< Back to Interviews

David C. Swanger, Director at Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center

What was your prototype focused on?

We were presented with the dilemma around equity, and the part we focused on was the disparity between and opportunities for specific student groups in regard to access to specialized programs. Whether that concern is real or perceived, that was the issue our team worked on. This process is very involved— nothing like I anticipated. It’s very time-demanding; it’s constant work. It definitely incorporates a deeper learning: you are looking at big-picture things and then trying to drill down to specifics and collect information from every stakeholder group to find out what might be the right resolution for this issue. So over the course of time, we culled down our dilemma from one that was really huge to one that was rather simple: the lack of equitable access to opportunity for under-represented student groups. We believe the challenge existed in part because of inconsistent communication between parents and families and our schools, so we explored the possibility of creating a community liaison role, which we thought would bridge the communication divide between home and school and provide support, not only for families, but also members of the community, so everyone will have a better understanding of what specialized programs were available to students. We came up with a draft of a job description and then we presented it in survey form to stakeholder groups. Initial data was very positive, and then we went back to the drawing board; now that we had that data, we had to go out and do some community work and reach out to different community groups that would be representative of the folks we are trying to reach in the underrepresented groups.

We created a presentation that provided general information about several of the specialized programs of Virginia Beach, and when we presented to our first group it was a group of parents from Title I schools. We presented the information and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. [The opportunity to] learn about these programs, that there are deadlines and application processes, that they have to start prepping in middle school to create space to participate in some of these programs. The first part of the meeting we had parents talk about their kids and their strengths, and then they had to sort through career cards [considering what future careers might be great fits for their kids]. The Title 1 group, who organized the meeting, came up with that and it was perfect. So I listened to each of the parents, and I heard them choose careers that were associated with programs that offered the paths to those careers. A child wants to be a nurse? We have an LPN program in VBCPS. Someone mentioned her daughter loved to cook, and we have one of the best culinary arts programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Our team made it personal with the folks that were there. The second presentation we did was in a community that is subsidized, really low socio-economic status, and it was really an eye-opening experience. I had passed by, but never been in the community. When we went in it was hard; the community center folks had gone out and solicited families to come, but we only had four to five parents, two community members, and then some high school-age students. When we shared the information, it was like someone had turned on stadium lights in regard to just a flood of information that they were unaware of and the questions they asked — they were just really engaged in our conversation and really receptive to what we said, and that was an awesome experience.

Virginia Beach is just a snapshot of society; it has its wealthiest of wealthy and poorest of poor, represented across every culture and ethnicity. I really believe that it needs to be a priority to find a way to communicate this information to have resources available for everyone, especially under-represented groups, brown, black, poor, non-native Americans. I don’t know if this community liaison position is the answer or not; I’m not sure if it will be funded. It’s a lot of money we’re talking, creating a new position and hiring employees for it. We’re working out the details, but the overall consensus is there’s a need to have someone share this information and the small groups that we talked to felt as though it would be a good idea.

WHAT HAS BEEN MOST MEANINGFUL FOR YOU IN THIS PROCESS?

I’ve always been passionate about equity and equality. I came to Virginia Beach from an extremely rural, small, backwoods mountain hometown, not a very diverse community. We didn’t have a whole lot of money. Things were a lot slower, and I moved to Virginia Beach when I was in seventh grade, and it was a huge culture shock. These kids were rich; I never had seen the kinds of shoes and clothes these guys were wearing. It was really hard. It was a hard transition. I’ve always been a firm believer in doing whatever can be done for any and everybody you can possibly do it for. Having such a diverse school with students with needs that run the gamut and talking and developing the relationships and knowing what they need, and doing everything in our power, pulling staff together, getting them on board, to really provide those opportunities on an individual level — that’s our entire premise of what we do at the tech center, so I love this work, and it gives me great satisfaction to know that I have an entire building full of folks to help any kid at any time to get them over the hump. Buying some uniforms, paying a fee, or giving them meals, or something to take home to eat over the weekend, buying gift cards so you know they are taken care of, so they can have the same playing field as everyone else. When 2Rev presented at the administrators conference, they came and visited the tech center, and when Dr. Robertson presented looking for some volunteers to participate, saying “it’s a serious commitment so if you’re interested let me know,” I said, “Hey, I’m all about the equity piece, I would love to be part of this.”

HOW IS THIS WORK DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU EXPECTED?

What I expected was we meet four times, we go over some stuff, do a little work, and then somebody would come up with an idea that came to the forefront. I didn’t really think at the beginning that it was going to be as serious. It’s a serious process; it’s no joke; it takes a lot of time; you have to be invested in this process and if not, you’re going to be ineffective. 2Rev didn’t pick us out of the blue; we met the criteria. This school division really wants to improve things; you don’t want to let those folks down; you don’t want the school division to look bad; you want to do everything you can to support everything that’s taking place and try to resolve an issue. It really has been an eye-opening experience. I am a hands-on learner; it takes me awhile. I sit through a lot of training sessions and courses and PD activities and, a lot of folks, as soon as they hear the stuff, they are on it, but I have to process it for a little while, get my strategies down and my mindset right, and then get to work knowing exactly where you’re going and what you’re doing. We had a strong group of folks to work with. We started out with a big group and some people dropped out; our jobs are difficult and carving out any time is difficult, but if I volunteer for something I am going to see it through and get it done and give 100 percent because I am an ex-football coach and I am all about game planning and winning.

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST LEARNING?

The biggest learning was when there’s a task at hand, I utilize my prior knowledge, my organizational skills, utilize available resources, and I jump on it and I stay on it. I am a list maker, and I check my list off, and if I still have an item on my list and it’s not completed I don’t rest until the task is completed. That’s what was tough for me — I am working on everyone else’s schedule, so that’s a struggle for me, and we all have our own lives and we’re in different places. But everybody really pulled together and worked it out, and we came in strong there at the end.

WOULD YOU ENGAGE IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN?

I will say yes, if it’s something that I am passionate about, because you really have to see the purpose behind everything and believe in that purpose, and if not, you are not going to do justice to the work. It would definitely need to be something that I personally find extremely important. This is one of the top things for me, the equity piece.

WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED?

It was very organized. I am a concrete guy. I love “Here’s what we got, here’s what we have to do.” When it’s a little loose and opportunities to be creative, it takes me a little while in that kind of setting. The 2Rev folks provided tremendous support, kept everyone organized and focused, and it was a really good process. I liked it, it was exciting, it was a great learning experience.

I have a better understanding of what I am trying to do. First couple of meetings I was still trying to pull it together. It’s a great way to come up with resolutions to issues or problems, it can’t be one person — it takes a team to do this kind of work. I think I have a really good understanding now of this process and find value in the process, and I think something good is going to come out of it. I don’t know what the actual outcome will be, but at least it got the ball rolling in regard to conversation about needs and whether it be a community liaison or it be some type of training or resource for every faculty member that could be used to help hold those conversations with kids and parents, we got it going.