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Scott Muri - Superintendent Ector County (TX) Independent School District
29 Plays2 years ago
Scott Muri is a National Board Certified Teacher whose career has taken him to many different places. Now he applies his trade as the Superintendent of Ector County Independent School District in west Texas. He joined National Board Conversations as part of the #IAmAnNBCT campaign and discussed his career to date, and why he believes in National Board Certification.
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Transcript
Introduction to Scott Murie
00:00:00
Speaker
What's going on y'all? Welcome back to National Board Conversations. We are speaking with Scott Murie today. He's the superintendent of Ector County in Texas, or as he'll describe it, the Friday Night Lights Town. He plays a key role in the premier strategic grant we have to increase the amount of M-D-C-Ts in Texas and New Mexico. Don't let the fact that he's an administrator fool you, he's also a National Board Certified Teacher.
00:00:20
Speaker
He achieved as a member of the absolute first class of National Board certified teachers in 1994 and continues to champion the work of the National Board. I won't hold you any longer. Here's my conversation with Scott Murie.
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome to National Board Conversation. Scott, thank you for taking the time. Hey, you're very welcome. Glad to be here. All right, so we'll get into it very early.
Scott Murie's Background and Personal Interests
00:00:41
Speaker
So can you give us a brief intro of yourself? What's your current role right now? And then I got three little questions to get into you a little bit. Sure. Scott Murie, Superintendent, Ector County Independent School District. We're located in West Texas. So if you've ever watched Friday Night Lights, we're the home of Friday Night Lights, the book, the television show, the movie. That's all us.
00:01:02
Speaker
No, listen, man, I'm a big fan of both. There you go. I've got 50 yard line tickets. So you come on out. Listen, you ain't got to tell me twice. I'll be out there. There you go. Come on. Come on. All right. So what are your three favorite foods? Three favorite foods. Steak eater. So it's got to be Texas. We have to have beef. So got to have steak pizza lover.
00:01:24
Speaker
Okay. The third I would put gourmet, I just trying unusual or different foods are fascinating to me. So I put that in category number three. Okay. Okay. I like it. I like it. What's the, what's the, uh, I guess most out there food you'd be in. Oh, beef tongue. Oh, how's that for interesting? Very interesting.
00:01:47
Speaker
All right, last three songs on your Spotify playlist. I'm a radio head, so I enjoy things that are popular, but also enjoy oldies. So Elton John fan, a lot of his old stuff I think is interesting.
00:02:04
Speaker
And it's getting remade now with like... It is, it is. Which is fascinating. A lot of people take it in the oldies and we see that in everybody. It's definitely Elton has found a new audience thanks to current popular artists. So yeah, Billy Joel, best concert ever. Billy Joel, Elton John and concert together dueling pianos. Oh man, where'd you see him? So that was in Florida, Universal Studios many years ago. It was fascinating. 2,000 people theater in the round.
00:02:31
Speaker
Awesome. Oh, that sounds like spectacular. And so you traveled a bunch of or your career is taking you a bunch of places.
Scott's Career Journey and Teaching Philosophy
00:02:38
Speaker
So it has sports team that has your heart. And if you're not really a sports guy, a movie, you can recite line for line. Oh, no, it's all about sports. So I'm a Wake Forest graduate. So those demon deacons from Wake Forest, we had a tough day on and I was watching. We had a tough third quarter. But other than that, yeah, good, good team. But definitely any time Wake Forest is playing in any sport.
00:03:00
Speaker
Big fan there. Miami Dolphins fan in the NFL. Spurs fan. Texas has been a Spurs fan since the David Robinson era. So those are my biggies. Yeah. And an Astros fan right now. Go Astros. Listen, we have... But shout out to them for vindicating everything that's like, that they've had to deal with the last couple of years. Getting back there ain't easy. That's exactly right.
00:03:24
Speaker
All right, so we'll go on. Can you share why you became a teacher and why you remain connected to the field? Because you're not in the classroom anymore. Being a superintendent, your role is completely different. So why do you remain connected? Yeah, so I became a teacher. I went to college pre-med, so it was not. It was not even on your grade. No, it was. But service was. I was really pre-med. Pediatric surgery was my focus. So I knew I wanted to work with kids. Just didn't know the area. My mother was in the medical field. And that's probably what drew me into medicine and kids.
00:03:54
Speaker
But when I entered Wake Forest, quickly was introduced to the possibilities in education. So I became a teacher, taught for eight years, loved every minute of it, and then had the tap on the shoulder to become an administrator. And I just realized, you know, I enjoy teaching individuals, whether they're children or adults, and being an administrator in a superintendent today gives me a chance to do both. So what did you enjoy most about being a classroom teacher?
00:04:17
Speaker
experiences. So I taught math and science. Favorite part of the day, science experiments. I've always said, you know, science is an experience. It isn't something that you read in a book and answer the questions. It is actions that we take and always enjoyed creating experiences for kids in science to watch their eyes light up.
00:04:37
Speaker
No science can be fun. It was difficult for me like in the classroom, but the most fun was I always like the chemistry experiments. But you remember those that that's what kids need to remember science every day and we can make we can make that happen every day for kids. The challenges sometimes as teachers we don't always do that, but that is always our opportunity for sure.
00:04:56
Speaker
And so you're national board certified now because of being able to do special things like that. What pushed you to pursue board certification? And what was your journey like? Did you achieve on the first 10 or what happened? Yeah, so I was the first class. So way back in 1993. Oh, man. Yeah, I know. I know. I was 12 years old at the time. No, it's funny.
00:05:17
Speaker
So I started the process in 93 and then was certified in, in fact, I just looked certificate October of 1994. Among the first group in the nation, there were 81 of us across the country that were certified that very first year and got to go to the White House. And at that time, Bill Clinton was the president.
00:05:38
Speaker
you know, hung out in the White House for a little bit, celebrating the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. But it was a pretty arduous journey. There weren't, I didn't have anyone else in my school or community that was going through the process. So I did it alone and achieved it in that first time.
00:05:54
Speaker
Oh, that's tough. So that means you got the box, right? Like you got the box. Yes. In fact, I remember filling the box and then mailing the box with a billion dollar insurance policy because I felt like my whole life was in the box at that point sending it off and hoping for the best. Then you achieved so achieved. Yes. So how did achieve an impact your career?
00:06:18
Speaker
really changed the way I taught. First of all, it transitioned to me from really understanding that teaching is something that you do in front of kids, almost like the show and tell scenario, to really understanding that teaching is about learning.
00:06:35
Speaker
It only occurs when kids are learning, you know the National Board process made me a reflective practitioner. I had never really analyzed student work I hadn't really monitored the growth and progress of my students didn't know how to do that. And the board, the National Board process taught me to become a reflective practitioner taught me how to look closely at student work to ensure that every child is growing.
00:06:56
Speaker
as they should grow. And now in leadership, it's the same thing, working with the adults around me to make sure that they're being developed and that they're growing and improving each and every day. And then looking at evidence specifically that demonstrates that that fact is happening.
Impact of National Board Certification
00:07:13
Speaker
And you're a big champion for us over in Eckerd County with our Permian Strategic Base and Grant. It's been awesome to see the work you do all on social media. You're so active. I'm the person who gets to run our social media. I love seeing you. So you're there. And our mentions and all that stuff is great. As of a couple of minutes ago, I found out you guys have 128 candidates in that.
00:07:40
Speaker
area. What does it mean to have that many people in your area going through the process? Yeah, it means a lot. So I know as a superintendent and then having been through this process that those the National Board Certified Teachers are among the best in the country and the evidence supports that the National Board Certified Teacher outperforms a teacher that is not certified. They're more effective than other teachers and our students in our community deserve to have the very best teachers
00:08:05
Speaker
anything that we can do as an organization to build the capacity of our teachers, anything that we can do to build the profession is something that we need to do. And thanks to the Permian Strategic Partnership, they contributed $2 million to just our school district to really support the process. So today, you know, in fact, in Texas, the board certification process is paid for by the state of Texas. And then our funds are used to coach our teachers. So every teacher that goes through the process has a full-time coach that supports their development and
00:08:34
Speaker
And then we have also district staff, a team that supports the development of those individuals. At the end of the day, our kids win. When our teachers go through this process and become more effective, our kids win their experiences much more effective. So you guys have been really been able to build out a really robust program out there in the last couple of years.
00:08:52
Speaker
Yes, we have, we've been doing this work three years now and started, you know, with a small group of teachers going through the process, added about 30 more teachers this year or last year, and then have right at a hundred more teachers this year. So a significant number. In fact, our, our first group will submit and receive their information. They'll be notified in December of this year. For us, we're there. We're all excited for them and look forward to that opportunity for sure.
00:09:21
Speaker
Oh, every story I hear, I know they nervous. They are. I'm sure that after them for doing the work. Yeah, I did becoming board certified. Impact or help you in your current role as Superintendent now.
00:09:35
Speaker
I would start with reflective practitioner, even today as a leader, at the end of every day, just reflecting back on the day, whether meetings that I held with individuals or groups of people, conversations that I had, activities, events that I was a part of, the effectiveness of those things. What was the impact of each of those? Could I have done that better? Is there something that I could do as a superintendent to be more effective tomorrow than I was today?
00:10:01
Speaker
And then I also reflect on the organization, is there something that we as an organization can be better at tomorrow than we were today. So, number one is being a reflective practitioner. I've carried that with me since the day I was certified by the National Board.
00:10:17
Speaker
And the second thing is just excellence, you know, National Board certification is the gold standard of excellence in teaching and learning in our country and just always wanting, always aspiring to be excellent
Post-Pandemic Education Innovations
00:10:29
Speaker
in whatever capacity that I happen to hold, but also that the organization that I served was as
00:10:36
Speaker
the very best that they could be. So all about excellence, whether it's in the classroom or in leadership, making sure that we're always excellent. Because at the end of the day, we serve kids and our children, wherever they happen to live in this country deserve to be served by excellence. And so in your role, you're charged with keeping up with the ever changing needs of teachers and students. How do you do that?
00:11:01
Speaker
Lots of listening. You know, I have to listen to what's happening and listening comes through certainly conversations with people and understanding their values and struggles and opportunities, but also reading a lot. So listening to words, whether it's articles or information in print, but whatever comes my way, just making sure that I absorb all of that. And then it goes back to the reflection piece, reflecting upon what it is that I heard, and then using all of that to inform decisions that we make as an organization.
00:11:32
Speaker
So the pandemic has left us in a lot of weird spaces when it comes to education. What does some parademic ever change to education that you think have been effective and positive for students and teachers? A lot of people like to harp on a negative. What have been some positive changes that you've seen have been effective and helpful for students that we can keep going forward?
00:11:51
Speaker
Sure, we've certainly seen those. I think, again, while there are certainly some negative with virtual, we also have positives from our virtual experience today. In our organization, I have 6,000 students that have their own private tutor and all of those tutors access kids virtually. Those tutoring sessions take place during the day before the pandemic.
00:12:12
Speaker
I didn't have adults in our community that were able to serve the one-on-one tutoring needs of our kids. And so the pandemic really forced us to look outside of face-to-face individuals. And now we have people from all over the country that are tutoring our students, professionally trained tutors, and all of that happens virtually. So a huge learning from us from the pandemic perspective.
00:12:37
Speaker
social emotional learning. We had made some small investments in social emotional learning, but the pandemic really brought a new layer of challenge and opportunity for our students and our families. And so we've invested heavily in the social emotional learning supports that we provide for students and families in our organization.
00:12:58
Speaker
Thank you. So we're going to shift back to a little bit of stuff outside of your career. So you made several stops along your career. You've been a lot all over the South, Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, and now you're over in West Texas, East Texas. I used to live in Houston. I know this.
00:13:18
Speaker
Let's get some restaurant recommendations from the stops along your career. We'll start in Atlanta. What restaurant recommendation you got? Oh, in Atlanta, the Atlanta fish market. Got to go to the fish market.
00:13:30
Speaker
uh charlotte but mary maxx i have to look at mary maxx too oh mary maxx okay and in charlotte oh the my favorite place actually is closed in charlotte um so i it was a great Italian place that i used to go to um so me piacci is probably what i looked up in charlotte okay okay uh houston yeah
00:13:53
Speaker
instead of a restaurant in Houston, it's a whole road. Houston is the most diverse city in the country. And yeah, the diversity of food in that city is incredible. But they do barbecue really well. So I'd say Killian's Barbecue, best beef rib in my entire life, Killian's Barbecue. But if you're a foodie, Houston is the place to be.
00:14:17
Speaker
Listen, I live in D.C. now, and I can't do barbecue anymore outside of Texas. It's really painful. It's different. I tried a couple of spots here and it just all failed. So I'll meet you in Houston. We're going to Killen's for barbecue. All right, cool. And then your local's place, Odessa, Texas. Give us the rest of my pudding. Yeah, so I'd say Delicia's. It is a locally owned Mexican place that
00:14:42
Speaker
family recipes, they serve a local clientele. And one of the first places I went that continues to serve good food. So I enjoy that. Okay. Traditional experience. Okay. Okay. We'll try it out. We'll try it out. When we get out there, I'm going to do this 50 yard line. Are we going to go to there? You go. Come on out. Have those tickets waiting for you. All right. All right. What is the last book you read that took you into a completely different world?
Influences and Inspirations
00:15:07
Speaker
Mmm.
00:15:13
Speaker
I actually going to go back a few years to outliers outliers made me think about both ends we talk a lot in education about. The bell curve and.
00:15:29
Speaker
that outliers made me pay attention to the tips, the people on either end of that curve, which are the few that in one case produce excellence, but just the amount of time and energy and effort that it truly takes to be an outlier in whatever organization you have to be. And sometimes in education, we don't necessarily pay attention to our outliers because we're so focused on the majority.
00:15:54
Speaker
That book really helped shape my thinking in that all of our kids across the spectrum deserve our time and attention. Even the kids that sometimes seem to have it all together, they also need support and encouragement to be truly the outlier that they deserve to be. No, and it could be hard being an outlier because it's very lonely, like the bell curve. It's narrow for a reason. There's not a lot out there. That's exactly right. Absolutely. But those that do deserve to be pushed and supported and encouraged.
00:16:24
Speaker
And last one, if you had a talk show, who would be your top two guests? Well, you would be the first. Is that the right answer? I like it. I think a world, probably Mahatma Gandhi, I think there's a lot of great history there that would be interesting. Again, understanding the past and just an era of time would be fascinating if we can bring people back. In today's world,
00:16:53
Speaker
Elon Musk is a fascinating character. He did, he did. But for a variety of reasons, he has an interesting perspective. But really, he's when you think about outliers, you know, he was that kid in school that probably was at the tip. And he's able to been able to take what what his experiences and create a pretty interesting opportunity for himself in today's world and certainly a leader and an innovator and a thinker. So it'd be fun to understand what what makes him tick.
00:17:28
Speaker
All right. And on the podcast, we got a feature called the
Encouraging Professional Growth
00:17:31
Speaker
shoulder tap. So you'll be shoulder tapping, however many teachers you think are ready to go through the national board process. So with this context, Scott, who are you shoulder tapping to go through the process next year?
00:17:44
Speaker
I would actually lift up two groups of people in our district, we have a group of teachers that have proven their excellence. We have a program in our district called the teacher instead of allotment identifies the top 15% of teachers that grow kids at an accelerated rate so they have evidence of success.
00:18:01
Speaker
and we have currently 120 teachers in that pool. Some of those teachers are also in the national board process, but all of our teachers that are board certified. The second group I looked up would be our teachers of the year. Our schools do a great job of identifying
00:18:15
Speaker
They're shining stars at the local level, but every teacher of the year should explore this possibility. And so two groups of teachers that certainly, and I've actually done a good job of tapping them already, but they need to hear it publicly that they should pay attention. And really across the state of Texas, teacher incentive, a lot of teachers, any teacher in Texas that has proven themselves to be effective, this is the opportunity for them to next level. All right, and where can the people find you on social media?
00:18:42
Speaker
I'm a Twitter and LinkedIn in my two areas. So Twitter account is Scott Muri, S-C-O-T-T-M-U-R-I. And then LinkedIn, you can just search my name, Scott Muri, M-U-R-I, and find me on LinkedIn, so those are my two areas. All right, thank you for the time, Scott. I really appreciate it. And I really welcome Eddie. Thank you for the opportunity.
00:19:01
Speaker
Scott is such a fun character. I'm really well spoken. I had a lot of fun talking with Scott. Make sure you write down those restaurant recommendations. I know I am. Anyway, thanks again to Scott for taking the time to chat with me and thank you for listening to National Board Conversations. And be sure to follow us on all our social media and we'll see you next time.