyone’s minds right now is school safety. Dr. May-Vollmar, can you talk more about that?

May-Vollmar: Safety is always a top priority for the district. Before we can get into any academics, we’ve got to make sure everybody feels like they’re in a safe learning environment. That goes for our students as well as our employees. We’ll continue to have the highest focus on security to make sure that we are taking care of all the people that enter our doors everyday.

And, it’s not just physical safety. It’s social and emotional safety, as well. We’ve spent quite a bit of time and efforts in the last couple of years ensuring that we’ve trained our staff and provided resources of our staff to be able to respond to the social-emotional needs of students, and we’ll continue to do that and to expand that as needed.

Lastly, Dr. Bailey, I’m sure you’ve given lots of advice privately to Dr. May-Vollmar, but is there any advice you’d like to share with her now?

Bailey: Be visible. Be engaged. But, above all else, put students first.

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: DSUSD incoming and outgoing superintendents talk change, leadership