NEWS
BY AMY SCHNEIDER
Q&A WITH GUSTAVO BALDERAS
New 4J superintendent discusses his first month on the job
A
s a child, Gustavo Balderas attended school in the
tiny rural town of Nyssa in Eastern Oregon.
Balderas’ parents did not speak English, but his
kindergarten teacher reached out to them, he
says, in an act of kindness that he has always
remembered. “She connected to my mom and dad and
made them feel welcome,” he says. “She really stands out
to me as impacting my decision to go into education.”
Balderas, Eugene School District 4J’s new
superintendent as of July 1, comes to Eugene from the
Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach,
California, but his Oregon connections run deep. In
addition to growing up in Oregon, he taught high school
and worked as a counselor in the Hillsboro School District,
and all of his degrees, including a Ph.D. from the UO, are
from Oregon universities.
4J’s last superintendent, Sheldon Berman, left the
district after orchestrating his own exit at the school
board’s request, according to a series of Register-Guard
articles published earlier this year. Parents and community
members have noted a lack of communication between the
district and its stakeholders.
Balderas says he wants to develop a plan for the district
that centers around stakeholder input, and he says he’s
passionate about promoting diversity and serving
underprivileged kids.
EW sat down with Balderas to discuss his educational
experiences and his role in shaping the future of 4J. Kerry
Delf, 4J’s associate director of communications, was also
present for the interview.
What do you think is the correct approach for getting more
funding for schools?
I don’t know that there’s one correct approach. Every
state does things a little differently. Proposition 30 in
California was passed [in 2012] and it was a statewide tax
measure that was able to generate some income to keep
our schools above water. Since then, the economy has
improved, so there are more resources for our kids in our
schools.
That’s one way of doing it, but I think we really need to
look at the inherent process that we have right now for
funding here in Oregon. We need to take a hard look.
We’ve talked about it for a lot of years, and I think
something needs to be done to create a more permanent
solution to the issue. Or else it’s going to continue to be an
issue. It’s something that is critical for our communities
and our students.
4J Board Chair Jim Torrey told EW that he liked your approach
to “strategic planning.” Could you explain what that means?
What I want to do this year is develop a community
engagement plan that drives what we do in the next three
to five years. The community engagement plan, aka the
strategic plan, really would drive what we do as well as
align the board goals to that.
What I envision is having a multi-stakeholder group of
community leaders, parents, staffers and, of course,
teachers and classified [staff] to get together to determine
what we want the district to look like.
Of course, it’s a lot more complicated than that, but in
simplistic terms, it’s an action plan that drives what we do
— gathering as much stakeholder input as we can to move
forward.
Could you give specific examples of what that might look
like?
Absolutely. I’ve done this in every district I’ve been in.
What it will look like is having a meeting here, and first of
all identifying 40 to 50 people in the community who
would drive things. We would then have a facilitator come
‘What I envision is
having a multi-
stakeholder group of
community leaders,
parents, staffers and, of
course, teachers and
classified [staff] to get
together to determine
what we want the
district to look like.’
— Gustavo Balderas
4J Superintendent
in and help guide the work to lead folks in coming to a
determination of the key elements that we want to look at
to improve the district.
From those key elements, typically you find four to five
strands, and from those four to five strands, we have action
teams that are led by district folks but also involve
community leaders to help frame that up. For example, one
of the strands could be “better communication with our
communities.”
What’s missing, if anything? How do we frame it up for
improvement? Weed the garden if things aren’t working
really well. With that, the community is involved with
directing the path of the district. I think that’s essential,
since we’re here because of kids and we’re here because of
community.
Are there any other things you think the district might need to
work on?
I have a 100-day plan, and that means I’m doing a lot
of listening and learning. So I plan to do a lot of listening
in the community. That’s why my days are packed with
meetings. And in my meetings, I ask questions.
So that’s one of the things that I’m doing right now. I’m
doing a lot of listening and a lot of learning, on top of the
day-to-day superintendent duties. The school district still
needs to run, so we’re still moving forward, but I’m doing
a lot of that because I think that’s essential for me to really
understand the community, as well as understand the
district, before any change really happens.
Sometimes in those informal conversations you get
some gems in terms of what people are feeling about the
system. The more I can connect out there, the more I can
gather information and get a good trend line as to what’s
needed.
EW’s spoken with a lot of parents in this community who have
strong opinions on standardized testing. What is your
position on the Common Core State Standards and testing in
general?
First of all, there’s Common Core and there’s testing, so
I kind of want to put them in two buckets.
So, Common Core: We have state standards that we
need to teach to. We don’t have an option on that. So, the
state standards are what they are. Sometimes what you’ll
find with the Common Core State Standards is it’s really
just a realignment of the standards, but in a certain subject
matter it’s the teaching that’s involved and changed. For
example, math is now more spiraled and more center-
based, and there’s a more collaborative approach to
learning.
What people try to do when adopting state standards is
look at what’s expected in the workforce. When you work
nowadays, in business or any situation, the expectation is
that you collaborate. You’ve got to learn how to play nice
in the sandbox. That’s what the Common Core tries to do.
The state testing is another box, and that’s a work in
progress. We’ve been doing testing for a long time. In
Oregon, we’ve been doing online testing for a long time. I
think it’s just assessing how we can continue to improve
the system since it’s new and making sure we’re doing
what’s right for students.
You have a background in working for underserved and
underprivileged students. Are you planning to continue that
work in 4J?
Yes, continue the work, and work with as many
partners as we can get to continue the work. And help
people understand why the work is important for all kids.
We need to meet all kids where they’re at in terms of grade
level, and if I could, I’d develop a personal education plan
for every student.
Every student has a connection in school, regardless of
the color of their skin or the language they come with. I
think it’s about making sure we have a moral obligation to
every student. And we need to make sure we’re meeting
every student’s needs, regardless of skin color or language,
and knowing full well that sometimes kids who look a
little different to the mainstream need a little extra because
of the fact that maybe they have a learning disability or a
language deficit. It’s not intelligence deficit, it’s a language
deficit. So making sure people understand how to work
with all kids.
I’ll definitely continue the work. It’s part of my core,
and it will always be part of my core. ■
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • A UGUST 6, 2015
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