Welcome to the Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics podcast- The podcast that

supports art, theatre, dance, and music teachers by sharing instructional trends

and exploring perspectives in fine arts education. I am your host, Eric Sanford.

Visit our website, FAECC.org to find resources and links to this podcast. While you

are there, follow our socials, and let us know your thoughts on the episode.

Eric:

Welcome again to the Fine Arts Educator, coaching clinics, podcasts. I'm here with Nick

Luggerio today. He is a Fine Arts coordinator for the Region Four Education Service Center here

in Houston, TX. Nick, thank you so much for being with us today.

Nick:

Glad to be here, Eric. Thank you for having me.

Eric:

Tell us a bit about your background and your information with Fine Arts.

Nick:

OK, well, I have been a band director for 20 years and then I was a Fine Arts director for seven

years and now I'm at Region 4 as the Fine Arts coordinator. And able to kind of capitalize on the

information that I had and be able to share that with everybody in kind of a bigger realm if you

will.

Eric:

Now has your career always been in Texas?

Nick:

Yes, yeah. I started in Texas. I went to, got my education, my music education degree from

Stephen F Austin State University, and then started teaching and while I was teaching, got my

Masters in music conducting at Sam Houston State University. Wonderful.

Eric:

So you're very familiar with UIL and all the processes and all the things that happen in our great

state of Texas as far as Fine Arts,

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

Nick:

Absolutely, yeah. We, you know, we enjoy a very, very strong Fine Arts presence across the

nation. And that's something that I'm proud about and know that is, you know, UIL especially

and all of the competitions that everybody does, whether it's art or theater or whatever. That's

part of what makes Texas as good as it is across the nation.

Eric:

And you're somewhat of a rarity because there's not many people in your position at education

service centers in Texas. Tell us a bit more about that.

Nick:

OK. Well, education service centers actually started out a little over 50 years ago and they were,

I think TEA's response to the idea that they as a single organization, couldn't support a huge

area like Texas. So they split Texas into 20 geographic regions. And of those twenty regions,

they're all numbered obviously one through 20, and region four is the Houston area. And within

those region service centers, they have supports for all aspects of education. Unfortunately, they

don't all have real deep supports for Fine Arts.

And so, you know, whether it's bus drivers or nutrition or finances, budget, human resources,

science, math, principals, superintendents, deputy superintendents, school boards. You name it,

they support all of that. All 20 of the service centers in one way or another, support all of that.

Unfortunately, most of the service centers don't truly have a dedicated department to supporting

athletics or supporting Fine Arts, and so Region 4 reached out once I was there. I was hired

actually in a different capacity initially and they asked if I would add Fine Arts to my original job

role and job description to be able to support that. And I was really happy to be able to do that.

Eric:

Tell us about some of the programs you've been doing so far with the Region Service Center

with Fine Arts.

Nick:

So with Fine Arts- It ranges everywhere from administrative supports, such as helping

administrators create scopes and sequences for elementary art, elementary music. Some

districts have asked that I come out and help them with taking care of their inventory for their

bands, their choirs, their orchestras. Because we know inventory is a huge outlay of cash and

sometimes all of the districts don't have as tight of control or a type of information maybe that

they need for their inventories. So I've done that as well.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

I've consulted on budgeting and staffing and scheduling. So that's kind of the administrative side

I've been asked to do in service and professional development, whether it's communication or

yearly planning for all of the Fine Arts department. I have put together some conferences. About

a year ago, we did an art, dance and Theater day of training at our Region 4 Conference

Center, and we were able to do that. Just a couple weeks ago we did an elementary art and

music celebration, which was really a lot of fun. It focused on our elementary art and music

teachers, and it gave them a little bit of love that maybe they don't always get. And so I think

they enjoyed that.

And probably the biggest one that I've done was this whole year we did a series of seven

classes basically for the aspiring Fine Arts Administrator Academy, and that was based off of the

other academies that the service centers offer. They offer an aspiring superintendents Academy

and aspiring principal Academy. Aspiring Counselor, Aspiring Special Ed Administrator, and so

forth. And so it dawned on me that, you know, too many times Fine Arts administrators get into

the position and they really don't know everything that they're going to be responsible for. Or

maybe have an idea of where to turn for all of those supports that they may need. So develop

that as well.

Eric:

That's an incredible story and a lot of support like you said. You know most region service

centers, education service centers don't offer that support at this time. I had the pleasure of

being in your class for that and it was an amazing class too. I want to mention that and one of

the things that really came to mind was just how the process of becoming. We're going to the

transition from teacher to administrator was a completely different process than most people

really are aware of. And one of the things that really comes up is how we are exposed and

different perception from a from a teacher to administrator as well. And so I think our session

today is going to be about how we communicate to administrators not only Fine Arts

administrators but these campus or district level administrators as well. And get your insight on

that.

So what's some of the components that are really important to consider when a teacher, a Fine

Arts teacher especially is looking at what they need or some problems that are coming up?

What are some ways they could really find effective ways to communicate with their

administrators?

Nick:

Those are all really good points and ideas to start out with. Each of us as a teacher, we're

focused on one thing and you know, it's almost like looking through, you know, a pair of

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

binoculars, you're focused on that one item and the difference once you become a Fine Arts

director especially, but I think also any campus administrator or district administrator is now, it's

almost like the difference between looking through that single item and now you're looking

through a kaleidoscope and you see all of these different things.

And fortunately and unfortunately, all those things consistently and constantly change. And so

you're never seeing the same thing twice, even day-to-day as an administrator and that's

campus and that's, that's Fine Arts as well. And so I think that one of the first things that we

need to do as classroom teachers, is we need to continue to focus on our kids. But when we

talk to our administrators, whether that's your assistant principal, your principal, your Fine Arts

director, or if you're in smaller districts and you are able and or encouraged and or welcomed to

talk to a deputy Superintendent or the HR person or the Superintendent. And it's different

depending on the district, the size of the district, all of that's different. But to realize that they

really have to have a very broad view of so many things and sometimes those things change

very, very quickly for them. So that's the first thing that I would say.

The second thing is the reality is, you're generally going to an administrator with one of three

types of communications. One, you're sharing great things. Two, you're asking for something,

whether it's permission or money or a resource or whatever. Or three, that there's a problem that

you need to make them aware of. Those are really the three main categories that you go to an

administrator for, and each of those I think need to be maybe communicated a little bit differently

and with an eye to what do they need to help you as a teacher but also to possibly advise you

as a teacher. Knowing that at the end of the day, no matter what you do as a teacher, they are

responsible for your actions and your students, especially like a campus principal.

You know, as a band director, I knew that every single thing my band did reflected on my

principal, because, did I consider it my band? Yeah, sure. But at the end of the day, it really was

his or her band because they are the campus administrator that I report directly to. So I think

that's kind of where the conversation can start is with those three items and kind of go from

there.

Eric:

I want to approach those in backwards order because I like ending on something very positive.

So let's look at these other parts that sometimes come up a little bit more often.

You mentioned a problem, when there's a problem, there's some typical problems that you may

have. I'm going to ask you a two-part question on this.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

What is the teacher's viewpoint of it, and then how does an administrator kind of see that and

what's going on through their mind when they think of a solution or or think what has what needs

to happen next?

Nick:

OK, fair enough. So, a common problem that you'll have, especially in your performing arts

groups, at some level there is an audition process. Whether that's for chairs or you know, in a

band or choir, an orchestra, or that's for roles in a theater group. Or that's for making the drill

team or officers for the drill team or so forth. There's always an audition for most of our

performing groups, and most of the time that starts in 7th, 8th grade. But it really kind of comes

to a head in high school because all of a sudden it becomes, quote unquote important there, it

becomes visible where people are and what they're doing. And so a lot of times, as a Fine Arts

administrator, but also as a teacher, you will have to field a concern, a complaint, an issue,

however you want to phrase it of such and such student didn't get what either they or their

parents thought they should get, and as far as a chair or a performing group. Or the part and the

play or whatever it was.

And so you know, I think that from a teacher perspective, when you get that, the first thing is to

be open, transparent and honest with the teacher or with the parent about what the director or

the teacher saw or didn't see that created. What the result was. So the student didn't get from.

For instance, a student has been in the quote unquote top band, which has been the top group,

and they come to high school and their in maybe the third out of four bands, and their in the

middle of the section. That's not uncommon and a parent could e-mail or call and say but my

child was first chair of honor band blah blah blah, whatever, and they were amazing and they

did great. And all of that may be 100% true in middle school and so I think there is an art to

explaining to the parent that you're right, your child did play well, but now you have to realize

they're not competing with two grades, 7th and 8th grade, who've only been playing for two or

three years, but you're now competing against four grades where the top of the grades has

been playing for seven years and there's a big difference in what they've learned from their

freshman year to now going into their senior year versus what your freshmen learned in their 7th

and 8th grade year. But the good news is that they will have the opportunity to learn and to grow

and to expand with a little bit less pressure, because if they were put in that varsity group, they

now don't have the opportunity to take their time learning these skills. They are required to

perform these skills immediately. And that can turn a kid who's very positive and very good and

has a lot of potential into someone who does not like the organization anymore because now

they find that they're struggling way more than they need to.

The other thing that I've told parents is it would be like putting a freshman on the varsity football

team. They're not ready for that level of competition. Physically, mentally, emotionally, they're

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

not ready for it. So let them get in here, let them get their feet wet, let them have some fun, let

them learn and grow and they will have three more opportunities to move wherever it is their

abilities lead them basically.

So from a teacher perspective, that's a way of doing that and you know, I think a lot of teachers

will do it in some way or another like that.

But as an administrator, when those things come to me, I will generally tell the parent, let me

look into it, let me see. I will explain to the parent exactly what I've just explained as the teacher

person. Now as an administrator I would explain it the same way, but I would touch base with

the teacher to ask How did you go about making these decisions? What was the audition

process? Show me what you've sent to the parents or the kids or whatever. What music did they

audition over? Were they given enough time? Was it fair? Was it equitable?

I would ask those questions, not to accuse the teacher, but so that I know this teacher is doing

this, so when I get those phone calls I can say I've already spoken with Mr. or Miss so and so,

and here are the steps that they are taking and you know, go from there.

The other thing that I would recommend, and this would be before all of the auditions happen, is

for the teachers to take a look at What is their process? And if they were a parent and had a

question, what would they question and how would they question it? And so a lot of times

problems can be avoided with a little bit more pre planning and a little bit more proactive

communication to parents. I think the number one problem that most parents have is lack of

communication.

Now I will also defend the teachers. Sometimes the parents refuse to read or ingest or

understand the communication and so at that point, yes, that is a different problem. But

sometimes we as teachers, we get so focused on, OK, we've got to have auditions and it's gotta

happen. It's gotta happen now. And poof, there it is, that sometimes we forget to let the parents

know here's what the steps are.

And especially freshman parents, they come in knowing zero and having very high anxiety. And

sometimes that doesn't, that does not help the situation and we don't do a good job of reducing

their anxiety.

Eric

I think it's really crucial to understand as a teacher that when an administrator comes and asks

those questions you just mentioned that it's usually not with a malicious intent. It's usually to

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

understand the situation a little bit more. But then also so the administrator can back the teacher

with that.

And I'm also very familiar that when you're a teacher, and you hinted on this yourself. When

you're focused, so focused on the students and your program and what's going on and all the

things that are going on too throughout the school, something that happens is it's a survival

mode kind of moment as well. And so that reaction from a teacher could be a lot different when

an administrator, someone that they respect and sometimes fear and you know, “Why is this

person coming into my room? They never come to my room.” It's something that could

generate some anxiety on the teacher part of it as well. So I'm glad that you pointed out that it's

not, it's not usually about or not always about, you know, trying to put it on the teacher. It's just

trying to learn more about the situation.

Nick:

Yeah. I mean, the way that I look at it is if I don't know a process. So let's say, you know, I'm not

a theater person. And I've had to learn what that looks like. And to different theater departments,

to different theater teachers, it looks a little bit different. But I also have learned that there are

some things that you put in place to help avoid some of those challenges. And the reality is, if

someone has a complaint, they're going to have a complaint. So you can't do this and then

you're guaranteed to never have a complaint. We wish that that's the way that it was, right. But

it's not. And so the answer really becomes here are some best practices. If we can do some of

these things then it should alleviate a lot of the problems, the issues, the concerns, the

questions. And if there is a question, a problem, an issue or a concern, you already have the

answers.

And I think that's so much of the situation that we're in is if a parent has this concern, here's

what our response is. If a parent has this concern, here's what our response is. And I think a lot

of it is parents want to be assured. That their child has been treated fairly and there's nothing

wrong with that. I think we would all agree that we want every person treated fairly.

One of the things that I have seen before is if let's say it's a sophomore or a junior and there is a

decision that's made for that sophomore or junior based on actions that that student has made

in the past, but those actions were never brought up to the parent, and now there's a decision

based on that. The parent has a legitimate gripe to say, “You never let us know that this was a

problem and now you're holding our student accountable for it.” And at that point, it's a struggle

to say you're right, these things were a problem. You're also right. I didn't bring them to your

attention. And then where does the conversation go from there? It only goes downhill. And that's

one of the things that I think I learned probably very quickly.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

Probably my first or second year teaching is as hard as it is to reach out to that parent, to say

I'm having an issue with Little Susie or Little Timmy about this particular thing. Most of the

parents, the vast majority of the parents, have said thank you for reaching out to me, let me see

what I can do or some, you know, some variation of that. And very, very few parents turned and

immediately were angry at me for reaching out. And that's one of the things that as a young

teacher is the hardest thing to do, is make those parent phone calls.

And so we have to be confident enough, strong enough to be able to reach out to that parent

sometimes and fill in the gaps of knowledge that the parent might not have.

But those have been some of the hardest ones for an administrator to stand behind because

now a decision was made based on previous actions, that the parent never got the opportunity

to fix. So that kind of stands out.

Eric:

You can't bring up past mistakes in a current argument. And it's the same kind of situation, it's

hard to do that because why wasn't it addressed then? And I think the answer also goes to

there's a certain level of vulnerability with that too. That you have to be able to put yourself out

as a teacher to contact that parent and when you have a million other things to do sometimes

the small little thing that doesn't add up at the time, is it worth a phone call right now? B ut I think

projecting the future and and and anticipating is this going to come back and be a problem later.

Maybe an issue too.

Nick:

Yeah. Well, and that's I think where you know, experience teaching, I guess. I guess you

consider it wisdom. After a while you realize, OK, if you know two kids are chit chatting in class

one day and you're able to correct that and it's not a big deal, then OK, that's probably not a

parent phone call. But if that's happening multiple times during the day, multiple days during the

week and it becomes distracting that by the 4th, 5th day of that, that may be a parent phone call

you know.

And so I think a lot of it is just being proactive to say here's what I'm seeing. And some of that

you know we are at a point where we I think as teachers sometimes shy away from sitting the

kid down and just saying out of view of everybody else and out of your shot of everybody else

and saying are you OK? What's going on in your world? And giving them an opportunity and

actually being honest with them and saying I'm seeing this, I'm hearing this. What can I do to

help you or is there something causing this or do you need something from me? Do you

recognize that this is a bit of a challenge for us? And get them into the conversation. Where now

they realize that you see it. But you're also wanting to help them.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

You know, so those are some other ways of being able to, as a teacher, being able to do that.

And I think as an administrator you do the same thing. If you see a teacher struggling with

something, you know they're always late with their paperwork or they're not doing something or

whatever, you sit down and say what's going on that's causing this. Is there something I can do

to help you?

Sometimes we forget that just like adults, life happens, you know? And sometimes life is not

always easy and sometimes there's a crisis or whatever. And sometimes just reaching out to

that teacher goes a long way. Well, it's the same thing for that student. Sometimes life happens.

And especially students, they have less control over their environment than adults do. You

know, at some level adults can say, I'm going to stay in this situation or I'm going to not be in this

situation, and they can remove themselves from it a lot easier than a student can. And so

sometimes it's just a matter of communicating with that student. And opening the door for them.

And they may not be honest the first time or even the second time, but if they know you're there,

they may be honest by the third time and say OK, this is what I'm dealing with right now and this

could be an effect on what's happening in the rest of my life.

Eric:

It's a lot of different perspectives that go on with that, that conversation and all the way through

there.

You also mentioned talking about asking for something from administrators, and I know we've

been into this situation many times. Hey, I need 20 more band instruments. I have more kids

than I have instruments or I need art supplies because I can't teach the curriculum or the TEKS

without these art supplies.

Or we have to pay $3000 for the rights to this pl ay so we can perform it and how? Now, how is

that perceived from a Fine Arts administrator? How does it need to be approached from a

teacher perspective? Where are all the kinds of pieces that fall in place on that?

Nick:

Yeah. And. And you're exactly right. There's a bunch of pieces and there's also a bunch of

different perspectives and a bunch of different possible situations that you're in. So. You know,

one of my first teaching jobs, and really a bunch of my teaching jobs, it was one high school

towns, so to speak, or one high school districts. And so I was able to build relationships with not

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

only my campus principal and assistant principals, but also with some of the central office staff,

whether it was the business manager or the HR person, and the Superintendent for that matter.

But the number one way that I found the most effective was, first of all, don't surprise whoever it

is you're asking by saying, oh, you know, it's September 1st and I have, I need 30 more

instruments because I have 30 kids. Well. I didn't learn on September 1st that I had thirty more

kids in the band. If I'm doing my job the right way, I mean, short of a crisis or a huge influx all of

a sudden that for whatever reason. But if I'm doing my job right, I know probably in January or

February that I can look at how many 8th graders do I have? How many of those historically

have moved up into ninth grade? And are we experiencing a growth or are the numbers

shrinking or whatever? And I can kind of project here's what I think we're going to have in the

band next year and I can do that in January.

And if I start communicating that to whether it's my principal or my business manager or my Fine

Arts director in January and say I think we're going to have a problem come September, I want

to put this on your radar. Now that goes a long way because now you know the way budgets are

sometimes. All the nickels and Dimes are not spent at the end of the fiscal year, and so you get

to May and all of a sudden there's a little bit of money left over. If the Superintendent, the

business manager and your principal all know you may have a need, they may be able to help

you fulfill that need in May or June or July. But if you come to them at the beginning of the year

and you have not asked for that or let them know this was an issue, then yeah, there's, there's

going to be a problem with that.

So the first thing I think is communicating effectively and in a timely manner of I think this is

going to be a need. So that's the first thing. The second thing, I think, is we as Fine Arts

teachers. We teach from the heart. In fact, that's part of our job is to get kids in our groups, our

organizations, our performing groups, our visual groups, to create from the heart, from a place

of emotion. And sometimes that takes over in our communication style is that we get excited, we

get passionate, or we feel this or we take it personally or whatever.

And sometimes that can be seen as oh, there goes the Fine Arts teacher and they're asking for

the world and they get upset every time I say maybe and so we end up getting that reputation.

And so we have to find a way to balance the business of running our Fine Arts Program versus

the creative, emotional aspects of running our Fine Arts program. And that doesn't mean be a,

you know, a robot when you're asking for something. They need to see that passion, but we

need to be able to communicate it the way they need to receive it, basically.

You communicate in the style that the receiver receives the most out of. For me it was always

through needs assessment kind of memos or you know, written documents of here's what our

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

historical need has been, here's what I'm projecting for next year. And here's what I think the

cost is going to be for XY and Z and then make sure that that was given to the appropriate

people in the appropriate time. And I always found some success with that.

But I also will say you have to build those relationships with the people you are asking that from.

If they only see you when you have a problem, and you're sharing nothing else with them it's

going to be really hard for them to say, Gee, I want to spend $30,000 on art supplies or a new

kiln or, you know, a new sound soundboard for the theater or new lighting elements for the

theater or whatever. If they don't know what you're doing, what your heart is and know who you

are. And that doesn't mean that you, have to you know, as they say, kiss **** or anything like

that. But I think a lot of it is just letting them know you as a person, you as a teacher who cares

about kids and that's where you're coming from. So that when you come to them with a need, tie

it to this is a need for the students to be able to achieve, and I think that that goes a long way.

So I think it would be communication and building those relationships when you have that need

before you need something. So don't build the relationship when you need it, because then

you're just using them and they're going to see right through that.

Eric:

I was going to say that's a very logical response to a very band director response. Sometimes,

it's impossible to predict that.

I like what you also said when you mentioned you don't want to be the person that's going to the

office always needing something because people start shutting their doors when they see you

walking towards them and, you know, not answering the phones. It's not a good place to be in.

Nick:

Yeah,

And that kind of brings us to the third thing. And I don't want to steal your Thunder there, but

that third thing that positive thing is, is share the good things that are happening with your

program and with your kids. And you know that sometimes if you're in a program that is not

successful, you have to create those successes for those kids to start with.

You know, one of my favorite stories is I was at a program that had not had success for many,

many, many years. And I knew that it would be a little bit of time before we could have musical

or marching success. And so one of the first things that I did during our summer marching band

was I found a way for us to basically do a school supplies drive for our elementary schools. And

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

I, you know, I gave the kids a goal of X number of items or whatever. And I purposely made that

sound big, but it was really pretty small and they were able to far surpass that.

And so one of the first opportunities that I had was to share that success with what they did with

the Superintendent, with the principal, with the assistant principals. And then I got the kids to be

able to present all of that at our convocation, before school even started in front of every teacher

in the district that I could brag on these kids and create a success and share that so that all

these teachers, that a lot of these kids knew because that was their third grade teacher and that

was their fifth grade teacher and that was they were getting positive from everybody. That look

at what the band just did. They just created this and we needed this and they solved it and they

went above and beyond and blah blah blah.

And so it was a very real success, but it really had nothing to do with music or marching

because I knew that success is success and they needed that taste of it to now we can roll that

into the music and the marching. OK, you were successful with that. Now let's work hard on this.

And you will be equally successful, if not more.

But I think the whole point is when something happens that is good and it could be simply that

everybody showed up for rehearsal. And if that's not been something that's normal, you need to

let your principal and your Superintendent and your school board, if you have that relationship

with them, know that. If you are given a, you know the money to buy a new sousaphone and

and you know you've got your first chair using that or whatever it is, you get a picture of that and

you send that and you say this is where your money is going and this is what your kids are

doing and this is how many people are auditioning for this is how many people are trying for.

You know, here's what your new kiln has created for these kids and those types of things. We

have to share that.

And I will say that is one of the hardest things to do sometimes for newer teachers because

especially in Fine Arts, we think of that as maybe gloating or, you know, shining a spotlight on

us. And my way around that, because I hate having the spotlight on me, I always put the

spotlight on the kids and the program, and then that alleviates the look at me, Look at me. It's

look at them, look at them, look at what they're doing.

But I think that those things we really have to capitalize on so that people see that and I think

you can overdo it. I mean especially once something good has happened and now it's become

their standard, then maybe you don't go back to that every single time. But now how have you

raised the bar and what have they done above whatever that standard is and keep doing it that

way.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

But I think that that's so important and that's how you start that relationship with those principals,

those superintendents, with the parents, with all of those people. So that when you then need

that thing or when you have that issue or that problem, they know where your heart is. They

know what you've been doing, they know the quality that you're creating and they're not afraid to

jump in and help you out.

Eric:

I'm very curious about the administrator perspective of that, because as a teacher, you know,

there's lots of teachers in relationship in comparison to the principal, the one principal or the one

Superintendent. And so when you have many teachers doing all these wonderful things, what

does that do for a principal or a Superintendent or a school district? How does that really impact

like all these wonderful things? What does that do for an administrator? I mean, what's their

viewpoint of it? What's their perspective when they see these things?

Nick:

Well, I think a lot of it, it goes back to what we said a little bit earlier in this and that is that it's

really not your program or my program or somebody's program. It really belongs to, at some

level, the campus principal and or the Superintendent. Because if we make the kids look good, if

we make those programs look good as a teacher that makes the principal look good, who

makes the Superintendent look good, who makes the school board look good. And so now

you've got positive weaving all the way through the district, at least with that thread of, you

know, whether it's band or choir or orchestra or dance or whatever, now they're doing great

things and the district's reputation rises and that's a big part of it. So I think that's part of it.

But the other thing is the community sees that whether they have someone in those programs

or not, they see that. And now they have good feelings about what those kids are doing and

what their school is doing. And so it's a win, win, win all the way around. Now, I do think that an

administrator can visibly support those things. Whether it's the principal or the Fine Arts director

or however your district is set up to where you know if the choir has never gone to contest and

made UIL sweepstakes and UIL for 100 years and now all of a sudden they do. Boy that goes a

long way for the principal to come down at their next rehearsal or their next meeting or whatever

and say, “I'm so proud of you. You guys did amazing. You just keep working because this is

awesome and I love watching what you're doing.”

And that just puts a little spring in those kids' steps as they walk around that school and all of a

sudden they know that not only have they done good, but they're recognized for that and it takes

the principal not more than 30 to 60 seconds to pop in and say that.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

I think it also goes far to say that to the teacher personally as well. You've done a great job,

keep up the good work. I'm so impressed and I'm so happy that you're here with us. You know,

especially now we know there's teacher shortages and so you know you want to make sure that

when your teachers do well, we let them know that they've done well and a lot of times that

doesn't always happen. And so I think that there's that.

And from the Fine Arts director perspective, depending on the size of the district, you may or

may not be able to get to every one of those that does that. But even something of an e-mail

that goes out saying please read this to your kids, I'm so proud of them and I can't wait to see

their concert or something. That goes a long way.

Eric:

So Nick, you have some great insights for just this whole perspective between a teacher, the

administrator. What do you have going on at Region 4 in the future?

Nick:

OK, yeah, so these things that we have coming up is we have two things happening. The first is

on July 17th and 18th of this year at Deer Park ISD. We are hosting a 2 day conference and we

have seven different distinct tracks, one for art, one for band, choir, dance, elementary music,

orchestra and theater. And so we have presenters coming in and they are presenting

specifically to those tracks. And so we're very excited about that. But that is July 17th and 18th.

Eric:

I was going to say, Would that cover some of this professional development? There's some area

campuses or area schools are asking their Fine Arts teachers to go to this summer?

Nick:

Absolutely. That will give them if they go to both days of that, that gives them 14 hours for their

CPE credits. And I know some districts will have kind of a trade off day that if they have gained

8 or 9 hours off contract that they can trade those in and they get that professional development

day throughout the year that they get one or two of those back. And so this will help them get

those days and earn those days back basically. So yeah, absolutely.

Eric:

And you have more information about the different tracks that you have available for those?

Nick:

If they will go to esc4.net/ Fine-Arts, then that's where our website is and I keep posting as we

get more confirmations of presenters. You can see our list of presenters, the registration link is

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

there plus the flyer and so they can look at that. And again, that's esc4.net/fine FINE Dash Arts,

Arts, and that's where they can find that information is right there online.

Eric:

We'll have to put that on the show notes for the episode as well so they can have a direct link for

it.

Nick:

That'd be great. That'd be great. The other opportunity that we have as of right now is we are

doing the second year of our aspiring Fine Arts administrator conference. Or Academy. And

that's really unique in that it we meet seven times throughout the year and it's basically from

9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. And the first part of it, the morning, we tackle one big subject, it could be

communication, it could be human resources, it could be budget, it could be roles and

responsibilities. Whatever, we deal with that and we talk a lot about what that looks like from a

Fine Arts director perspective, what that looks like from an administrative perspective and some,

you know, tips and tricks and just general information.

Because so many times Fine Arts directors get that position and they may or may not have all

the information for that. And so, so that's what we do in the morning, then we have lunch, then

we have a panel of current Fine Arts directors come in and they discuss, I have some questions.

I kind of emcee that, that we start out with their questions and then we take all of the

participants' questions and answer those and then we always end the day with a specialist, in

each of the seven divisions.

And again, I always talk about the seven divisions as of art, band, choir, dance, elementary

music, orchestra and theater. And so one on day one, one of those will come in and say, if you

become a Fine Arts director, here's what the art people need as far as budgeting, facilities,

scheduling. Here are the challenges, here are their contests, here are the curricular things that

they do. And really it's for everybody in there who's not an art person to understand what art is,

what they need and how to best support them.

And then we do that for each of the other seven divisions at the end of each of our seven

meetings. And it really has opened eyes for people because as a band director you know I didn't

know how to best support art and you know someone who was a choir director they don't know

how to maybe best support dance and a dance teacher doesn't know how to best support the,

you know, the band program and so forth and so on is we're all specialists in one out of seven

areas and our seven areas, although related, are not the same and they are very distinct and so

this kind of bridges that gap.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

And so that's what we're doing there and the information there is found at the same website and

there's it's called the Aspiring Fine Arts Administrator Academy. And they can look at that and

registration information and the flyer is there and you can kind of see what that's about as well.

Eric:

I will also say that it bolsters the sense of community among the Fine Arts administrative staff

within the area as well, because you have area administrators coming in and giving, you know,

on the panel and talking about what's going on. But then you also have others, other teachers,

other administrators in the room at the same time. And the number one thing they kept saying

every time a panel came in was, “I'm constantly calling this person at this district or this person

over here. And we're constantly sharing ideas and constantly sharing information.”

And it's a community, and I really appreciate that more than anything else. The information was

wonderful, but also knowing who to contact when you need more of that information is a huge

thing.

Nick:

Yeah, no, that's exactly right. And we try to bring in people that add something to what we're

learning. I remember the story of one person, they had an issue with that. I think they're one act

play and somebody that we had brought in, they were able to contact them and get their issues

solved. Almost immediately, simply because of building that bridge with everybody.

And it's great to be able to sit at those tables where you've got an elementary art person in front

of you and you've got a choir person next to you and you've got a theater person at your table.

And now of a sudden you're getting different perspectives from people that maybe you don't

have that same specialty. And that's the whole point is to really realize we are not in this by

ourselves and all you have to do is reach out and we are really one Fine Arts community.

And sometimes that's hard to remember because we get so focused on what we do every day

with our kids and our programs.

Eric:

Nick, I want to thank you again for being with us and joining us today. Is there any final

information you want to leave our audience with?

Nick:

No, I don't think so, just that this has been wonderful and I'm grateful for the opportunity to just

share some of my experience and I really enjoyed visiting with you about this.

Fine Arts Educator Coaching Clinics

Ep 15 - Effective Communication with Administrators

Interview with Nick Luggerio

Eric:

I hope we can do it again soon.

Nick:

Absolutely, I'd love to. Sounds wonderful.

Eric:

Thank you again to Nick Luggerio and dropping that great insight about communication. To

learn more offerings by Region 4 Education Service Center in Houston, Texas, please check

their website, esc4.net/fine-arts. We hope you take advantage of the fine arts professional

development they offer, and the Fine Art Director Academy. You can find a direct link on our

website, FAECC.org.

As always, We look forward to hearing from you- your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Hit us up on our Twitter, at FAECC Host, and visit our website for more information.

Thanks again for listening! Until next time, I wish you Peace and Blessings!