Voice4Equity welcomes Dr. Jaime Aquino, Superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District. During his discussion with Dr. Kishimoto, Dr. Aquino shares his magnificent journey through many roles in education around the nation and what it means to involve school leaders, board members, students, and the community in making lasting and meaningful change in education.
Enjoy the following conversation with Dr. Aquino and Dr. Kishimoto below.
The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Dr. Kishimoto
Welcome to The Stories We Must Tell. I am Dr. Christina Kishimoto and today, I have an incredible guest from San Antonio, Texas. I am so excited to have Dr. Jaime Aquino, a dear friend, a wonderful superintendent, and a change-maker nationally. Welcome, Jaime.
Dr. Aquino
Thank you, Christina, looking forward to engaging in a conversation about the state of public education. It’s always good to be in your presence.
Dr. Kishimoto
It’s always so much fun to chat with you and catch up. You and I have a long history. I know you from back in your days in New York, Hartford, Connecticut, and Denver. Obviously, San Antonio is not your first leadership gig. You have been leading across the nation. It’s been fun! Tell us a little about that.
Dr. Aquino
Yes, I’ve been blessed by the opportunities I’ve had. I always like to say I’m living the American dream. I was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I did my bachelor’s there. Upon graduating, I was recruited by the New York City Board of Education as a bilingual teacher and have done almost all roles in education.
I served as an instructional superintendent in the city of New York, Deputy Superintendent in Hartford, chief academic officer in Denver, and Deputy Superintendent in LA. And now, I’m totally blessed to be a teacher of teachers in the San Antonio Independent School District. I don’t like to use the title superintendent. And people know, here, they don’t call me superintendent; they call me the teacher of teachers because it really showcases and highlights what I believe the role of a superintendent should be, which is to be a teacher of teachers.
Dr. Kishimoto
I love that title because it completely tells us a lot about who you are, how you lead, but also how you engage with the community. You’re just this person who I continue to watch on social media and in all your national interactions. You’re talking to teachers; you’re talking to students; you’re talking to parents; you’re talking to community members, business leaders, board members; you’re leading by leading together with all your constituents and community members. And I love that about you!
Dr. Aquino
I think it’s crucial. A school system is owned by the community and by everyone. To transform a school district, it cannot only rely on this notion of a superhero, which doesn’t exist. But there is a superhero within the community. That community needs to elevate the role of public education, not only for its future generation but also for the stability, the economic and political stability of the city and of our country.
The Children’s Academy Engagement Strategy
Dr. Kishimoto
So, the superhero, that’s a good thing to watch when you’re sitting on your couch on the weekend to kind of get out of reality. But the fact is Jaime, we both know how much leadership matters, how you choose to lead in San Antonio, how you embrace community, and the voices you elevate really matter. And so, I want to dig in a little bit on the incredible work that you’re doing around lifting student voice and student agency with this thing called the children’s cabinet. I’d love for you to talk a little bit about why a children’s cabinet, why that so early in your administration, and what’s happening with this.
Dr. Aquino
As we started this conversation, I told you that I serve as deputy superintendent in four districts, and one of the things that I noticed, particularly in urban districts where I have served, that the reform in the urban school district looks like you get a new superintendent or a new board, and then the new superintendent, the new board will have to change everything. And everything from the previous administration is discarded. And then the cycle begins again because as you know, the tenure of an urban superintendent is about three years. So, after every three years, it’s a new beginning, and it impacts the stability of what happens on our campuses. So, when I got here a little over two years ago, I said I wanted to do a children’s cabinet, and people here told me, the mayor is the one who should have a children’s cabinet. I said, I want to control this because I want to make sure that it’s impactful for my students and my community. So, the purpose of having a children’s cabinet was to ensure continuity.
We wanted to make sure that when we had a board election, or if something happened to me, the community, the city, has embraced our agenda. When there’s an election for example, I have an election next May, and my expectation is that people are going to start, as a result of the children’s cabinet, asking the candidate, do you support the always learning, which is our strategic management plan? Do you support the direction of the district so that they can make better-informed decisions to ensure stability and continuity? Also, if a new superintendent comes, the work we have done is embedded within the system. We owe it to our students to provide a stable district that will support them. In the children’s cabinet, we have, like, 100 people from all walks of life, from the mayor’s office to our county office, elected officials, business leaders, parents, students, teachers, principals, everything there. And it has been incredibly, incredibly productive in stabilizing our district.
Dr. Kishimoto
It’s been a lot of fun. I thank you for inviting me to sit in on these meetings and participate as a colleague, a former superintendent. I am so impressed that as the cabinet comes together, periodically, on a monthly basis, in sharing information, the way you bring in the different voices, and all of those constituent groups you mentioned all have a voice. And so sometimes you’re asking, hey, we have teachers in the room, tell us about your perspective on this. Or we have a business leader, or we have an elected official. And that’s really powerful because it really showcases the way in which you’re bringing in that shared governance, that collective leadership mindset. I love those times when you say, well, let’s just ask the students; our student leaders are here. And you turn to them continuously. But you’ve also had them do some work on the side. So, talk about some of the ways in which you’ve elevated student voice and student agency within and also beyond the cabinet.
Dr. Aquino
But before I do that, I want to mention that 75% of the members of the children’s cabinet are local from San Antonio, Texas. I have people from Austin coming to our children’s cabinet. And then 20-25% are national leaders, like yourself, from across the country. That was very strategic because sometimes we become very insular. And I wanted to make sure that we had national representation promising the best in the nation like you pushing our thinking so that we can elevate the work to unprecedented heights.
And to your question on the work that we have done to elevate student agency. That’s the cornerstone of my administration and of this district. My first meeting, after I was appointed on May 3, was a six-hour budget workshop. And I began with the story of the African tribe, the Maasai, and how are the children? This African tribe is known for being the most fearsome warriors. And the way they greet is Kasserian Ingera, which in Swahili means, how are the children? Even those who don’t have children always ask that question. And their answer is the children are well. So, I started my first day of the job sharing that story in the budget workshop to highlight that our focus here is on our children. If our focus is on our children, we need to give them the agency and the voices to be seated around the table when we make these decisions.
I totally revamped the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. It used to be the superintendent would come and lead it. And I said, no, this is not going to happen. This is your council. I’m a guest here. You set the agenda, and you decide what topics you want and what supporting questions you have. So, it was completely revamped. And it was really powerful because they brought the issues that mattered to them. That first year, they selected to two topics they wanted to advise the board and me on changes they wanted to see in mental health and school safety, which is a sad state of affairs.
Our students were concerned about their mental health, and the mental health of the staff, and whether when they walked into our schools if they were going to return home alive. They gave us incredible, incredible ideas.
Then, last year, we took this to another level. We have the State of the District, in which the teacher of teachers superintendent gets up and tells how well we’re doing, or not. And one of our students said to me, why don’t we do a State of the District from the student perspective. So, we had our State of the District completely led by our students. And as you said, they even interview a focus group and interview about 800 of their peers across the district asking them focused questions on what they thought of the State of the District, and then they share it with the entire community. They’ve made a significant impact. I think you heard of the last children’s cabinet when one of our students said, we’re really proud that we’re making a difference because, as a result, the board and the superintendent increased the budget by almost $4 billion for mental health because here they heard from us.
The Power of Civil Discourse
Dr. Aquino
I’m also proud that we have represented our stakeholders with different perspectives. And we disagree, but we’re modeling how to engage in civil discourse. And I think that is crucial because of the time that we’re living. And even though we have disagreements, we have made a norm that we need to model what we want our students to do. So, the next generation, when they take their leadership position, they will know you might be from a political persuasion different than mine, doesn’t mean that should not respect you and treat you like a human being. So very proud.
Dr. Kishimoto
I love the way you are bringing in the democratic principles of learning how to use your voice, how to do it respectfully, and how to listen to multiple perspectives. It’s really powerful. And you can see it in the children’s cabinet. I get the pleasure of being able to kind of look into that and see that. The fact is, our nation’s students, our young people, are really changing in terms of their mindset and how they see the world. It’s different from us. Also, demographically, for the last 10 years, we are now a nation with a majority of our students are students of color. And this is the first time in US history that for an entire decade, we’re seeing that, and we’re still trending to more Hispanics, Asians, mixed race. And so, we have all these diverse languages and ideas and concepts coming together. And that is the beauty of the United States.
How do you keep yourself as a superintendent fresh in terms of checking yourself so that your concepts of what equity meant to you growing up and what it meant to have a voice that may look different? And you gave a great example, with students saying mental health is what we’re thinking about. So how do you keep yourself thinking about and checking in with the young people to see how they’re seeing things differently from how we, as adults, are seeing things?
Dr. Aquino
One of the ways is to be present and accessible to our students and the community. It’s hard to believe, and people don’t usually believe me when I say that I am painfully shy. But I am. And prior to coming to this role, I did not have a big social media presence. And I was intentional trying to have this presence for a couple of reasons. I wanted to model that there. If you’re a superintendent, or a teacher or teacher, you can still focus on what matters the most, which is what’s happening in the classroom for our students. The second one, I wanted to reach our students. So, I have a big presence on TikTok. That was strategic, and it has been transformational. Every time I walk into a school, the students come to me and say, we know you, and I say how do you know me, and they say TikTok.
It makes them feel much more comfortable expressing their opinions to me. So, I sought out their voices. I asked them, in addition to the Student Advisory Council and every single committee. We have tons of counselors and committees. We have students at that table, giving us their time and their perspective on the issue.
The Importance of Local Context and History
Dr. Aquino
The changing demographic that you mentioned is really important. I’m going to be totally transparent for San Antonio ISD. Because we are a community within the state of Texas, where some of my students feel that the state sends daily messages that because of who they are, they’re not worth it. So, this notion of equity is extremely, extremely important. And, you know, people say I’m an equity champion. I don’t consider myself that. I’ve lived my entire life with one principle: to promote a love for humanity.
Identity and Inclusion
Dr. Aquino
I am a member of so many rings of culture. I’m an immigrant who came to this country as an adult. I’m an English learner still trying to master English. I am not any immigrant. I’m an immigrant of color. And I am a gay man. So, I know what it means to be subjected to discrimination on all my rings of rings of culture. I’ve never hidden who I am or who I choose to love. But I also never publicly said I’m gay because I felt like why should I until straight people feel they have to declare they’re straight. So, I said, why should I do that. But the day I was appointed, in the board meeting, I shared with my leadership my personal story. And I was strategic. It was intentional because I wanted every single student in San Antonio ISD to see themselves in me and to know that they are valued and belong.
I like to say that I am San Antonio ISD. I share the stories and struggles of my students, whether they’re immigrants, emergent bilingual, LGBTQ, or people of color, so it was strategic. And to your question, it has allowed students to open up about their own struggles with me personally. I have a collection of stories to try to inspire people, but mostly our elected officials, to do what’s right for our students.
Principles of Democracy
Dr. Kishimoto
There are so many things and so many prospective students are being introduced to at this point in history, and giving them a voice to say, how do you feel about all that’s happening? What do you think? How are you engaging in voice and vote? It’s so important to make sure that those principles of democracy continue in this nation, even with the changing demographics of who our kids are and who our next-level voters are as they age into this voting power and voting empowerment that they have. And so, I think in everything you’re doing, you’re providing that space for them to have that agency that’s going to carry them into adulthood as our own nation grows. And so, to what extent do you feel like students are in fact, feeling that they can speak freely from whatever perspective in the San Antonio ISD?
Dr. Aquino
Well, if we were trying to stifle them or prevent them from speaking, we would not be very successful. So, I am blessed to have our students be strong leaders and are not afraid of using their voices to make their points. Our students here in San Antonio have a passion for social justice, which is incredible. We have had schools where they took students led by students who took a position around the war in the Middle East. And we encourage that as long as you’re using your voice peacefully, you should be elevating what you feel should be happening. And so, we encourage that, and our students are having their positions being made in a very respectful. Because we have students that represent very diverse opinions, including political opinions, but they have shown civility and respect to each other without attacking each other. So, I am very encouraged.
We’re seeing history in the making with this election and having the first woman of color. So, it’s incredible to hear, just in my community, the positions like, is this country ready to elect a woman of color? And you hear some students say, why not? Why has it taken so long? So, they are really involved. They are monitoring this election.
Regardless of what the national discourse is around school, we don’t indoctrinate our students. We indoctrinate our student by developing their critical thinking. We want them to indoctrinate their critical thinking so that they can make informed decisions. And that’s our mission so that they can have a voice. It is a difficult time to be a teacher in our country. When I was a teacher, teaching current events was not something controversial. Now, if you go and talk about this or that, but then you’re supporting this, or you’re talking about race, you’re indoctrinating, which is a shame. It’s about time that we trust our students and trust their judgment. If we were to do that, our country would be in a better place.
Dr. Kishimoto
Dr. Jaime Aquino, I love ending on that note. It’s time for us to trust our students at another level of readiness to be engaged in sharing their voices, their perspectives, and being at the decision-making table. Thank you so much for sharing, not only about San Antonio, the students, and the work that you’re doing but also a little bit of your personal story, which is always powerful when we’re willing to open up and share of ourselves. And so, thank you so much for your leadership and for loving on our nation’s students and embracing that they are and who they are and how they come to the table. So, thank you for being with us today.
Dr. Aquino
Thank you, Christina, for being the voice for equity across the country. Your work is needed.
