Echoes of Us 3/22/26

Hey, hey, hey, everyone. Welcome back to Echoes of Us. I'm Arata Odaya. And I'm Sarah Bien-Aimé. You know, our podcast is all about those in the community who inspire us in a culture that shapes us. And today we not only have one guest, but two guests from the Springfield School Committee. So let's start with the first guest, which is Miss Denise Hurst, a lifelong Springfield resident and an accomplished civic and educational leader with more than 15 years of service on a Springfield School Committee. She was elected in 2009 And with over 30 years of experience in education, Dr. Sonia Dinal serves as a classroom teacher, school leader and administrator. Notably, she is the first woman and first black woman to serve as superintendent in the history of Springfield Public Schools. And we welcome them both. Thank you for joining us. How are you guys doing today? Great. Good. No where else you'd want to be on this call in the afternoon. That's right. So glad you guys could join us and we have a lot to talk about. So let's get right into it. So let's start with what are your roles? What is your title? And what does that entail? Because, you know, we hear about titles, but you know, what do you guys truly do day to day? What is the core? And whoever can go first. I'll let you go, Madam Chairwoman. So I am an at-large school committee member, and I think that's important to note because at-large members means that we run citywide versus in a particular ward or section of the city. So we represent all of the residents throughout the entire city of Springfield. And while we have three particular roles as school committee members, that is defined by by the state, which is to oversee our budget to hire and work with our superintendent. And why am I forgetting the third one? Policy. It's a lot. It's a great policy to ensure that the students that are charged to us day in and day out receive the education that they deserve. But for me, I think that one of our most important roles as school committee members is to support our superintendent. And you all do a phenomenal job. So I greatly appreciate all that you all have done, especially Denise Hurst. She is one of my staunch supporters and advocates. And I tell you, it really is meaningful. So all of them support me. But I just really need to shout out Denise Hurst, president of Massachusetts Association of School Committee. Hey, yes, yes, yes. And then another reason why we wanted to bring the Springfield School Committee here is because they're making history this year, you guys. Everyone that is on there is a person of color and that is really big. And then, Denise, you were the highest vote getter in this recent race as well. So I have to mention that too. So congrats to that as well. So I spoke with Ayanna Crawford about what this meant because she ran twice and finally got a seat. But I wanted to get both of you guys' perspective. How does it feel to be making history? Herstory. Yeah, man, that was a good one. I mean, I think it feels good, right? Like, how could we say that it that it doesn't? I mean, I think it really depicts that we have come a long way and we still have a lot further to go. When I ran 16 years ago, it was the first year that we went to ward representation and we did not necessarily have the same representation that we have now. It took about another cycle for us to get a majority minority school committee. And what I think is really important is that we can't lose sight of the gains that we've made because we can easily find ourselves going backwards. And so as someone who has an opportunity to look at school boards or school committees all across the nation and across the Commonwealth, there are very, very few that look like Springfield. But yeah, so it's humbling to make history. Technically, I'm not part of the school committee and I must set the record straight. I refer to Denise as Madam Chair. She's not the chair of the Springfield School School Committee. She is one of the members. But however, she is president of the other organization that I mentioned and does many other things, wear many other hats. And so back to making history again, very humbling. Did not expect to be making history. I'm very grateful that I am part of history. And I do feel a responsibility to ensure that this history making moment, this history making error is not one that is forgotten. I really am conscious of the fact that often those of us who make history have to make sure that it's positive history, that is impactful history, that is the type of history worth trying to repeat and duplicate. So the goal really is to ensure that not only being the first black woman, not only being the first woman of the school committee, but to ensure that our students, our district experience unprecedented gains and academic success under this super majority on the school committee, as well as under my leadership as the school committee supports me. So will this be in like the history books, too? Because I think it needs to in Springfield Public Schools. I really do. I think it actually will be. Honestly, I there was so much joy and excitement this last election, and people were really excited about the face of the school committee. And, you know, I think people are paying attention. They're paying attention to what's happening nationally. They're paying attention what's happening statewide and they're paying attention clearly what's happening locally. And so I do think that it'll go down in the history books. It I think it it definitely would always garner a lot more attention. But I think that it garnered enough that it cemented the fact that there was history made for sure. Well, that's awesome. Well, thank you both for sharing. We're going to take a quick break. But after the break, we do want to talk about some new data that came out about students in the school system. And we definitely want to share this exciting news. So we'll talk about it when we get back. But you're watching Echo's Bus. Welcome back to Echo's of Us. So we have two special guests here and we want to talk about some exciting news or some new data that came out. More students in Springfield Public School systems, the Springfield Public School system, excuse me, are graduating more and dropping out less. And we obviously want to hear from both of you about how you feel and talk a little bit more about those numbers as well. OK. So we're really grateful that students, more of our students are graduating in four years. So the rate that you're referring to is what we call the four year graduation rate or the four year cohort graduation rate. That means four years ago, students entered in the ninth grade and fast forward four years to the class of 2025. It means more of them graduated quote unquote on time. They graduated within the four years that we usually allot to a traditional pathway towards high school completion. So we are grateful. I have to make sure that I acknowledge the hard work and the dedication of my school based staff, my principals. When we saw the initial drop in with the class of 2024 between class of 2023, class of 2024, there was a decline. I gathered my principals together. They put together a plan and lo and behold, they implemented those plans with fidelity. And this is what we see with the class of 2025, intentional strategic work, data driven work, data driven decision making that really pushed the graduation rate up by a little more than three percentage points. So we're really grateful for that. And as you know, as the graduation rate increases, our dropout rate decreases. So we know now some students are going to take a little longer to graduate, maybe five years, perhaps even six years for a lot of competing priorities that are going on in their lives. But we encourage them to continue to persevere. And even if it takes them a little longer than the traditional four years, we're there with them. We're supporting them. We're providing that academic rigor for them in order for them to realize their goals and their dreams of becoming a high school graduate. So we're grateful. I can't take credit. I appreciate the support of the school committee and most definitely applaud my high school principals and their staff members who really made this happen. I would also like to add that I recently did a story that you guys have now added an alumni spotlight onto the Springfield Public Schools website. So that encourages students to continue going and stuff like that, too. What inspired that new website or like new page on a website? Well, I definitely was inspired to brainstorm with my communications team and create the new website. I definitely wanted to make it a place that was user friendly, that communicated and also celebrated. We have to make sure that we stop and celebrate our wins. We have to make sure that, yes, we sound the alarm. There is urgency. We have a long way to go. But I have to acknowledge the hard work and the dedication of our unsung heroes inside and outside of the classroom. So we wanted to make sure that not only did we honor our PK through 12 students who are doing amazing jobs, learning and growing and developing and being the best they can be, but also looking at our alumni. So I was fortunate to be friends with the grandmother of our keynote speaker from the state of the schools that we just had in January of 2026. And she just casually text me a photo of him in his jump uniform and his pilot uniform or whatever that uniform was. But he is a member of the Air Force. And I was just so excited to learn that he graduated from our high schools. And with that, along with one of our four strategic goals and strategic plans, post-secondary success, I figured what better pairing than to take our strategic priority of post-secondary success and show people that this is possible. There's no better way to demonstrate the possibilities than to have someone who has achieved those goals. So we decided to move it not just to a once a year event, but to put it on our website. Got a lot of success coming out of Springfield Public Schools. I'm sitting next to one of them. Yeah, I'm so glad you see so far that has you know, you're seeing this momentum, you're seeing kind of the school system kind of kind of pick up in a way. And it's awesome to see. So what have you been seeing so far? Yes. I mean, I I echo all of Dr. Dunn's sentiments. And I am a Springfield Public School graduate. She's a Springfield Public School graduate. Wow. OK. My spouse is a Springfield Public School graduate. My siblings. If you look at the school committee, a Vice-Chairman, Tonya Monroe-Naylor is a Springfield Public School graduate. Miss Ayanna Crawford is a Springfield Public School graduate. Gomercindo Gomez Jr. is a Springfield Public School graduate. The mayor is a Springfield Public School graduate. And so for me, I think it's really important to highlight the fact that there is good happening and there are really notable folks that are coming out of our district, whether they're making an impact here in Springfield, whether they're going on to be in New York or Boston or overseas. Like there are good people coming out of Springfield. And I think it's really important because the students that we have in our care right now, they have to see that. Yeah, they have to see it in order to believe it. And they have to be able to say like, oh, yeah, she did it or he did it. Like I can do it, too. And I also think that it really helps to mitigate the sentiments that Springfield Public Schools are awful or Springfield Public Schools are bad or like who sends their kids there. And and that's just not the case. Like I have two young sons that attend Springfield Public Schools. And quite frankly, I'm not so sure that I would send them anywhere else. I'm really excited about what it is that they're getting. Like I want them to be around different students who come from different walks of life, who have had different challenges and have had to persevere. Like I want them to be well-rounded individuals. I want them to be exposed to diverse staff, and I want them to be proud of their city. And if our graduation rate doesn't increase, then that means that there's a direct impact on our labor workforce. That means there's a direct impact on our economic development. That means there's a direct impact on the young people that think about making Springfield their home. And so for me, it's a bit selfish because I want these students to graduate, to go out, see the world, have a great time and then come back, right? Well, it runs deep, right? Yeah, it's deep and it's serious. Like there's a real I have like a real passion about it. And not everybody that I went to high school decided to come back. And it's funny, I sometimes you know, I was having dinner with somebody in Washington, D.C. who was from Springfield. And he said to me, like, I can't believe you stayed. And I didn't stay entirely. Like I went away to school. I lived overseas for a small bit of time. And then I came back and it was the best decision that I that I made. And I know that decisions are everybody has to make the best decisions for them. But I feel like this real responsibility to me. Yeah, definitely. We do have to take a commercial break, but we'll be right back. We have so much more to talk about. Yeah, watching Echoes of Us. All right. We are back for the last segment of Echoes of Us with our Springfield school public public school system. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. So now we just want to know, like, what do you do on your free time other than being a superintendent, other than being a school committee member at large? What do you do? You have time. Yeah. I defer to Miss Hurst. I will let her go first. So I feel really blessed and fortunate to have the roles that I have, and I feel as though I've made a real commitment to have fun in them so that they don't necessarily feel like work. Sometimes they do feel like work. But I have two young sons and well, one is in high school and the other one is still in elementary school. And we spend a lot of time traveling with their sports. They play football and basketball and so that is really, really fun for me. We're a very competitive family. And so I'm that mom on the sideline who's like yelling. And we try to, like, really make that be family time for us. I love eating. I love going out to different places. I love to travel when I can. What else do I do? I mean, I'd never mind a spa day of course, when I can take a week to do that. I mean, we keep a good balance, right? Yeah, and sometimes I have to force myself to embrace that that balance. And then sometimes, you know, you have to work hard because, you know, that on the other side of it, you're going to be able to play. I love that. Yeah, I'm over here taking notes. I'm just going to be totally transparent. I struggle with self-care and finding joy for the journey. So for the last several years, I was one of the primary caregivers for my mom. So my life was totally changed. But I once now that she has transitioned and I have some more time back, this role really does take a lot of my time. It's long hours. But I have to be honest, I do enjoy my current role, even with the long hours, just interacting with the students, interacting with the school based staff, interacting with our unsung heroes. So, for example, we started this little celebration called Coco for Crossing Cards. So just going out and handing a cup of hot chocolate to our crossing guards and just thanking them for being those unseen heroes brought so much joy to my day. And so interacting with our staff members who helped to get this job done is part of my joy for the journey. But I don't want to sound like too corny. So self-care is hard, right? That is hard, especially with jobs like the ones outside of the office. I promise I do. But I am really trying to reestablish that. So travel is one huge thing that I always love to do. So I'm reclaiming that and doing some, you know, some really nice vacations every summer and little, you know, trips in between whenever I get a day off here or there and just really spending time with family and spending time with family. So we're a small, close-knit family. Just really making sure that I carve out intentional time to spend with my family. So I'm going to try this spot. Yeah, right, right, right. And both of you guys mentioned traveling. So where have you guys traveled to? Any recent ones or not yet? Or something in the books? Yeah. So I'm waiting for schedules to get dropped. OK, OK. It's like hanging in the balance until the schedules come out. But I'm headed to San Antonio and a couple of weeks from now at the National School Boards Conference. OK, I always try to make something of those particular trips because I'm there, right? So, like, I really want to go and see, like, the Alamo or something like that. The river walk. Yeah, the river walk. And, um, I mean, wherever I go, I like to try and do something like find some time to carve out. But I'm a beach bum. So I love being on the beach. I love it. So am I. And I particularly love to be in the Caribbean. Oh, um, but yeah. Well, that sounds real nice. Yeah. With this weather? Yes, absolutely. It's been it's been a long winter. Oh, yeah. I feel like it's been going on forever. And spring just what hit yesterday. Spring has sprung, right? Yeah, right. OK, yeah, I feel like. Yeah. And what about you, Dr. Donal, where have you traveled to? I've traveled a few places outside of the U.S., South Africa, Israel, all the little Caribbean islands on my cruises, because I love cruising. Oh, if you say cruise, I'm already on the boat. And so this summer we're going to Europe. So I'm looking forward to that and just plan on, you know, crossing, checking stuff off of my list of places that will bring me joy. A nice escape. Yeah, absolutely. We're looking forward to it. France. Oh, France. Oui, oui. Yeah. Sorry, that's all I know. That was corny. I'm sorry. That's the fun side. I went to Portugal last summer. My son was playing basketball in Portugal and we went and I ziplined from Portugal into Spain. You're kidding. I was scared. And I've never done that before. And it was very. It was amazing. I had the jitters the whole time. As we were like being driven up this mountain in Spain. And then I looked across this massive body of water and it just looked like Portugal was like a million miles away. And then I was like, I'm never, ever going to do this again. And I have to do it. You ziplined over water? Over water. Into Portugal. And it was amazing. Kudos, man. I tell you. You guys. We're out of time. We got people on and on and on. We're going to do this offline for sure. But we thank you both for joining us. We need to know you guys a little bit more. So I appreciate that. You'll have to have us back on. Yes, for sure. You already know. We're sure, we're sure. Well, thank you again. And you guys, you heard from our friends from the Springfield Public School System. And next week we have a special guest, but we're not going to tell you who it is. You have to just watch. Come on. We want to do that to you. Well, thank you all for watching. This is Echoes of Us. Bye.