An Idea Is Not Implementation: Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark on Safety, Systems, and Student Success

Jack Arend

She is doing incredible things in the community when we wait until you hear the stuff that is happening. And so I'm lucky because I get to see her face today and she is super smiley and we are ready to jump in. Andrea, welcome.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 01:39

Thank you, Jack, and you are you are too kind. Too kind.

Jack Arend 01:42

well, it is fun. This is so fun. And the people that are listening are in for a treat to just hear about your innovation, your approach to leadership, all that stuff. But but let's go, let's go back a little bit further. Tell us about the community that you're in and the community that you serve. Tell us about the school. And as with some districts in our state, people are getting assigned other duties.

And you have been assigned some other duties. So just give us a snapshot. Where tell us about your Arlington community and the building that you're principaling in.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 02:17

Yeah, absolutely. Well, so I genuinely believe that I am the lucky one getting to lead the Weston campus in Arlington. It is a super special place. Most people in Arlington are going to associate Weston with just the high school, Weston High School. And that is one of the three programs that live on that campus. There's also an open doors program, which is our youth re-engagement program. And the Arlington Transitions Program has moved into the building over the past couple of years. So I get the opportunity to also work with the 18 to 22 year olds kind of finishing out their K-12 experience.

Jack Arend 03:03

That is amazing. You get the whole the whole gamut, right?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 03:06

The whole gamut. Yeah, yeah.

Jack Arend 03:09

And so so you are calling it the Weston campus. So it is a place

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 03:14

Yes.

Jack Arend 03:15

that's probably just a a buzz every day of activity. Yeah. Tell us about how many

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 03:18

yes. Yes, it is.

Jack Arend 03:21

staff. How many staff do you have? What's the community like there?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 03:24

Well, so in the in the Weston High School program, we serve roughly it it vacillates, roughly on average, about a hundred kids. The open doors

Jack Arend 03:34

Wow, all right.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 03:35

program roughly about eighty to ninety kids. and then in the transitions program we serve typically about twenty adult students. I have to be very careful not to use the word kids because they are absolutely adults.

Jack Arend 03:51

Right, right.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 03:53

on the campus, we've got at least 20 adults in a variety of roles, obviously from teaching to our classified staff. the unique thing about our campus, it really is an all hands on deck. everybody is leaning in to meet the kids where they are and help ensure that in some way or another. We're removing barriers, putting scaffolds in place to help them taste success. and success at Weston can be defined very broadly, you know, not by oftentimes the traditional data points, right? Yeah, we

Jack Arend 04:32

Sure, sure.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 04:33

serve a population of kids whose stories also haven't typically fit neatly into the traditional places and spaces of our school systems. and so I've been really fortunate to have landed in a place with an outstanding staff and a leadership at district office that has really afforded us the freedom to figure out how to modify the system to be able to serve the kids sitting in front of us. and that's that's really been the game changer.

Jack Arend 05:07

I I really love that. I love that you say, you know, let's fix the system. Right? Our kids aren't broken, the system is, right? And so let's fix the system. A phrase you said that I just I wrote down because I'm gonna try to use this. We like to help them taste success.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 05:23

Yeah. Yeah.

Jack Arend 05:24

so the listeners out there, again, I get to see Andrea's face. It l she lights up when she's talking about our campus and the students and the staff. And This is really this is really cool. And I think before we move on, Andrea, for our listeners that aren't super familiar, maybe it's not the level that they lead at, just

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 05:43

Sure.

Jack Arend 05:44

explain the open doors program.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 05:45

Sure. So Open Doors is a statewide youth reengagement program that essentially exists to help re engage kids who are sixteen years of age or older by the first day that the school year starts. That is an important caveat. They cannot Turn 16 after the school year starts and be eligible to go into the open doors program. But it helps re-engage them and connect them back with educational entity in the hopes of getting them across the finish line. And the finish line in some cases may be the high school diploma or it may be the GED. And we meet them where we are and we help kind of blaze the path to help get them.

across whatever finish line they've determined.

Jack Arend 06:37

that, whatever they determine. And that's gonna help them taste success. I'm gonna keep using that phrase.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 06:40

Yep. Yeah.

Jack Arend 06:42

Hey, what first drew you to education? Like how'd you get into education?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 06:46

are you ready for this, Jack?

Jack Arend 06:48

I hope I am.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 06:50

So high school Andrea grew up in South Florida and our assistant principals got to drive around in golf carts and have walkie-talkies. And yeah, that's right, that's right. And I remember, I mean, I in hindsight, it's so arrogant, but I remember like watching them address behavior issues and thinking to myself, you're so bad at this.

Jack Arend 07:17

Ha ha ha.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 07:18

I could I could do this so much better. And you know, it may have been that I grew up with perhaps a brother who took up a little bit of bandwidth of of some assistant principals. and so I don't know, maybe I had like an inside perspective. But literally I as a high school kid was like, I'm gonna be an assistant principal one day. Right. Yeah.

Jack Arend 07:40

Wow, I love that.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 07:42

Mm-hmm.

Jack Arend 07:43

And you are the principal now. Did you serve as an assistant principal? Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 07:47

I did, yes. I I am an East Coaster. I am a Washington transplant going on a decade now. but yes, I started in middle school in Durham Public Schools, a super diverse school system back in North Carolina as a sixth grade science teacher for a number of years, then moved into administration, helped open some schools, some turnaround schools that the state had come in and decided we weren't making sufficient enough progress. And so shutting it down and then, you know, bringing in a a whole new staff to reopen it. That that was an unbelievable experience. and then when I moved to Washington, I started as assistant principal up at Arlington in the in the larger high school before

Jack Arend 08:33

Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 08:34

moving into the principalship at Weston.

Jack Arend 08:37

Well the real question is is have you continu have you ever asked Arlington to provide a golf cart for you?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 08:43

Let me tell you at when I was DAP at Arlington High School, we did not have one. The year after I left, they got one and it it just hurt. It just hurt. The Weston

Jack Arend 08:54

yeah, yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 08:56

campus though, that would be overkill. that that that

Jack Arend 08:59

Well, maybe just a segue.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 09:01

you know, I'd take it. I

Jack Arend 09:03

Yeah, yeah, I think that's a fair request. I'll see what I can do. Yeah. We'll get you segue.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 09:05

Okay, please stay up.

Jack Arend 09:07

hey, another just another quick question so our leaders can get to know you. Like I've had the privilege of getting to know you. What do you like about leading? What do you like about being a school leader?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 09:19

you know, I get the opportunity to have a front row seat of watching the connections that happen. we have got kids showing up and connecting with adults, and through those connections and those relationships, I'm also watching their stories be rewritten. Who they are when they walk through our doors. they arrive with a story. Who they are when they leave us, oftentimes if we're able to hold on to them long enough, they leave with a with a very different story. And to be able to watch that character arc, I'm telling you, is is everything.

Jack Arend 10:05

Yeah, my gosh, we are just into this podcast so early and I'm taking so many notes, Andrea. I need like Andrea's book of quotes. I'm watching their stories be rewritten. That's beautiful. That's

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 10:18

Yeah. Yeah.

Jack Arend 10:20

beautiful. So You kinda touched on this, but let's go a little deeper. I'm gonna push on you a little bit. What's something happening at your school or you what, I'm gonna say your campus, 'cause you helped me realize it's the Weston

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 10:29

Sure. Sure.

Jack Arend 10:31

campus. What's something happening at your campus right now that makes you particularly proud?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 10:36

I I mean I feel like hitting on the relationship piece that we we have staff that understand the population that they're serving. We have staff that want to be there on that campus and are actively changing changing the lives. you know. On because of the population that we serve, oftentimes we do we we have turnover of of our kids more often than we'd like. And so being able just to watch the adults in this building lean in to all of the different creative interventions that in many cases they have also come up with to reach the kids is it's awesome.

Jack Arend 11:26

Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 11:26

Awesome.

Jack Arend 11:26

Yeah. That's thank you for sharing that. I I wanna as I think about what you just said, and you led right away with relationships and that's intentional, right? I

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 11:35

Hmm. Yep.

Jack Arend 11:37

and that's how you've approached me as well as we have been able to get to know each other, which I just really appreciate. And I I I go back to that's the culture that you've created.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 11:46

That's the, you know, this is public education is we're things are tough right now, right? It is

Jack Arend 11:53

It's yes.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 11:56

inside the building, outside of the building. And so the end of the day, the only way all of us are gonna survive this is through the relationships and building safe places, transparent places, places where we've we We've built the ability for concerns to be risen and then the having leaders in the place that are responsible enough to take those concerns and help make the systems a little stronger. Right. And that and

Jack Arend 12:26

Yes.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 12:27

that also, I'm talking to you, Olympia. Like when we're looking at our school funding models, we've got some work to do. Yeah, we've we've definitely got some work to do. Lean out.

Jack Arend 12:35

Yeah. Yeah. Well, lean in, right? R right. And I will say, you're very humble. You're very humble because what we all know is that culture is what the leader allows. And

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 12:50

Yeah, sure. Yeah.

Jack Arend 12:51

you just beautifully outline relationships and people be you know, all the the caring and you're allowing that, right? And we're you're allowing a campus to pause to make sure that we don't forget about the kid and

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 13:07

Correct.

Jack Arend 13:07

that we don't help them sharpen the pencil as they, as you said, rewrite their story. Right? That's just

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 13:13

Correct. I mean, we we we're in a kid business,

Jack Arend 13:18

Right.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 13:18

right? It it is and we we can't forget that. And no matter what, we have to keep some proximity to them because the d sure, we look at the data and the data's gonna give us good insight. but the real gold. Oftentimes lies in what the kids can teach us, right?

Jack Arend 13:42

Right, right. And I I yes, we are in the kid business. And it's supposed to be fun. And it is hard work, right? Simon Sinek

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 13:48

Yeah, correct. Yes.

Jack Arend 13:50

tells us things that matter are difficult. And this matters. And

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 13:53

Yeah. Yeah.

Jack Arend 13:54

if we want you know, if we're gonna let's put the work in because it matters. And school leadership

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 13:58

Yes.

Jack Arend 13:58

matters every single day. And that's a privilege and it's a joy and all those things.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 14:02

Yep. Yep. Yeah, I mean public education to quote a dear mentor of mine, Dr. Mary Templeton out of Lake Stevens. I mean, public school is the great equalizer, right?

Jack Arend 14:15

Yes. And I can almost hear her saying that right now. Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 14:18

Yeah. Yeah.

Jack Arend 14:19

Yeah. thank you for bringing her name up. That's fun. That's really fun. Well, for the listeners out there, I first got to meet Andrea when she, as you can probably tell, she's super engaged and she wants to make sure that she's sh she's curious about what other people are doing in their buildings and their districts. And you know, in education, we all take other people's things and and Help us grow and help us try to implement different things on our campuses or in our buildings. And Andrea reached out to AWSP at a request we had to say, hey, send us some articles for our publications. And she sent us one. And holy smokes. It's why I then said, I need to meet

this person

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 15:00

Yeah.

Jack Arend 15:01

and I need to hear what is happening, because it's pretty magical. And so the next part as we kind of continue our conversation, Andrea, I want you to talk about that. I want you to talk about. the anchor. So this whole

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 15:14

Yep.

Jack Arend 15:14

idea is that that Andrew's gonna explain to our listeners is an anchor concept, I guess I'm gonna say. And you'll talk about that. But before you do that, what urged you to send A D BSP that article?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 15:29

You know, the my work with anchor is unearthing really interesting trends. And the trends essentially are that an idea isn't implementation and training isn't implementation, and just because we've got some great evidence-based intervention, we're fallen short on readiness and capacity to be able to implement that intervention with fidelity. And this year I have assumed, you know, an additional role, a dual role as the director of student safety for the district. And student threat assessments happens to be the system that that I'm working with. And so my article

is really in the hopes that we can take what we're learning in our real-time laboratory going on in Arlington and help share it out with other districts so that we're getting better at looking under the hood of the systems that we've we've currently got going, seeing what's working, seeing what's not working, and then making them stronger so that kids are safer. Adults are safer.

Jack Arend 16:44

Yeah. So what I hear in that is, hey, we're doing this thing and and I wanna share that because hopefully that'll encourage other people to share, but you're also experiencing some success with this. And you are, you know, so that I I love that you as a leader would share. Take the moment

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 17:04

Yeah.

Jack Arend 17:05

to pause and say, you know what? I AWSP needs an article. I I I I'm proud and I think let's put this out there. So thank you for that. And for

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 17:15

Sure, sure.

Jack Arend 17:16

all of you listening, like, well, where's the dang article, Jack? Well hold on, it's it's gonna come out,

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 17:19

Yeah, well.

Jack Arend 17:20

it's coming out. But today the podcast is, Andrea, for you to kind of walk the listener through what is anchor. Talk us about how it was created, who helped, all that, and what you're seeing as the outcome.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 17:33

Sure. Well, before I I get into the specifics of anchor, I also just want to add that we are all interdependent upon one another. And especially when it comes to school safety. And you know, whether or not I have a kid coming to me from Spokane or I have a kid leaving me and going to, say, Moses Lake. We we owe it to one another to be making sure that information is is getting places. and so Anchor is the hopes of is essentially there to help get our school district really good at at doing this, so that what we also are sending is

needed helpful and timely. I do want to point out this work is not done in isolation. The gurus of student threat assessment at our Northwest ESD 189, Mike Levera and Erin Bafaro are rock stars

Jack Arend 18:36

Yes.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 18:37

and are absolutely like the I don't even want to call myself the pilot. I want to say there we are, there's three of us. We're all co-piloting this together. And really the idea stemmed from conversations with those two this summer when I was leaning in, kind of asking questions about you know, the system, so to speak. Like, is there an actual auditing system? Share that with me. and seemingly we it it doesn't exist. Okay, is there a

implementation fidelity instrument that we can be using to compare our practices against. there should be. Wow. Are there standards of like what the indicator is and a student information system in my district versus say the Seattle school district? No, there's no standardization. So there is like there's a lot that we can do lifting the hood on this to ensure we're we're building a a stronger, better system.

Jack Arend 19:45

Yes, yes. And I love the looking under the hood analogy. Is it working? And what what needs some some maintenance? What needs some tune up? What need what's that? So let's get into anchor. Maybe you'd kind of help us understand the acronym, what it's doing for ya, all that good kind of stuff. So listeners, I don't know, get ready to write stuff down. That's gonna be awesome.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 20:07

Yeah. Yeah. So anchor is an acronym. it stands for assessment needs collaboration help and ongoing review. That ongoing review is the case management part of the behavioral threat assessment models that often gets overlooked. so even if we are implementing the the threat assessment with fidelity. Oftentimes we're not actively case managing and ensuring that the interventions and supports that the kid needs are you know continuing to target and follow the kid. But anchor in itself is a district-level student threat assessment team. We have and it's multidisciplinary as all behavioral threat assessment teams.

Should be. So it is comprised of district level folks, some elementary principals, right? Because that is we can talk more about elementary here in a minute. we've got school counselors, school psychs, directors of special education, our school resource officers, our student support advocates. We have got a district created multidisciplinary. team that pushes in to the campus to help when the campus level multidisciplinary student threat assessment team is convening and you know performing the level one student threat assessment.

Jack Arend 21:48

Yeah, so so walk us through. Walk us through like how that might work. you said let's talk about elementary later. it doesn't matter to me what level I was an elementary principal, but walk

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 21:57

Sure. Yeah.

Jack Arend 21:58

us through if I'm listening to this today, how what would I experience if I was in Arlington and all of a sudden, boom, anchors coming in my building? Or what what does that look like?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 22:11

Well, so that's I'm so glad you said that. Anchor isn't coming into your building, Jack. You still own it. Anchor is the training wheels. We are

Jack Arend 22:21

Got it.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 22:22

a we are there to exist, not in perpetuity. If we if what we are doing is working, we are building capacity, and anchor isn't going to exist in a couple of years, right? Or a year or two years. The goal really is that the ownership still lives with the building. We are not taking anything away from it. so Jack, you may have an incident that depending on your capacity and readiness with student threat assessments, you may feel comfortable and say, Okay, we need to perform a level one, I need to call anchor and have them come in for this assessment, or you may

Perform threat assessment so infrequently that you perhaps want to talk it through. Hey, I've had this incident happen. thoughts, like what do we do? And that goes back to culture, right? Because the anchor team also, we have to ensure that the principals know that we are we're there to support. Which I feel like we hear all the time, but that we genuinely we were there to lean in, listen, give guidance, and we wanna find the gaps. I I'll tell you right now, that's one of the big things coming out of anchor is we're finding gaps. and it can be humbling, right? That

man, I thought that like we had this pretty dialed in. But the the thing is, is that an idea is not implementation, right? Planning isn't implementation. It is implementation is teaching us all of the things that planning can't. And these the principals are the ones honestly doing the hard work and exposing the gaps. And the important, the, the, the, biggest part of this is ensuring that they know it's safe enough to be able to bring that gap to us so that we can figure out, wow, we need to collaborate and figure out a system, a template, a protocol to to make it stronger and better, right?

Jack Arend 24:43

Yeah, absolutely. I I I'm I'm processing in my head and playing this through in in you know in an elementary principal world or middle or high school or whatever, and I really appreciate the acknowledgement that when an idea is not an implementation, I like that.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 24:58

Right?

Jack Arend 24:58

But I also appreciate that sometimes as leaders when we don't do things i often or daily or whatever,

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 25:03

Yes. Yes. Right.

Jack Arend 25:06

we find that we find ourselves having to pull up those skills that haven't been used for a while. They could be a little bit rusty, or we may not be on the current best practice. And

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 25:15

Correct.

Jack Arend 25:16

and that's no one's fault. It just is what

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 25:17

Correct.

Jack Arend 25:18

it is. I mean, we're all running so hard and so fast. And to just say, that now I as in a district, which you've created and your team has created is, we have a I have a help. I have some help with this to identify or no no to remind me, here's how this goes. And then we're all, everybody collectively, it sounds like from what you explain, there's a gap here. Let's let's figure out what we need to do to fill it. Right. So so what's the response been? Are I mean, are you on that anchor team as the director of student safety and

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 25:49

Well yes, yes. I I'm as the director of student safety, yes. I also wanna say like in education when perhaps gaps are exposed, our first answer is training, right? We need to we need to give more training and training also doesn't equal mastery, right? Like we're so good at doing train the trainer. So what Anchor is doing is saying, Okay. Sure, we're gonna take training, but we're gonna we're gonna make it look a little different. We're gonna scaffold, we're gonna coach, we're gonna practice, we're gonna give you some feedback, and then we're gonna gradually release you because you're there, right? We've built the capacity, we've built the readiness. what what is the the saying? A I do, we do.

you do. I mean essentially that is the that's the way anchor set to work, right?

Jack Arend 26:48

Yeah, that gradual release. I often my the vision that always comes to my mind is gradually letting the kite string out, right? And

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 26:55

Yeah, yeah.

Jack Arend 26:56

and I but what I like about this is still somebody's holding the string, right? So if we need some help, there's help there. And how refreshing.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 27:01

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And even after even after a a campus has been released, right, there are some really unique circumstances that can end up coming up that whoa, like I need to talk this through. and that's the beauty also of having anchor as well as the support coming out of the ESDs. Right. Yeah.

Jack Arend 27:28

Yeah, what a nice partnership you have up there with your ESD to make all this happen. So I'm gonna go back to the analogy that you talked about and and the article you shared with AWSP, looking under the hood. What's the maintenance plan for anchor? You know what I mean? And and I that might be putting on the spot. And if it is, we'll edit this out. But what I'm wondering like, because here's where I, you know, it's that.

How do we avoid entropy, right? You know, when you stop supporting something, it falls apart. And how

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 27:59

Right. Right.

Jack Arend 28:01

so what's the plan there?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 28:04

Anchor is a, we're currently still in the lab, Jack.

Jack Arend 28:09

okay, so we w we don't know yet what maintenance is. We're building.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 28:12

We we are still in the implementation is showing us what wow what the gaps that still exist. I mean, just last week recognized like, well, have we ensured that the transportation department has the safety plans? Right? We're putting some of these kiddos on school buses and our wonderful bus drivers. Are playing a role in this implementation. They're on the implementation team, but are they even aware of it? And then how do we, yeah, what's the process and the protocol to ensure that it is getting there, but getting there on a need to know, right? This is also just not, this info is not just up for grabs.

Jack Arend 29:01

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Thank you for reminding me and sharing with our listeners that i you're building this sucker, right? You're

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 29:10

Yeah.

Jack Arend 29:11

building this and it probably when you find a gap or when you identify a gap or when a gap surfaces, there's new learning and new well, whoa, we didn't even think of that. Right. So

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 29:21

Correct. What's the what's the I'll get I'll give you a couple other examples like

Jack Arend 29:27

I love examples.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 29:29

what's the records retention? Andrea, this this kid is graduated. How long do we keep this? Well, that is a fantastic question. Figured it out. It's six years for anybody listening and doing records is other duties as assigned. The the the big one is a kid is leaving your campus and coming to mine. I mean, we're still in the same district, right? but how am I making sure that we're doing a warm handoff and that the most current and up-to-date info that exists in in your building finds its way to me? Like what what are the triggers? What are the current contexts going on in this kid's life?

that is going to be really vital for us to know so that we're able to just, you know, pick up directly where you've left off. So, you know, we've we've got we've got a pretty hefty tran campus protocol that that is working great and I think that is appreciated as well.

Jack Arend 30:30

Yeah. as you and the team and the ESD and this whole collaboration thing, let's get let's build something that's exciting, what were some initial challenges that you maybe weren't expecting?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 30:42

You know

Jack Arend 30:44

Maybe you were expecting them, I don't know. Are have there been challenges?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 30:49

Yes, the chang

Jack Arend 30:53

You could leave it right at that if you want.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 30:56

yeah, you know, Jack, I think we'll probably I you know, the simple answer is the simple answer is recognizing perhaps we have work to do with a system,

Jack Arend 31:11

Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 31:11

and then getting having the ability to get started on that work. I I would say that. That was the initial challenge. right. And the the beautiful thing is in my new dual role. it is squarely landed in my lap and and we're just running with it.

Jack Arend 31:32

Yeah. Yeah. Well thanks. I know that was a question right out of the blue. Nice nice job. What it let's let's let's kind of project forward, right? New thing, you and your team in a collaboration with ESD one hundred eighty nine, you're building this sucker. And

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 31:47

Mm-hmm.

Jack Arend 31:49

Building Level Admin is so thankful that they have a team to call. Like we're filling gaps when we find them. We're talking, we're we're connecting all the dots. Do the bus drivers know? And food service or whatever, right? Because when we know better, we do better.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 32:03

Yep.

Jack Arend 32:03

And so let's think it's June 2027. And we're all ready, we're getting prepared to wave goodbye to the students on the last day. It's been a great year. What does success look like for the Anchor program? What might that look like in June?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 32:23

In June, perhaps we have less campuses calling, right? Because we have built capacity. in June, perhaps we have enough runway underneath us that we can take this and begin to share it with other districts. right. I mean, this is not work that needs to just exist in the in our school district. Right. This is, hey, this is this is something that we want to share out. And you know, the, the, the more that we share it out,

right, as it continues to be implemented, we're gonna continue to find gaps, we're gonna continue to figure out ways to make it stronger. but I you know, I guess the success really is gonna be when when we've got when we've got capacity and readiness

Jack Arend 33:29

Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 33:29

on every campus. I I also believe, Jack. That higher ed needs to be offering some classes in this, right? The first time that teachers and administration and superintendents should be hearing about behavioral threat assessment, I'm not sure should be when they've landed on a campus, right?

Jack Arend 33:53

Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 33:54

and so I do think that there is there's work to do in at least introducing concepts much much sooner upright.

Jack Arend 34:05

It is it is an area of public education and the classroom teachers and you like you said administration both at the building and central office level. It is an area that we all know has be must take priority, right?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 34:23

Yeah.

Jack Arend 34:23

And so we all know the research about people feeling safe. We all know all of that. And It's our paramount duty

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 34:33

Yes.

Jack Arend 34:34

to create environments where each and every student and adult feel safe and can be their favorite version of themselves to really kind of dig into the learning. AWSP, yeah,

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 34:48

Yeah. And you know, we're

Jack Arend 34:49

go ahead.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 34:50

w we're gonna get better at it. If you think about when student threat assessments actually entered Washington State public schools, it really was not until 2019 20, after the the terrible Parkland incident in 2017. and so it is also The the slower start, so to speak, is also understandable because we have folks in in district office that perhaps were already off campuses and into their next journey of leading before this intervention really arrived. And so, much like perhaps the elementary principal that doesn't have many opportunities, thank goodness, to do threat assessments, I mean, the same can be said.

for our friends in district office as well, right? Who just happen to have missed that window of of time. So I do believe it's gonna get stronger and better as you know the natural progression happens.

Jack Arend 35:55

Yeah. People that are listening right now are just our putting that together. You said, it came into Washington in twenty nineteen. Well, we all know it happened in twenty twenty, right? And so many things, I like what you just said, but many things. I'm hearing a lot of people in K twelve education say, you know, post-COVID, we are getting better at this. And that that pin in the map of COVID, we had a lot of pre-COVID behaviors.

And post-COVID behaviors. But what's now starting to come to be more evident is the the the systems that people, districts like you and your collaboration with your ESD and all the this great team, how do we make this system better based on what we know about students and their needs and these threat assessments and why are we doing them? What why would we not do them? And all those things. So I'm really like what you said about that. We're

We are getting better. And we have people that are innovative like you and your district and your teams to say, well, let's look under the hood. Let's see

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 37:02

Yeah.

Jack Arend 37:02

what we need to do. And let's be really honest with each other. We have gaps to fill.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 37:07

Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with that. Gaps means that we're looking and we're we're actually doing the work. You know, I mean, post-COVID also has taken whole child education and like it we have to be whole child focus if we

Jack Arend 37:24

Yeah.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 37:25

are are showing up and meeting them, meeting them where they are, right?

Jack Arend 37:30

Yeah. You know, when I s when we started our conversation this morning, I talked about that this this podcast series that I get to do with amazing people like you. my job at AWS P one of my jobs is to connect things to our leadership framework, right? And as you've been talking, I've been flipping through the framework, and my gosh, you know, there's there's probably not a criterion that you haven't touched with this with this prog with this program, with this system.

You know, of course anyone would probably just turn right to criterion two about safety. You and I talked about culture. Like what is the culture of the building? This is about using data. This is about how do we engage the community? This is about I you and I could also say it's about closing the gap. How right? Yes. Yes.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 38:14

Yeah, I I would lean I would lean into that. right. I mean, it at Weston, we're building systems that are allowing kids to experience success. With Anchor, we are we're closing the gap on readiness and fidelity. you know.

Jack Arend 38:34

Yeah. Yeah, I do know. And you know it better than I do. I I really appreciate that. I really appreciate what it is that you're doing. again, for the listeners right now, Andrea has written an article that will be probably pretty soon on our blog, our AWS P blog, but it's gonna be also printed in our our print publication, the Washington Principal magazine. And And what I don't want you to do if you're listening, I don't want you to wait to read that or to wait till we get on the blog. Con contact Andrea. Man. One, you're gonna have a lot of fun. And two, this is what we do in education. And Andrea, you modeled that. We share, right?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 39:11

Yes.

Jack Arend 39:12

We and and we want other people to say, have you thought about? You know, all that kind of stuff. Really amazing. And so I know people are gonna be very excited to learn more about this. I I kind of want to sneak into a different little part right now if I can. And Andrea, I don't

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 39:26

Okay. Yeah, sure. Sure.

Jack Arend 39:28

know if you're gonna like this part. but I'm gonna share with the readers, not only is Andrea crushing it in Arlington, it she's being recognized across the state. For things that she's doing. And I I know you we didn't talk about that. I was gonna do this. And if you all could see her face right now, she's not super happy with me. But I wanted I wanted people to know that you you're the recipient of the Student Achievement Leadership Award, which is given out by Wasa for your region. First of all, congratulations! That's a big dang deal.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 40:03

Thank you, Chad. Thank you.

Jack Arend 40:08

I know this is gonna be tootin' horn and I know you would probably rather just have me be quiet right now,

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 40:12

Mm-hmm.

Jack Arend 40:13

but let's talk about the credit achievement plan. Let's talk about that. Just briefly, you got this award. Share with the listeners what's been happening with your team that brought this about.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 40:27

I got that award because I work with a fantastic staff at Weston and I am not being hyperbolic. the reason that we're able to remove barriers and we're able to have kids experience success is because we're all bought in and we're all showing up every day, willing to engage in creative intervention. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. so the credit achievement period, so to speak, it's called CAP. and so what we do at at Weston, we take the 180-day school year and instead of breaking it up into semester one and semester two, a long 90 days before a kid gets a reset and a restart, we basically take that program and we

chunk it up into little bite-sized morsels, little micro grading periods. They roughly are 20 to 25 days long, and they give kind of natural resets. So as long as a kid is has a passing grade at the end of a cap, it they get to keep that little sliver of partial credit, regardless of what happens in the next cap. And so You know, kids with with different needs and stories at times can, school can become something that is not top priority and that they're able to engage in. and they may have started out strong and then there may be a period where their focus is on something else and perhaps we're not seeing them as much. the beautiful thing with with this system is that all is not lost, right? We're we're

able to re engage them and again give them opportunities to taste that success. Right? That's success

Jack Arend 42:19

yes.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 42:20

begets success. It is yeah.

Jack Arend 42:23

And it's a I mean, as you explained that, it's also a system that provides hope.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 42:29

kim without hop, y no.

Jack Arend 42:30

What are we doing? If we're not if we're not helping people, if we're not creating hope as leaders, then what are we doing? Right? I

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 42:35

Right. Right.

Jack Arend 42:36

mean that's that's our that's our job. my gosh.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 42:39

Right. Well, and inside inside the Weston campus, like to give some examples of the the interventions that are just seamlessly woven, like sure, school starts at seven fifty-five and we want you there at seven fifty five. but maybe you show up at nine fifteen and you're hungry. Kitchen is long past closed. Well Go to the Weston vending machine and put in your number and get your free school breakfast, right? We've we've stocked it with breakfast and lunch so that we also are meeting food and security needs when the kids show up. It is our PE program. We have an unbelievable CTE slash PE.

Person. she's developed curriculum. You want to talk about trauma-informed PE classes? Like we have mindfulness, right? we've written grants to have built out an entire kind of wellness center that we have lovingly named after her, playing off the Air Jordan, Nikes. We call it Care Jordan. And it it just we've got animal assisted interventions, right? We've got the the golden retrievers that show up that I promise you are just as helpful to the adults as the kids in the building. So yeah.

Jack Arend 44:01

my gosh. We need more podcasts because now I need to know about Kara Jordan. I need about the breakfast vending machine. I gotta I wanna see a golden retriever. my gosh, we need to do more podcasts. I love

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 44:07

yeah. Right.

Jack Arend 44:12

it. And listeners, I know you're thinking right now, just just send her an email. my gosh, just connect with Andrea. So many cool things happening in Arlington on the Weston campus. I'm leaving with a a Page full of Andrew Dixon Hundredmark quotes. I love

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 44:30

Ha ha.

Jack Arend 44:30

that we're helping people taste success. I like that an idea is not implementation. I got a bunch of these I'm gonna be using. Thank you for sharing those. I'm I'm gonna start closing it up, but this is just gonna be a little fun. All right.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 44:42

All right.

Jack Arend 44:43

So w I am a reader, right? I didn't I wasn't

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 44:46

Okay.

Jack Arend 44:47

always a reader, and I'm kind of a reader now. And Sometimes I listen to the books, but my English teacher friends say that still counts. so

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 44:56

Mm-hmm.

Jack Arend 44:56

and for fun. Like this is reading for pleasure, right? Okay. So are you reading something for fun right now?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 45:03

Well, I am in graduate school, so everything is fun. I mean, who

Jack Arend 45:08

Ha ha ha okay.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 45:10

doesn't love quantitative research?

Jack Arend 45:14

Okay. Well, I'm gonna share with you that is not what I'm reading. And so I'm glad you

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 45:18

I get I I

Jack Arend 45:19

I'm glad you are enjoying that. And that's all you have to say. You're in grad school. my gosh, and you made time for this. Thank you. Thank you.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 45:26

yeah, yeah, of course. I do still though, I am a I do audiobooks. and I will tell you the the book that I even recommend it to students. The Unfettered

Jack Arend 45:37

Okay.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 45:38

Soul by Michael Singer is super wonderful.

Jack Arend 45:42

Okay.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 45:43

I it is you know, sometimes we can be our biggest critic, our own biggest critic, and we end up with narratives that can be limiting, right? I mean, adults, the the kids at Weston, the adults often have have some similar limitations that we put on ourselves. And that Michael Singer book is is one. It's it's a fantastic one.

Jack Arend 46:09

Say the title one more time.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 46:10

Sure, it's called The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.

Jack Arend 46:14

Okay.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 46:14

Yeah.

Jack Arend 46:15

I can already hear people going to their Amazon cart. Yep, it's probably already. Yeah, your local bookstore. Go to your local bookstore.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 46:18

No or your local bookstore.

Jack Arend 46:23

We have a we have a couple great ones here in Olympia. Hey, my last question. All right? I promise, my last one.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 46:27

All right.

Jack Arend 46:30

If you could offer one piece of leadership advice to other principals or assistant principals listening today, what would it be?

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 46:39

When you notice something, get curious before you get corrective. Right? Lean in and try and figure out what it is that perhaps is causing your curiosity to peak. It is oftentimes what we find is that it's not in alignment with our initial thoughts.

Jack Arend 47:05

Love that. Another one to add to my quote. Get curious before corrective.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 47:11

man.

Jack Arend 47:12

Be curious before you get corrective. Andrea, this this has been a joy. I mean that. thank you for carving out time in your very busy schedule to to meet with me today, to do this podcast. listeners, your day will be better if you connect with Andrea. It's really been fun for me. And we have school leaders out there doing amazing things. And it was really fun to highlight the cool things going on in Weston, your approach to leadership, your approach to students, and your approach to just being caring, right? It just is so evident. And I'm thankful for you, thankful that you are in our state. And I've got to figure out some way to get you a golf cart.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 47:54

please do, yeah.

Jack Arend 47:54

That's what I have to do. So thank you. We wish you nothing but a great school year. And we can't wait. So the article will come out in our print publications. And I don't know, Andrea, maybe we're gonna see you and your team presenting at summer conference. Something like that.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 48:09

Howdy.

Jack Arend 48:10

Just saying. So thank you so much. Have a great day.

Andrea Dixon-Hundredmark 48:14

You too. Thank you so much, Jack.