From Policy To Practice w/Executive Director Christie Imholt

In this episode of Leadership Laps, we sit down with Christie Imholt, Executive Director of Policy and Strategy, in her eighth year with Aurora Public Schools. Christie shares her remarkable journey from classroom teacher in Boston, Washington DC, and Arlington to federal education policy work with the Department of Education, the White House, the House of Representatives, and the American Enterprise Institute, and finally to district-level transformation in Denver and Aurora. She discusses her leadership of major APS initiatives including Blueprint APS and the development of Destination APS, our district's strategic plan that has become our North Star. Christie offers insights about the relationship between policy and practice, how change actually happens in education when you've worked at every level, and what it takes to build consensus and move forward together toward a shared vision.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

There's something powerful about the journey of leadership, the daily steps, the long-term vision, and everything we learn along the way. Welcome to Leadership Labs, where we explore these journeys with the incredible leaders of Aurora Public Schools. In each episode, we hear from those who are helping guide our district for destination APS, sharing their stories, their challenges, and the lessons they've learned along the way. Today I'm joined by Christy Imhol, our Executive Director of Policy and Strategy. In her eighth year with APS, Christy has led some of our most significant strategic initiatives, including Blueprint APS and the development of our district strategic plan, Destination APS. I first met Christy years ago when I was a principal in another district, and she was leading teacher leadership work. Her journey spans classrooms in Boston, Washington, D.C., and Arlington, federal policy work with the Department of Education, the White House, the House of Representatives, and the American Enterprise Institute, and district level transformation in both Denver and now in Aurora. So we're going to explore how she's dedicated her career to making change through both policy and practice. Christy, welcome to Leadership Labs.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Thanks, Jesus. Excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Tell us a little bit about who you are and what your role as executive director of policy and strategy looks like.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah, so I am originally from Connecticut, grew up in the suburb of New Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of two educators and the middle of three girls. I then spent the first part of my adult life living in Washington, D.C. for about 13 years. And I'm proud to say that I've now lived in Colorado for 11 as of last week. And I considered myself I'm an educator, a former high school social studies teacher, passionate about civic engagement. I am a daughter, a sister, a partner, and probably my most proudest role right now is being an aunt to my nieces and nephew.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Amazing. And uh Christy and I have a Connecticut connection. I am also from New Haven, Connecticut by marriage. And uh uh if I if I could throw a curveball your way, would love to remind me uh which pizza franchise you're a fan of.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

So I am a Peppy's fan. Um I do take my pizza very seriously. Um I've learned to broaden all different kinds, Chicago, uh Detroit style, but you know, my preference is always New Haven style and um a Peppy's pizza if I can get it. So I try to do that whenever I'm going to visit my parents back there.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

And we are a modern pizza uh family. And uh uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Regardless, New Haven pizza, you can't go wrong.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Yeah, yeah. It's funny. Um, you know, we we've we've ventured into and learned to appreciate, you know, pizza like blue pan as well. But uh yeah, thank you. Thank you for the the the quick pizza detour.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah, absolutely. Always happy to talk about pizza.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah. Uh you're a University of Chicago and Harvard graduate, and you started your career in the classroom. And curious what first drew you to education and and why did you choose to begin your career as a teacher?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah, so um a couple things. One, as I said, I'm the daughter of two educators. So every dinner table conversation was either about your own schooling or my parents' work, which meant it was always about school. So that kind of always was front of mind. Um I was the kid who would sit in class and go, well, if I was teaching this class, what would it look like? Right. And think about that a lot. Um, and I always thought though I'd go into more kind of, I think, policy and strategy like I am now. But um, I had the opportunity when I was in college in Chicago, um, my campus job was I uh was a classroom assistant in a third grade classroom in Chicago. Um, and so I got to go help work and help do and pull small groups for literacy or math. And I really um enjoyed that a lot. And that was a great way for me to then both connect with the community, but also then get some experience of what it was like in the classroom. Um, and right out of college, you know, I thought, okay, I'm gonna go, you know, make a big impact in policy. I moved to Washington, D.C. from Chicago and I got a job at a think tank. When for those uh, you know, think tanks spend a lot of time doing research, they writing papers, right, telling people what they should be doing. Um, and I realized really quickly that that wasn't actually making an impact on like the kids that I had worked with in Chicago. And I decided that I wanted to make a more direct impact and had the opportunity then to um go and go to one of the best schools of the country at Harvard and pursue my teacher training. And I thought teachers should be pursuing their training at the best institutions they can for kids. So that's what kind of brought me is making that impact on kids.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Amazing. And you taught in in Boston and in the Washington, DC area. Yeah. Um what did those classroom experiences teach you about education and equity?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, uh I learned a lot. I learned a lot about just what the experiences were like for kids that was different than my own growing up in a middle class, um, you know, suburban school where my mom was an educator, right? And um I learned that that kids had different experiences. I think I also learned that like there were so many different ways kids could thrive um and show their like an excel. I think about like one student I had when I uh my first couple of years I taught at a school that was focused on policy, and all the kids got to do internships when they were um juniors. And I had this student that I taught in in uh history class, and he did well, you know, he did fine. It wasn't, he didn't excel. And then I got to supervise him in his internship, and his job was to like create the social media um, you know, sort of profile for a nonprofit, and he just thrived. And it was like so cool to get to see kids like thrive and show those skills in lots of other ways, um, besides just like the academics in the classroom. Yeah. Um, so that was really cool. And I think something that like always inspires me, especially when I get to like see things like our college and career fair and get kids to see those hands-on experiences. Um, I think I also for me, I really benefited a lot from just like the ways in which the schools I was at through student teaching and my first year like were supported. And how do we really support educators in getting better through coaching and development so that they can be their best for kids? Yeah. And then unfortunately, and it's you know, kind of what took me into uh go into policy more was just the reality that there's a lot of inequities that exist across systems. And, you know, I was raised with the idea that like education is that key, you know, that door opener for everyone. And that wasn't the case for every kid. And I saw that a lot in um as I saw in different districts in different schools.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Um so yeah, I would love to hear a little bit more about, you know, because you went from classroom to policy to district, and and and yeah, would just love to hear a little bit more about what drew you to the policy work and then what drew you back to the district work.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, uh a couple things. One, um, I was teaching in uh Arlington, Virginia, right outside Washington, DC for two years after having spent three years in Washington, DC, and these systems were so dramatically different despite being miles apart, right? And what really drew me was like, this is not okay, right? Every kid deserves to have the highest quality education and to be able to really have those doors uh, you know, opened for them and have the opportunity to um you know, determine what those doors are in the first place. And so I decided that I wanted to make a more systemic impact, really try to address some of those inequities and have the opportunity to then um go the furthest thing from the classroom, which is to the federal level and the US Department of Education.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Especially these days.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Especially these days. Um, it is what was really kind of interesting about that is when I first went to the US Department of Ed, um, I worked on school turnaround. And that was an opportunity to actually be much more close, much closer to work that was that I was familiar with, right? Work that was like impacting schools, impacting kids. Um, because what we uh what a lot of folks uh you know wonder about what does the department do, right? And a lot of their are the work at the US Department of Ed is really supporting states and making sure that kids have access to the highest quality education. And so uh we had the chance to support states and thinking about how do you continue to improve schools that might be um underperforming? And then how do you how do you go about making sure that like um those conditions are in place? And so it was an opportunity to really work with states and then also um collaborate and help those states support districts and schools.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Yeah. And then your transition back to district. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Um, I think I feel like there's this constant theme of you know, impact. Where can I make the biggest impact in education? What's the right lever? What's the right altitude? And so I um after being at the Department of Education and having the opportunity to work with states on big picture things like uh assessments and accountability and support systems and educator evaluation, I wanted to uh be I wanted to get a little bit more specific and specialized. And I really had this passion for how do we help support educators, and so uh decided I wanted to focus on how do we not just think about evaluation systems, but how do we think about supporting educators? And so uh had the opportunity, um, decided to make the move to Colorado, had the opportunity to join the teacher leadership and collaboration team in Denver and really get to focus on how do we support that work and how do we help create growth opportunities for teachers and help teachers who are continuing to teach full-time in the classroom continue to really improve their practice in service of kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

And that fortunately corresponded with um the time that my husband and I were looking to move to Colorado. So it was great timing.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Yeah, and and that's when you know I I first met you. And I will say this uh um when I have the opportunity to reflect a little bit about what some of the key levers were for us to move out of turnaround status. Um, and and I certainly give so much of the credit to our uh teacher leader model and you know, our distributive leadership model, and uh yeah, it was is uh really good work that I think made a difference for a lot of uh schools and students.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

And I think what was interesting, and like as I had reflected like a lot of my federal experience had been like school improvement and when went to focus on teachers, a lot of that initial teacher work was on like retention and growth and things. And what became really clear is like you said, it's not only about the like you know, that retention, but it's also about um, you know, about school improvement because it is helping us get better higher quality instruction in front of kids.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Indeed. Um so what did bring you uh to APS? What how did you make the transition from the teacher leader work you were uh uh engaged in in Denver and uh come to Aurora?

SPEAKER_01 12:41

So I was really excited about um the teacher leadership work and also missing the kind of interconnection of school improvement work and um thinking about how do we uh think about the broader system. And so uh the opportunity to come to APS as a policy advisor to the superintendent became available. Um but what really drew me to APS, and it's the thing that I think still excites me today, is our vision that every student shapes a successful future. Um for me, when I was teaching in DC, I had I was at a school, it was all about college prep, every kid had to apply to college, right? An expectation they were going to college. And what I was realizing is that that wasn't A, what every kid wanted, and B was going to be how they thrived. And what APS was doing when I when I came and were continuing to do is really be like, understand what do kids and families want, and then our job is there to support and create those opportunities so that they can achieve what it is that they envision. And I really loved that idea of uh students being in the driver's seat and families being in the driver's seat and us being the support to come along. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Um you've overseen major initiatives such as Blueprint APS uh and and the development of destination APS currently. And uh I do think that uh for Blueprint APS in particular, yeah, there's there's there's multiple stories about what it was, and and um, you know, one of those one of one of the components uh uh did include some right sizing, uh, but that wasn't all that it was. And and uh and so just would love to give you the opportunity to share with folks um you know what was it and what did it aim to accomplish. And uh where are we today because of the good work of Blueprint APS?

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Yeah, so Blueprint APS was the district's long-term education and facilities plan. It was designed to be a plan that was driven by what the community wanted the school system and district to look like, right? Really asking families, what is it that you envision for your student? And how do we make sure that our school facilities, our academic programs actually set them up to accomplish what families wanted for their kids? What how would we go about doing that? Um, as part of that, in doing that, we also did know that we would need to respond to changing enrollment that was happening in Aurora public schools. And in APS, that's really unique, which is and continues to be in the east in the eastern part of our district. We're continuing to see growth as we see lots of new housing developments. But also, in order to really provide that high-quality education, we knew that we needed to write up where we were seeing declining enrollment, we needed to respond. And in part because what was happening is we'd get schools that would be so small that we weren't able to provide all the basic things that we knew students needed. So, like specials classes or um access to things like, you know, library or technology, right? And so what it was meaning is that we weren't really providing an equ equitable access to education by trying to maintain such small schools. Um, and so through Blueprint, um, we did an extensive amount of community engagement to really hear what people wanted. And a couple themes came out of that. One, we heard from people, um, people really loved continuing to have a school that was in their community that was like that that was their boundary school, that they would know my kid is going to that school. Yeah. But they also wanted more choices run by APS. They were excited to be part of the APS community and they wanted more opportunities to just explore different things and really have some other options without um going outside of APS. And then we heard people wanted more college and career learning opportunities, more real world experiences. Um, and so through all of that work, um, as we really worked to bring that to fruition, um, you know, we did have to make some hard decisions around uh right sizing and closing some schools so that we would make sure we were having equitable opportunities for school. But we've also been able to add um open some new schools out east, right, where we're seeing those new developments. And um, and even in the western part, right? With Del Mar, we opened a brand new um P8 because we heard from families that they really liked this idea of kids staying in schools all the way through eighth grade in one single school. Um, and we've been able to open some really great choice opportunities and more to come. Um, so opened uh Charles Burrell um arts all the way from P through 12, um, opening Clara Brown. Um these schools are really thriving. And then we've got on the horizon uh a brand new health science high school, obviously, that we're building and the opening of the dual language. And so these magnet opportunities, I think, are giving families a lot of reason to stay in APS and come back to APS here, which is really exciting. And um, I think even about the board meeting last night, how excited, you know, board members were talking about wow, look at these great different, unique opportunities that we're offering to our community. And um, you know, it's taken us a while to get there, but it is really exciting, and all that really stems from blueprint work.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Yes, indeed. And and actually pivoting to uh destination APS, where you know, I think that in our strategic plan, we're continuing to build in uh uh uh those hopes and dreams and values from the community, right? Where we're talking about what we're doing with CTE, the portrait of a graduate, um, and you know, to your point, you know, continuing to expand uh school options like the Health Science High School and you know, Betty Benavides. Um uh talk to us a little bit about the process for developing the strat plan.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

And what does destination APS mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Yeah, so uh I think um really the idea of destination APS um came in with our uh superintendent, with superintendent Mike. He has this idea that he's laid out this vision that we were gonna become and we are going to become because I'm gonna I'm speaking it into existence. We are going to become the destination district uh here in Colorado. And Mike, and and Mike had that vision, right? That we can become that and we will become that. And really, and part of this is the role of uh strategy policy, how do you then bring that to life, right? How do you bring that into action? We all love great ideas, but how do we actually bring that into practice? Um, and so you know, lots of listening tours in Mike's first year, hearing from the community, what is how what does it mean to be a destination district and how would we do that? Um so taking that, taking that community input, doing it from not just from families, but community partners, from staff, from students, which is always the best thing to hear from. Um, and then really translating that into what is it that the community values and what are the things they want us to accomplish? So really making sure that we right, we know academic and post-secondary readiness is key, but also the importance of making sure that it is a safe, a psychological, a safe place and that you know, students are um and families and staff all experience that sense of belonging. Um, and then I think the really big piece is that we also are making sure that we're paying attention to and helping our staff thrive so they can be set up for success. Um, so really identifying those priorities and then identifying what are there's so many different ways you can accomplish those things. So, how do you really determine what it is that are our highest leverage strategies to accomplish those, right? We know what the community wants. So we went used all that input to then say, use that, use the research, use what we were seeing about some of the challenges and some of the successes, and use that to really identify our key strategies for how we're gonna make that happen over the next few years. And what's really exciting to me is um I'm really excited because I feel like we are really coalescing around all heading in the same direction and following. Following the same paths to get there, and that's only going to and bringing in our families as part of that. And I think that's only going to help us continue to build even more momentum and become that destination district.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yes. Tapping into some leadership lessons. Yeah. One of our regular topics. Yeah. You know, having worked in classrooms at the federal level, at the district level, what perspective does that give you about how change actually happens in education systems?

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yeah. It is very complex. It can be slow, especially when you're doing the whole system. I think that's sometimes one of the tension points between, right? Like if I'm a classroom teacher, I can make the change. Oh, this didn't work. I can change it for the next period, right? Saying that as a high school teacher, right? Like next period, oh, that didn't work. I'm going to make the adjustment in the moment, right? As a system, it requires a lot more communication, a lot more coordination. It requires not just great ideas, but like the time, the time, talent, and treasure, right? Or money to be able to do it. And it requires really good and effective implementation. But also I think sometimes it requires staying the course and saying, how are we going to see this through? Well, also continuing to adjust and learn as we go because we're, it's we're going to learn things or have unintended consequences on how um how things go.

unknown 23:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Uh it's it's interesting too that you say that I just had a conversation earlier today with Jalen and I was reflecting a little bit about our experience in the uh Camille Catalyst Fellowship and just that tension that I've grappled with too of what a small bet actually means and and looks like in a system as large as ours, right? That um it's different if if you know you're working on, you know, uh uh to your point, uh uh a strategy or a pivot, uh, I'm gonna ask this question instead next period, or I'm gonna slow down this, yes, versus, you know, in my case with the uh Action Impact project, yeah, you know, we're doing a pilot at several schools, right? And yeah, it's uh it's it's uh yeah, a little less nimble um in in changing course.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Yeah. And I think too, the thing that often always comes up for me is right, like you can see a single challenge or a single issue and be like, oh, I know exactly how to side that one thing, right? Um and I remember having this conversation when we were building and designing the after school programming, right? Like, oh, well, we could just, you know, give that school more money. And it's like, okay, that works for one school. Does it work when we magnify it across 32 schools? Right. And that's where sometimes it can get a little bit sticky.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Yep. Um, so as I know you know, leading strategic planning and policy work requires bringing many voices together. Um, and as you reflect on previous strat plans, current strat plan, blueprint, APS, what have you learned about building consensus and moving uh forward together as a as a large community?

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Yeah, I think that's a place where I feel like I've really grown, where it's like, oh, I had lots of ideas, but you can do that, but nobody's coming along with you. And then it's on you to execute and implement. And the reality is in those spaces, if you've just created something yourself, then everybody else is doing their own thing, right? And you're not rowing in that same direction, you're not moving, you're not on the same journey together. And so um, I think I've learned particularly with our most recently with our new goals and guardrails um for the board is the importance of bringing people into that work to really help define and wrestle through and create them. One, because most like I'm not the expert, right, in early literacy or in multilingual, right? But I, you know, bringing those folks together, but also then they're more bought in, right? Because they've helped to build it and create it, as Craig often says, right? People protect what they build. Um, but also people understand it and they it's almost like a comparison to our internalization. When they've been part of it, they've internalized it, and then it can help shape their work, and then we're all moving together.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

That's a that's a great lesson learned. And would love to uh pull a little more of those from you. If you have one that comes to mind that's remained constant, a lesson learned that's remained constant, whether you're in the classroom or in Washington or uh here as a district leader, what what would that be?

SPEAKER_01 27:16

I think it's again that context matters. Um, and so like the ideas can be great, but I think about um uh, you know, when I was at the federal level, right, we, you know, had certain policies or we were working with states on building accountability or evaluation systems. And I was working with Kansas and Oregon and right, their context really mattered. So understanding like what is important to them, what is already in place, what is what are the opportunities becomes really critical. I think same here in district work. It becomes how do you, how are you clear about consistency, but also then how are you understanding that um what Aurora Highlands um needs to do is gonna be different than what Yale needs to do is gonna be different than um what William Smith needs to do. And so understanding the context um is critical when making uh and implementing good strategy and policy.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Indeed, agreed. Um do you have any books or resources that have influenced how you think about strategy and change in education?

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Yeah, I think um uh I I don't think it originated there, but it's where I learned about it. Um, leadership on the line. Um, and that's where I first got exposed to the idea of like the balcony and dance floor. And I think that to me, that is one that particularly shapes strategy and policy because you really have to constantly be going between the dance floor and the balcony to make sure, right? To one, see the big picture, see what's working, what are the trends, right? But also then make sure it's actually going to address kind of the issues. And so going back and forth between that dance floor and balcony is an an analogy and a lesson I come back to all the time.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Yep. Um curious how you're gonna answer the music question, but we'd love to hear what songs or artists are either on your most played or your recently played lists.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Okay. I think my most played last year was uh Leve. Um L-A-U-F-E-Y. I think I'm saying it correctly. Uh, she's an Icelandic artist. Um, that was my most common, I will say, I think in my like, I have like an inspiration playlist when I need like the pick me up. Um and like the two songs that get played the most on that are uh Worthy by Mavis Staples and Um Everyday Sunshine by Fishbone.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Ah, amazing.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Um, but for the most part, my husband is my like personal playlist and DJ, so I get to listen to all kinds of different stuff.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Yes, that's amazing. Um awesome. Moving into our lightning round. Um as someone who has led the development of the strategic plan, what does destination APS mean to you personally?

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Uh to me, it really means being a district and being a place where every student, staff, and family can uh, you know, truly thrive and power their potential in order to thrive.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

And what excites you the most about where we are headed as a school district?

SPEAKER_01 30:58

I'm excited that I think we are laying such a strong foundation academically, culturally, that it's gonna really uh just change uh change the culture and change the outcomes that our students have. And I'm really excited that us all working together will really make a huge impact for our kids.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

All right, my last question for you is what advice would you give to uh school leaders working to create a strategic direction for for their organizations, their campuses?

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Um, this is probably gonna date me. I think the thing that I always go back to is around um backwards planning. Be really clear on like what is it you're trying to accomplish and then back map from how you're gonna get there. Because if you're clear on what you're trying to move the needle on or trying to achieve, whether it's uh K2 literacy or high school graduation, right, then you can get really clear on the how. And so that's what I would say just be clear on the what and then work to your how.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Amazing. Thank you, Christy, and thank you for sharing some of your journey with us today from classrooms on the East Coast to the White House to leading strategic initiatives here in Aurora. Your career demonstrates that meaningful change requires both understanding policy and honoring practice. Your work developing Destination APS has given our entire district a career force to move forward. And so our listeners out there join us next time as we continue exploring the past of those who are out of that support, Destination APS until then go away to a subset of the city.