You Cannot Ban Your Way To Readiness

Michael Conner: [00:00:00] Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome to another episode of Voices for Excellence. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Conner, CEO and founder of the Agile Evolutionary Group and co-founder of AEG Systems. And today we have a superstar, right? Not only was she a rock star educator, principal, going through the trajectory leading up to being a superintendent, she is now doing some extraordinary things in the ecosystem around the country and trying to branch out nationally and internationally as well.

Michael Conner: So today's guest from Dirty Jerz, as I like to say, all my people, you know, in New Jersey, I absolutely love... I, I just love New Jersey, right? The educators there, I have some really, really good friends. And the association that Dr. Jeanene Dutt leads, she is the president of NJAEL, which is the New Jersey [00:01:00] Association of Educational Leaders, and then but also she is the CEO and founder of her own company, Lead by Design, and also the executive director of Be Your Best, which is a education division as well.

Michael Conner: The company's out in Utah, does some really, really good things. And then also, we know Dr. Jeanene Dutt was a former superintendent, former assistant superintendent, principal, teacher, everything that you can think of, and it's that great interface between bringing that practitioner lens into this business education world and impacting it, uh, from a global standpoint.

Michael Conner: But from New Jersey, hard-hitting New Jersey. Listen, everything I love about New Jersey. First of all, I'm a big UConn guy from Connecticut, and we already know where the coach is from, Dan Hurley from New Jersey. You know, a lot of the great play basketball players, a lot of people that I love out there, Dr.

Michael Conner: Timothy Fredericks, Dr. Lazzara, uh, Dr. Dutt. All my people dear. If I'm leaving anybody out in New Jersey, I'm sorry, but these are the [00:02:00] first names that come to mind. But a warm welcome to Dr. Jeanene Dutt to Voices for Excellence. Dr. Dutt, how are you? 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I am fantastic, but I gotta tell you, I actually live in Pennsylvania right now.

Michael Conner: Do you? Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Time out. Thi- this is a sidebar. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I know. Hold on. A lot of people don't realize this, that I was born and raised in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. 

Michael Conner: Mm-hmm. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Spent my entire professional career in New Jersey, but I have lived in Pennsylvania since my 20s. 

Michael Conner: I have not... I did not-

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I know.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: People do not know that because I spend a majority of my professional life, everything that I do is in New Jersey. I li- hold- I'll li- I'll take it even further. So where Phillipsburg, New Jersey is, the, the city directly across the river in Pennsylvania is called Easton. That's where I've been living. 

Michael Conner: We are [00:03:00] rivals.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: We are, we are athletic rivals for, for over 100 and something years. And so my alma mater is across the river, but I live here in eastern Pennsylvania. All of my work is New Jersey. 

Michael Conner: Unbelievable. That is- 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Oh, yeah, my... But I am still, I am still, when people ask me where I'm from, I say I'm from New Jersey. 

Michael Conner: I, I, I love it.

Michael Conner: I love it. And, and to- Uh-huh ... and to my audience, this, I thought I knew everything about Dr. Dutt. Did not know that. And then also, too, another fact for my audience, Dr. Dutt, Dr. Dutt is a former college athlete as well. So when we talk about, you know, sports and everything, just love talking with Dr. Dutt. But I didn't know that.

Michael Conner: Unbelievable. Yeah, 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I know. A lot, a lot of people don't, and they just b- they just assume that I'm still in Jersey, 'cause that's where everything started. But I went to, I went to college at [00:04:00] Moravian in Bethlehem, PA. I went back home for, like, one year while I was student teaching at my alma mater, right? I was a Spanish teacher, by the way.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And then I moved over back to Pennsylvania with some friends. Like, we lived in a house, and then met my husband, and I never went back over the state line. But my entire career has been New Jersey. 

Michael Conner: You learn something new every day. Uh-huh. So, and, uh, as I learn something new today just now, I want my audience to learn everything new about you with this episode, whether it be from Be Your Best to your LLC, which is Lead by Design, including the work as president for NJAEL.

Michael Conner: We're gonna uncover all of that today and get into your expertise with regards to leadership and everything. But Dr. Dutt, the first question that I wanna ask you, right? So you're one of the leading voices in New Jersey, still living in Pennsylvania, and former superintendent, organizational systems [00:05:00] expert, leadership expert.

Michael Conner: Just a variety, right? The diversity and the divergency of the expertise that you exhibit within the ecosystem. But for those that do not know you, Dr. Dutt, what song describes your leadership signature in the ecosystem? 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: This is gonna sound so incredibly strange, but it is a song called Humble and Kind by Tim McGraw.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: It is probably not your typical song that would, I go- I guess, designate leadership. Like, I had some other, you know, songs in mind that motivate me and especially with the work that I do in, like, women in leadership. Like, if that was a question from a women in leadership group, it would probably be Katy Perry's That Girl Is On Fire, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: But for, for Tim McGraw, there's a line in the song, right? And it says, like, "Don't take for granted the love life gives you. When you get where you're going, [00:06:00] don't forget, turn back around and help the next one in line. Always stay humble and kind." So that has been a song that has resonated with my leadership for, for years, I'm talking, I'm talking decades, because it really reminds me of all of the mentors that I had and all of the great leaders that I had when I was just starting out, you know, in my early 20s that Influenced me to become a leader.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Um, I, I don't necessarily believe you're born a leader. I mean, I think some people are, but I think for others it's an evolution. And, you know, part of the work that I have always done in all of my leadership roles, all, like all the things that you just mentioned, Um and Bob, are about supporting people and their professional journeys as well as their personal journeys.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So I love, I love the line that says, "When you get where you're going, don't forget, turn back around and help the next one in line." So like be proud of, you [00:07:00] know, what you've accomplished personally, but don't forget we have to grow the next generation of leaders. Absolutely. And I think we all do that. I think we do that as teachers, I think we do that as principals with our staff, and superintendents with our leaders.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So that song, every time I hear it just, it just makes me happy. Yeah. 

Michael Conner: Yeah. Dr. Dutt, what I love about that humble and kind resonating sentiment that you highlighted was how leadership is an evolution and supporting people within that. I see you do that all the time. I mean, this even goes to your work as an assistant professor at Seton Hill University where we actually sat on a dissertation committee together and had a, our candidate reach her goals to achieve the doctorate, where, as you stated, supporting people in their journey in growing the nexus of leaders, specifically I always state in this AC stage of education, humble and kind, right?

Michael Conner: We [00:08:00] would want the world to operationalize on those two fundamental principles of just being humble and kind, but now, you know, as what we're seeing, you know, with regards to education, we have to really level set that to be a priority principle within our work. I always love that what you said, next one in line And you just marvel at your role as a mentor, as a leader for the upcoming generation of leaders, specifically women in leadership, which I, I had this startling metric, right, Dr.

Michael Conner: Dutt, where that you, you see this, and I'm glad that you brought this up specifically, and we're gonna talk about your leadership focus specifically when it comes to women in leadership as well. But yesterday highlighted, right, this startling metric, and I know that you're gonna continue to provide the mentorship to grow women in leadership where women represent 76% of the education ecosystem, but only 27% are superintendents.

Michael Conner: And [00:09:00] men represent 24% of the education ecosystem, but 73% of them are superintendents. To me, that is just an egregious metric. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yes. 

Michael Conner: We're gonna have- Yes ... to balance that out. As you stated, leadership is a evolution where mentors are supporting people in their journey. But yeah, go ahead if you wanted to. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: No, I just, the, I, I've, I've done a lot of work.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: It's been a while though since I've looked at statistics like that for women in 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: leadership. But 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: a few years ago, New Jersey was, I think, about 37% or close to f- maybe 42% of women that were being named as superintendents. But to take that data even further, they're mostly elementary or middle school districts.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: There aren't as many high school principals that are women in certain parts of the state, or high school, um, or K through 12 districts that are women. So yeah, the, it's still alarming that, that, that we're still- We're still having a need for [00:10:00] women in leadership groups where at one point I hope we never need to have those meetings again, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Like, that's a goal for my work in women in leadership is we're, we're all leaders, right? We're all leaders. So, but I think we've made some gains for the next generation of women coming up, for sure. 

Michael Conner: Yeah. Yeah, and the work that you're doing, Dr. Dutt, for women in leadership is just absolutely phenomenal.

Michael Conner: I even know about your work with that, so continue and deepen in that work. But I wanna talk exclusively about the work that you're doing. It's kind of like... And I want take this question apart to create two parallels. One, your company, which is Lead by Design, and then two, your executive director role in Be Your Best.

Michael Conner: So one, I wanna, uh, well, and this is kind of like an interface of this question, but answering it two distinct parallels, right? So when we talk about you being the executive director for Be Your Best and you with your company, Lead by Design, which focuses on developing leaders, organizational teams, all of those principles there.

Michael Conner: [00:11:00] First, for y- for Lead by Design, what is the vision of the work that you're underscoring there? And then also for as the executive director for Be Your Best, what, what is the organizational proposition for impact? 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yeah. So this is interesting question and, and story to it. So when I was still working as a superintendent and I discovered the principles of becoming your best by reading a book, and I started living those principles, it made an incredible impact in my personal and professional life.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Then I ended up being promoted to the high school principal at North Warren Regional, and I reached out to Becoming Your Best because we had a very disjointed leadership team. There were just, there were just some things that I was looking for help from a consulting group to potentially help me get our team back on track and [00:12:00] get the culture better in the climate.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And, and we might circle back to this, Dr. Conner, but, like, I ended up being trained by this company on the 12 principles, brought it back to my district, only worked with it within my district, just the leadership team, and then I had staff training, and then I had more staff asking to be trained, and then I developed a simple form of a, of a curriculum that I wrote that I've now finished.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: It's much, mu- much more substantial curriculum now. Lead by Design was launched with my motto of lead a life by design, not by default, because that's what we teach in Becoming Your Best. But I hadn't yet joined the team at Becoming Your Best yet. So any of the work that I was doing outside of my team at Becoming Your Best, assigning me to go do some consulting or speaking and keynoting, if I was asked to do mentoring or one-to-one training [00:13:00] for people on the principles, I do that under my Lead by Design LLC.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And, uh, so my primary focus and probably 98% of the work I do per week is under Becoming Your Best. Lead by Design was founded on the principles of Becoming Your Best. And so when they asked me to join their team officially and formally, I'm really focusing on doing all of my professional work with Becoming Your Best.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: But interestingly, there are, there are things that I'm asked to do, like the one-to-one mentoring and just helping people, that doesn't quite fit the buckets of work that I do with Becoming Your Best, and that's where Lead by Design kicks in. But if you really look closely at what I'm doing, they're, they're, they're kind of merged.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: They're kind of merged. Like Lead by Design would be used if somebody, I don't know, wanted me to come in and, I don't know, randomly do like a superintendent [00:14:00] search. You know what I mean? Something that doesn't fall under the guise of the work that I do normally with ByB. But, um, I guess the, the way that you asked it is like what is the organization's value, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And like what impact are we looking for? So part of our collective vision for Becoming Your Best is to touch a billion lives, all of us. At s- in some capacity, all of the work that we do, we want to touch and impact a billion lives. Lead by Design is no different. Lead by Design is more of a, of a personal coaching and mentoring LLC versus, you know, the, the group kind of presentations that I do and the keynotes and the principle that I teach with becoming your best.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And it's really about impact, and it's really about teaching people to have a personal and professional balance to their life in all facets of their life. So personal life, [00:15:00] spirituality, health, fitness, your role as a father, your role as a son, as a friend. Having, being fulfilled and fulfilling yourself in all of those roles in your life will make you better professionally as well because then those skills transfer over, you know.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: How do you treat your employees, right? They're your, your, they're your biggest assets, right? What kind of, what kind of legacy do you wanna leave in your life? Not just your work life, but in your personal life, in your, you know, life with your friends and family. So we really do focus on balance is so important in order to be better productive.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: You know? So you're getting more out of your work and out of your job when you are truly balanced and focused on vision and goals and very, very purposeful planning. So that's a lot of info for that, for that question, but it, it really is impact, and it really is to touch and change [00:16:00] people's lives for the better like the company did for me And my passion, I don't know if you know this or not, but I retired early from the system, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: In order to do this work, because this work resonates with my core values, and it changed my life to the point where I'm like, "I need to bring this out to schools. I need to change other lives." And that is why I'm sitting here talking to you today really about, you know, no longer working in the public sector, but doing work that's gonna eventually impact a billion lives, and some of those lives are students.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And that is always our focus as, as educators, is what's best for kids. 

Michael Conner: Dr. Dutt, if I was a superintendent and I bring my executive team, my core directors, let's say, you know, various academic content areas, liberty, math, this is an outlier to just kind of [00:17:00] like, I like to say, streamline focus around pedagogy, around instructional systems, logic models within the MTSS model tiers.

Michael Conner: This is outside of that. What would be an experience me and my team would actually go through you underscoring the BYB principles? Because this is... I always, I, and, and, and this is just kind of level setting exactly what you're stating. You have to have a healthy you in order to be able to lead effectively, and you always said, and you said it, there's that balance between balance and productivity, right?

Michael Conner: And we would want to enhance and accelerate the productivity of our teams. But this approach is an outlier to some of the systemic approaches that we have, where it's focused on systems, change management, instruction and everything. What would, what would an experience if I was sitting back at the seat with my team, what would be our collective experiences with you?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: [00:18:00] So it's, it's, it's kind of a two-pronged experience. So first of all, it is unlike anything that you'll ever sit through as an individual or a team when it comes to educational leadership or organizational leadership. The first part of our most popular training is called Do What Matters Most. And Do What Matters Most is based on three habits for that balance in life and that productivity.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So in a majority of the schools that I've been in across the country now, the first day or at least four hours of training is strictly about the individual. It has nothing to do with its team vision, the school vision, the mission. It is your vision, your legacy. So I would say, Dr. Conner, I would work, w- walk you through the process of, "Dr.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Conner, what's your vision of leadership? Who are some great leaders in your life? What is your legacy?" So we teach the process of how to truly write a [00:19:00] lifetime vision for your job, like your leadership role. But then we break it down even further and I say, "But what's the most important role that you have in life?"

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: The most important role you have in life, this stumps everybody. They, they talk about being a mother or a father or whatever. The most important role is actually you, yourself. You need to take care of yourself and be, and be balanced in order to be a better father, to be a, a better son, a great friend, a great leader.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: We take it even further with a system that we have that no other leadership company has. We have our very own planner, which is either a digital planner or a pencil and paper planner, that brings together all of the vision work that we teach you and all of the goal work that we teach you. So it's very personal, and it really makes you focus on what are your real core values, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And so it, it's very difficult for some people to do [00:20:00] this because you have to be very introspective. You have to really think 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: about 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: you as a person in your life. And so when I write my vision, when I wrote that, it was like w- how do I want people to really know me or remember me? And I'll tell you a story.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: As a superintendent, my vision was written on a sticky note that I stuck right by my phone and right under my, my monitor. 'Cause as you know from experience, you have to have difficult conversations, either face-to-face or phone calls with either parents or staff members, whatever. And when I knew it was going to be difficult and I was starting to get out of my realm, like of who I want to be as a leader, and I would, I would literally focus on my vision statement before I made that phone call or before I called that person in to re- recalibrate and rebalance myself to say, "Remember, this is who you are.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: This is your legacy. Don't lose your temper. Don't say something inappropriate. Just, you know, [00:21:00] they're looking at you as a leader." That is something that I'd never experienced until I went through this process myself. So the first half of work with me would be a lot about you, and the response that I get, and I've done paraprofessionals, secretaries, custod- like, people in the, in the whole organization have gone through this that say, "No one has ever allowed me to do that kind of work at work," 'cause it's always about the curriculum or the security or the cell phone policy, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Moving forward, I work with teams together. So now we would take the processes from your personal visions, your personal yearly goals, and your, your, your purposeful planning called pre-week planning for the week, and now we say, "Okay, as a team," maybe it's district office, maybe it's all the superv- who, who, whatever team I'm working with, "who are we as a team?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: What do we want our students to say about us? What do we want our parents to say? What do we [00:22:00] want the board of education to say about us?" And we go through this whole process together, and we write a vision for ourselves, and we write some goals for ourselves as a team that are not exclusively separate from, like, the traditional PDP or the strategic plans.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Like, they can be infused, but it's a very powerful thing to do as a team because you start talking with one another and recognizing strengths and people who have challenges and how can we, like, help compensate for that. And it's also a great tool to use if we're not really Living up to what we said our value was, what our vision was, that we can remind one another, say, "Hey, we said that we were collective and collaborative.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: This decision that you made in isolation is not collective and collaborative. How are we going to fix that?" So instead of traditional, like calling someone and saying, "Hey, man, you, you messed up," it's using the vision, it's using what you designed collectively [00:23:00] together as a group of professionals to reframe and recalibrate and then work together on how to fix the problem.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And it's, it's, it's a process and it's a skill set, where a lot of times you hear leader- leadership training is someone talking at you, w- a lot of what I'm doing right now, actually. But you leave with the tools that you can then continue the work. Y- you know what I'm saying? So, like, and then the follow-up and, and the thing.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So that, that's what a, a typical and most popular training that I do from leadership teams all the way down is the do what matters most. 

Michael Conner: Absolutely. Creating that level of coherence, right, within the organization. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yes. Yes. 

Michael Conner: So- 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yes ... 

Michael Conner: such an essential strategy. And to my audience out there, the reason why I asked Dr.

Michael Conner: Dutt that question is because, A, the program's phenomenal. I'm being biased about this because I love Jeannine and I love her work that she's doing. But I wanted you, to my audience, to go through what would be a process of [00:24:00] adopting these BYB principles and to have Dr. Dutt work with your leadership teams, you independently, even down to the various cohorts that are embedded within our learning organization, as well paraeducators, the facilities team.

Michael Conner: It doesn't matter, right? We wanna be able to create the level of organizational coherence around those core values that Dr. Dutt was talking about. Great work that you're doing nationally, Dr. Dutt, and, and I, I, I, I know that your work at Be Your Best will continue to spread and scale as well. But I wanna focus this question around Generation Alpha, right, and the attributes as a cohort.

Michael Conner: This right here, right, that this is the last year, Dr. Dutt, that Generation Z is in, within the PK-12 continuum. They're seniors right now who will be matriculating out of the PK-12 continuum at the end of this year, where PK-12 will be Generation Alpha, and we'll be welcoming [00:25:00] in in the next three years Generation Beta into our classrooms.

Michael Conner: But, you know- This insight or meta insight with Generation Alpha really calls for deep learning. I want you to go back to your instructional expertise because what I'm seeing now is that, you know, Generation Alpha, because they are the antithesis to any human generations of mankind, they're, they move from engagement and don't have the strategic compliance, ritual compliance that sometimes we would do in school.

Michael Conner: We would be complicit to get the grade. That was me. I'll admit it, right? That was me. Hey, let me get the A, get the pat on my back, you know, get recognized and this and that. But was I truly engaged and did it really facilitate deep learning that was connected to my life? But now what we're seeing is Generation Alpha, if they're not engaged, they're going straight to that rebellion stage or even that retreat [00:26:00] stage where they're just completely disengaged.

Michael Conner: But in this AC stage of education, where now the focus is around the future of the world and future of the work, I want you to unpack deep learning from a leadership and classroom instructional lens. Put your practitioner hat back on as a superintendent. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: We don't have enough time for this question, quite frankly.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So, you know, a couple, a couple of things come to mind. We have, with this generation, there's so much access, maybe almost too much access, right, to information at their fingertips, right? They've, they've grown up with this. But, you know, and I wanna talk, I wanna talk a little bit, and this may be a little disjointed, but years ago 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Probably 2008, 2009, 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I, I was working in the Phillipsburg School District as a director of curriculum, and specifically working with a social studies [00:27:00] department, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And I had, you know, multi, multi schools and grades that I was working with. And was- we're already trying to make the jump for that generation of learners and how curriculum should be changing from ritual facts and learning of dates and times and generals. Um, I won't even get into the social studies standards in New Jersey 'cause I, I, I just feel like there needs to be a major change there as well, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: But why do they, why do they need to memorize the dates and the rivers and the geography? I was pushing way back then as a new curriculum person who loved experimentation in curriculum and more hands-on learning and so forth to say we should be asking them questions like, what would have happened if the Civil War never happened?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Or what would have happened differently in World War [00:28:00] II? Like, they should be able to analyze and be able to pick up that information that was available for them on the internet, right, at, at that age, in 2008, 2009, '10, you know, and look at it and, and analyze and be able to learn that way, not just a multiple choice, a fill-in-the-blank or who was a general.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: 'Cause I can tell you right now, I was not that student who engaged in anything like that. Like, I was more of a student, even back in the '90s when I was in high school, where if it was a conversation or I was able to pick my topic, and I had a wonderful social studies teacher who, who allowed me to do that, I thrived back then 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: in that kind of banter, in that kind of, I don't know what the word I'm looking for, like debate 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Terrible at taking a test on who this person was or who, because it just didn't, it [00:29:00] didn't resonate with me, and I didn't, I didn't feel connected to it, and I didn't feel like I really needed to know that information.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And this is before the internet, so think about that. So when we talk about, you know, deep learning now for the, the generation of students that's coming in, they really just don't need us to be a source of facts anymore. Like, they can access that anywhere, right? But I think if we're, if we give them the ability to take a concept and maybe apply it to something that they've never seen before, or they wanna solve a problem, or they wanna do experimentation, we should be pushing that in our classrooms so that they can feel connected, and they can connect it to their own world, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: How many times do we hear, "Why, when am I ever gonna need this in my life?" Right? Why don't we find ways to teach them that they are going to need it in their lives, have them discover why algebra is important in their lives? I think that's a, a, a [00:30:00] major disconnect that we have when we continue to teach traditionally.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: As an admin from the leadership side I think that means if we're gonna make this transition that we have to make with this generation, or we're gonna continually fall behind, I think we have to shift our focus to maybe rewarding those teachers or maybe rewarding those classrooms where students truly are, I don't know, wrestling with real problems or maybe depth, not breadth.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: You know what I'm saying? Like that maybe they, they walk away maybe not finishing that pacing guide or every unit of that curriculum, but where they walk away stronger critical thinkers, right? And th- also, you know, understanding the world as it is. I don't, I don't know if I'm explaining that as well, but like expo- exposing them to worldviews, you know, and not just, you know, what's in that traditional [00:31:00] textbook.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I think we need to think about how do, how do we, how do we reward that, and how do we highlight that when we find classrooms of kids and teachers that are doing that? 

Michael Conner: And Dr. Dutt, we use, uh, Voices for Excellence as asynchronous professional learning tool for leaders, founders at tech companies, learning organizations, anyone within education.

Michael Conner: And to my audience, this is one of the answers where you wanna be able to do, I'm gonna use educational term, Dr. Dutt, a close read, but, and we can't do a close read of it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but to go back and to unpack segments of this answer because it, it aligns systemically, Dr. Dutt, to various indicators within my 22nd century education model, especially when you talk about experimentation in curriculum, moving away from didactal rote approaches of instruction and regurgitation of information to now having that deep learning [00:32:00] where their students are exploring multiple sources of facts with this application and experimentation that elicits critical thinking.

Michael Conner: One of the things, Dr. Dutt, that resonated with me as you stated that is depth not breadth, right? And when I think of depth not breadth, it aligns to this definition of instructional and academic rigor I always state, increasing the complexity of thinking. And when we think about the increasing the complexity of thinking, specifically around depth to breadth, that means that the instructional task that we put in front of our students, we wanna have an increased time of thinking And that is right now, I think that's the disconnect as you stated, that's the disconnect that we see with the bureaucratic fossilized design of how our schools are operating [00:33:00] even in what I call this new AC 2035 focus, where we truly have to give students the autonomy, the voice, and the agency with regards to their learning.

Michael Conner: Um, well-stated Dr. Dutt, well-stated with this. I mean, the, I, I was, Dr. Dutt, I was very good at rote memorization. I was very good at regurgitating information, yet it helped me get to where I am at today, but I always challenge myself and say, "Was there any deep learning that occurred?" And it didn't happen, only the stuff that I was interested in, and that was- 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Michael Conner: very, very, very minimal. I'm like, "Okay, let me do this. Let me get the A. Let me go, you know, just..." Yeah, it, it tr- it- 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Well, yeah. You know, and I know we got, I know we gotta move on to other kinda topics, but, like, we also need to do as leaders and as [00:34:00] pre-service teacher professors To teach our prospective teachers how to do this.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: You know what I'm saying? Like, we need to look at what we are, how we are preparing today's teachers to enter into a classroom like this, and 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: to have the, the confidence and the ability 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: to take the curriculum that could be 20 years old in some places and say, "How do I make this viable for the kids that are gonna sit in those seats in front of me for this next year?"

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So I think there's a lot of pieces that need to, to, to be connected systematically, like you're saying. 

Michael Conner: Yeah, and I think that, you know, Dr. Dutt, one of the things that I've been calling for now, specifically in pre-service programs and executive leadership programs or doctoral programs, is that now there should be a course or introductory class on Generation Alpha and Generation Beta, and how to teach [00:35:00] these students, you know, as they enter our classrooms and everything today.

Michael Conner: But Dr. Dutt, I wanna get on your presidency as the, the, the president of NJAEL. I absolutely love that group, and to my audience, the NJAEL, the New Jersey Association of Educational Leaders, just a phenomenal group, great leadership structure. Dr. Lazaro, who's the new executive director, past executive director, Dr.

Michael Conner: Timothy Frederick, that is also assistant professor at Seton Hall University, and then the esteemed president, Dr. Jeannine Dutt. But Dr. Dutt, as the president of NJEE- NJAEL, all these acronyms, right, what is the nexus of the organization as it continues to expand throughout the state of New Jersey and beyond?

Michael Conner: Because I'm a partner of NJAEL. And then what initiatives and partnerships this year will strengthen the impact and membership of [00:36:00] NJAEL? 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yeah. So the, the, the kind of motto or the 2026 vision for us this year is growth. D- growth in general, growth in membership, growth in professional development, growth in how we're working together as, as leaders, 'cause we do have a new s- a somewhat new leadership team with Dr.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Lazara coming and so forth. Really our, our main mission is to continue to expand throughout the state of New Jersey because there are still so many people who don't know who we are. I was with a group yesterday for this other thing that I do. I'm on, I'm on a board for a foundation called ActLife. So we had a planning meeting yesterday, and there was a New Jersey educator there saying, "I've never heard of NJAEL."

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So of course I talked a lot about what we do and why we're different, what sets us apart from other associations, and [00:37:00] that's why we need to focus on how do we extend our reach. And like you said, you're a partner, right? You're a, you're a, you're a partner with us. You've done some work for us. So initiatives and partnerships, we are always open for partnerships, whether they're our allied members, which are vendors who really truly help support us in our networking events and our, our gala at the end of the year, which we give out scholarships to students.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I, I don't know any other organizations that do that either. So our focus areas really for this year besides for that growth is we have new committees, which we've not really had before. So we have, we have a membership committee. We have a professional development committee where we, we posted out on LinkedIn for anyone interested in a leadership position with us.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Communications, events and fundraising, and a whole new sect of aspiring leaders. So we have committees now working together with us [00:38:00] to kind of grow our brand and get us into other parts of- Of the state. Some of the things that we're really looking at to do differently to expand that reach and to just hit more leaders is to potentially expand the July event that we do with MRA, right, the internetworking event, to maybe the day before have it like a leadership summit.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So NJAEL, it would be on the different topics of leadership, and then the more integrated tech and AI and everything else that's always a focus of the Thursday event remain that way. We're thinking that that, that might expand. And we're, we're als- also looking to do some more vendor highlights. We're looking to increase our membership, too, to include underrepresented groups as well, such as business administrators, athletic directors.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Vice principals who always get left behind because someone has to watch the building, right? We, we wanna, we wanna do something with them. But [00:39:00] we wanna get more people involved so that we can increase our own perspective and awareness as to what are people struggling with that our association can help with them with.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And we're, we're, we're big on networking. You know, I, I mean, our events, I have met 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: countless people, including you, I believe, through NJAEL or, you know, w- through Dr. Fredericks. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Because everything we wanna do is make a network of people who are struggling or who have questions or just don't know how to handle something in that organization, but always, always, always keeping kids at the center, which is why our main event at the gala, we bring kids to the gala and give them a scholarship, you know?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So I, I think that that summarizes what we are trying to do. We are all-inclusive. And so when we talk about the demographics and who's involved, most people may [00:40:00] not know, but you know, there's an association that's mostly superintendents and assistant superintendents or, like, curriculum directors, right? So that's one association.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Then there's another association that's principals and assistant principals. Then there's, you know, associations for school business administrators. We are the association that brings all parties to the table because people's perspectives on challenges are different depending on the role you're in. So we like to bring everybody to the table, and we're, we're member-- We're also member-led, so what the members are asking for is generally what we, we do as, as an organization.

Michael Conner: Yeah, yeah. NJAEL to my, uh, audience is an absolute phenomenal group, organization. The organizational leadership structure at NJAEL is phenomenal. If, please contact Dr. Lazaros, please contact Dr. Fredricks for more information with that. To my New Jersey folks, [00:41:00] please get involved with this because again, I've been, I do their conference, planning to make it to their gala this year, and know the, know the leadership structure very intimately, uh, on a personal and professional note, and they are just a phenomenal group moving, moving things forward within the state.

Michael Conner: So please, if you are in New Jersey, please reach out to Dr. Dutt, Dr. Fredricks, or Dr. Lazar- Lazaros so you can get involved with this phenomenal group. It is like one... It's, uh, Dr. Dutt, I see everything you're doing in NJAEL as just this kind of like this upward trajectory that has momentum going. I mean, just this past summer, phenomenal summer conference on the shore.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Mm-hmm. Yeah, we, we, we have grown exponentially. We're, uh, we're entering our fourth year right now, and, you know, one of our... Here, here's, here's a plug. One of our goals internally is to [00:42:00] reach 3,000 followers on LinkedIn, and we're already at 2,300. So join us, like follow us. Um, we, we're a group in the leadership group and the trustees, we're continually thinking how do we, how do we make it better?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: How do we provide more support for our leaders in New Jersey? And, you know, one of our One, one of our missions is to give back to students. We're also looking to do a fundraising event this year that would benefit a charity. And so we've been kicking that around for about two years, and I, I'm thinking now's the time to do that.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: The gala has been very strong, and I, I've already got emails about, how can I support the gala this year? So I think our next step would be some level of charity that we can give back to a community. 

Michael Conner: Yeah. Phenomenal work, Dr. Dutt. Keep, keep it up. I always say onward. That just phenom- Well, I just [00:43:00] can't wait to see what 2027 brings.

Michael Conner: Well, I should say start of the '26 year, which is already now, and then lead, extend it in 2027. But I wanna go, and I'm isolating this question toward the level of your expertise around instructional and organizational systems, specifically underscored with design and innovation. So because we are in this era of transformation with technology and AI, and shifts that we're seeing within the economic demand, how would you define a healthy, quote-unquote healthy learning organization versus one that is just simply functioning?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: All right. So I would say a functioning organization looks good on paper. It's running smoothly, right? It's following, I don't know, maybe a system of patterns or, you know, this is how we do things here pot- And I'm [00:44:00] thinking in this question, I'm thinking globally as a superintendent, potentially as a whole organization, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I would say that Functioning is, like I said, they're doing, they're doing well. You know, they're hitting their deadlines. They have all their curriculum posted on their website. Their communication is, is okay, right? But I think that a truly kind of healthy organization is one that's not stagnant. It's one that's proactive instead of reactive, and it changes and evolves with the times and force- I, I guess kind of like foresees the future.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Like, and we're gonna talk a little bit about AI with this, I imagine, but like we've known this has been coming. We can't pretend it's not coming. We can't pretend it's not there. What have we been doing in the school systems to, to be [00:45:00] ready for this? And I can give a low level example if we have time that goes back to COVID where I was.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I was a principal. We knew we wanted to shift more into some digital learning, right? And instead of pencil and paper, but team was, teachers were still using some Scantron things, and I, I was losing my mind over this 'cause I was, I didn't come from a school that was still doing that, so I had a lot of work in front of me where I went.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And I brought in a group called CUE, and they worked with our teachers, small groups, for two years, '18 and '19, I think, and they were set for 2020 We were told schools were closed on Friday, right? What was it, March 13th or something like that. We were up and running online at 8:00 AM on Monday, our whole school, with virtual learning.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Because we started getting people less [00:46:00] afraid of using instructional technology, not what we're talking about with AI, but just general Google Classroom and put like, just y- the, the very early stages of transitioning where, I'm not gonna say it was easy, so please don't take this story as things were great and it was easy.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: We had hiccups, but we were one of the only schools in the area, maybe in a lot of areas, that were up and running the, the first day that we could be on Monday morning. Because we, we had a phenomenal technology department, a phenomenal superintendent, uh, that was Dr. Belotti, Sara Belotti, and then me as the principal, where we were like, "We, we have got to start doing things now."

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So that was a very proactive approach to curriculum. And then when, when COVID hit, we were like, "Okay, this isn't great, but we are more prepared than we were two years ago." So I think that that question makes me think of that, you know, thinking ahead in, in the [00:47:00] organizational system is what, what makes a healthy one.

Michael Conner: Shout out to Dr. Sara Belotti. We, um, we were, she was a part of our, our committee. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Co- committee, yeah. 

Michael Conner: Yep, she was a part of our committee. Met Dr. Belotti when we were on the committee for a candidate who's now a doctor. Shout out to Dr. Priscilla Ortiz. Happy. You know, I was kind of like just happy as a, a, a committee chair that I got my one over, so shout out to her.

Michael Conner: You're, you're absolutely right, and I can see why, you know, with... Ooh, that was a dangerous team, you and Dr. Belotti together. Oh. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, wee. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: We were, we were, we were a dynamic duo. We, that could be a whole other podcast because we're, we were, we were the first female superintendent and principal at the school district we were at, and we had very, like similar but different leadership styles.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So we were like the yin and yang, and it was a great experience. It w- and, and I always tell people she is one of the [00:48:00] reasons that I am where I am today. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So that goes back 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: to that, that mentorship piece. 

Michael Conner: Yeah, Dr. Belotti, that's like the, the, the only analogy I can have for that, that's like when UConn had Sue Bird and Di- Diana Taurasi- Yeah.

Michael Conner: on the court together. That's not fair. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yeah. When we- It's not fair. 

Michael Conner: But when we think about it, right, I loved how you contextualize what a healthy organization look like. It's proactive, and it adapts with times, and there's that readiness kind of point that's there. I think that's one of the core issues or problems of practice that we see around systems modernization today, is that we haven't had the actual model adapt with the times.

Michael Conner: And this is where we see status quo, status quo mandates, like you said, deadlines, ad hoc communication, just ensuring that we're checking the box as opposed to truly moving towards a healthy [00:49:00] organization that should be- Yeah ... aligned- Which we, 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: which we need, we might need those other things too, right? 

Michael Conner: Yeah, yeah.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Like we, when we have to adopt a policy, when we have to have this report done or wh- we still need those check boxes, but that's not shifting the organization forward into the future. You've, you've, you've... And this really comes down to mostly curriculum and instruction, quite, quite frankly, for, for our kids, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: We can't be doing what we did even five years ago right now. It's, it's... We're wondering why our kids are disengaged. 

Michael Conner: You're right. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Because we can't be giving the same project out that, that we gave out eight years ago, nine years ago. It does not resonate. So we have to adapt to the kids' faces that are in front of us, not a project 'cause we loved it when we designed it.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And that's, that's tough, right? That's hard to, to, to tell teachers they can't do that anymore, so. 

Michael Conner: I, I, I, I'm probably gonna ruffle some feathers when I say this, but I [00:50:00] remember when I was in fifth and sixth grade, Dr. Dutt, where I had the science fair with the cardboard and have to stand by it, you know? I, that was, that was, that, that was me in the '90s.

Michael Conner: Yep. I still see it today. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I, I agree. Listen, before, before growth leadership and, and organizational management became, like, really my focus and my passion probably about 10, 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: 10, 12 years ago, 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: it really was curriculum and instruction. I, I never thought I would end up a superintendent. I 100% thought I'd be somewhere as an assistant super for curriculum and programming because I absolutely love it, but it is also a very, very tough job in the educational environment, right, with- tenure and seniority and contracts to get certain people to move, but it was always a challenge and I was really blessed with always having at least a handful of people in my schools [00:51:00] that were like, "Yeah, let's do it.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Let's, let's try it." You know? So that, that gave me, that gave me joy. But yes, it's, that's, that's also another podcast topic. 

Michael Conner: I mean, we got about four or five with that, but yes, it w- a healthy environment will make those shifts. But I want you now to put on your practitioner hat, your NJAEL presidency hat, you being a part of Be Your Best, you know, the, as the executive director, all the, all the, all the things, centenary professor.

Michael Conner: Put this in because I, I really want you to be honest with, you know, how you respond to this. And you and I, we were at the same conference this past summer on the shore, and I was kind of astonished when I heard, and I'm speaking for me, right? I'm not speaking for you or NJAEL or anything. But I was kind of astonished when I heard a legislator who was, you know, providing the keynote talk about they were going to have [00:52:00] proposed legislation to ban AI in classrooms in New Jersey.

Michael Conner: So I, I remember I was, had my notebook out and I just stopped when I heard that. And I, I became... I was focused during that keynote, but I became even more focused because I was like Well, this is in our, our students' lives every single day. 86% of them are using some form of AI outside of school, two plus hours.

Michael Conner: By the time our students are eight, they would have three hou- roughly three hours plus of screen time on a daily basis, and artificial intelligence has become naturalized in their world where we're actually seeing core attributes of Generation Alpha and Beta, who are the quantum thinkum- quantum thinkers who are gonna engage in ASI and AGI beyond what we are today.

Michael Conner: But we have these proposals to ban AI in [00:53:00] the classroom. Now, there's debates about this, right? And I, I understand that there's debates about this. I even go to the fact that we're only talking about symptoms, where if we get to the root cause, we, we didn't do a good job as an ecosphere introducing artificial intelligence into the systems, into our classrooms, and building the capacity with that.

Michael Conner: Only 8% has deemed that they've received high quality artif- AI training in their district or schools. But do you believe these potential bans on disruptive technologies and AI become a threat with the needed preparation of Generation Alpha and Generation Beta regarding, as you stated before, readiness for the future, i.e.

Michael Conner: future of the world and future of the work? 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Yeah. Yeah. This is a huge question, and talked about all the time now because of, because of that [00:54:00] announcement in New Jersey. So I also think that 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: We're also getting a little bit of... I think 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: people 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: are 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: getting 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: a little confused between 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: the use of AI as an instructional tool or preparing students with AI, because that is indeed the world that they're going to work in, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: With screen time, that's not academic screen time. I mean, I don't know if you're coming across this at all. I do believe that there is too much screen time with our youngsters, and I just mean social media, text messaging, not enough engagement in face-to-face conversations. I, I mean, statistics have shown that, you know, teenagers' mental health is on the decline because of the four plus hours they spend on social media.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Bullying is at an uptick in, in the media world. [00:55:00] They're getting less physical activity, you know, because they're playing video ga- Like, we can, we can throw out all of those statistics and I would be in agreement. Again, I'm someone who truly believes in life balance, as I've already talked to. I do all of those things as an adult.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I'm scr- I'm scrolling. I'm... People laugh 'cause I do play video games, by the way. I bought myself a PS5 for my birthday last year. Yeah, yeah. I, I do non-academic screen time for fun as a reward. So I think we're, we're looking at what is happening with our youth and what is happening with their decision-making, equating that to use of, I could be completely wrong, Dr.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Conner, on this, but, like, I think that some people are not understanding that those two things are different, right? To answer your question directly, yes, I think this is detrimental to preparing today's students It's just so much [00:56:00] more complicated than that because like we've already talked about, we have not been proactive enough in helping our teachers understand how to use AI in the classroom.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So if you're gonna say, "Oh yeah, we use AI in the classroom because my kids use Grammarly," that's not what we're talking about, right? I still believe we should be teaching basic spelling and grammar and, you know, thing, things like that. I, because I just think that that's important as, as a linguist, like a language, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: They may not actually need that in, in their world, you know? But we need to teach the correct uses of AI and how global companies are using AI, even for things like productivity and research. We have to teach them how to check AI work, right? I mean, we know that it's not 100% perfect. But yeah, I, I do feel like it's going to be a detriment, and I [00:57:00] think telling teachers for years now to use instructional technology, but now say...

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I think the, I think the, they were trying to ban it completely from like sixth grade and under. I think it was something like that, if I remember correctly Right? Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I, I have so many thoughts, you know, and opinions on things too, and I think, you know, there's a huge disservice to also students not being able to use AI that are not going to college.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: They're gonna be in the military. They're gonna be career people, like my husband with a contractor, plumbers, electricians. Like, we also need to give them avenues, you know, 'cause they don't wanna go to a four-year college. They don't wanna go into that. What are we doing for them? And I think for that group too, as that workforce is aging out in America right now, right, our, our blue collar workers are aging out, I think AI could [00:58:00] be an incredible tool for them as a learning tool before they do the hands-on plumbing or HVAC, you know?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: So I, I don't, I don't, I think we're not, I think we're not ready to fully implement it, but I think we're not ready to ban it either. I think we have a lot of work to do, you know, in that, in that middle ground. 

Michael Conner: Absolutely. And, uh, Dr. Dutt, you alluded to a lot of, a lot of facts, right? That it's evidence-based.

Michael Conner: You talk about productivity, um, AI increases the efficiency of an organization by 40%, you know? And I loved how you stated it, and I just kinda characterizing it through what I'm calling the AI centric culture framework, where this AI mindset leads to AI literacy, intentional AI literacy, both at the leadership, teacher level, and student level for ethical utility, and then creating that level of AI [00:59:00] fluency if we're truly addressing mindset and literacy with that.

Michael Conner: And you're absolutely right. And when we think about the world that our students are gonna go into, there's a projection that Generation Alpha, I believe the first or second graders, will be retiring from their industries by 2080, right? So I, I, I think we're in 2026 now. I think by 2080 the world is gonna be a little different from today, but also to, to basically underscore that as well, when you were talking about, you know, some of the, the great careers and trades, they're gonna be integrating AI seamlessly, just like what we're seeing in the medical field and some of these broader disruptions with that.

Michael Conner: I think we have to come to a balance of what that looks like, right? How are we intentionally building literacy to know when we're gonna use AI for various things? The example that [01:00:00] you provided, mixed realities will provide that competency skill development using artificial intelligence. But this is the last question, Dr.

Michael Conner: Dutt And I'm gonna try to limit you to three words. All right? And normally a lot of people break rules with this, so take it as it is. But Dr. Dutt, what three words do you want our audience to leave today with regarding preparation and readiness for the future of education? 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Vision Intentionality

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Student-centered 

Michael Conner: Well, you're gonna be a rule follower. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Usually I have a- I, I, you, you, you set me up. I mean, I could explain it, but you, you said I can't do that. I'm a rule follower. Actually, I've never been a rule follower in my entire life. 

Michael Conner: I, I know that, Dr. Dutt. Go right ahead. Vision, intentionality, and student-centered, please expand.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I think vision is so important, and that's, that is, [01:01:00] that is the crux of what I teach, you know, in my consulting businesses right now. And to me, vision is Knowing where you're headed, you know? Like, not necessarily where we're at right now. I think that that comes with that, like, proactive approach to life, right?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I think a clear vision is what lets us, as leaders and teachers, make consistent decisions in, I guess I would say, like, sometimes difficult and un- unpredictable environments. So I think having that, having that vision for education, having that vision for leadership is, is where everything starts. I'm choosing intentionality because it's, to me, again, it's the opposite of being, like, reactive, you know?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Or I would even say, like, combative. So, like, instead of, like, scrambling to 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: respond to [01:02:00] every new option or tool, which there are so many out there in the education world, that 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: we have an absolute intentional plan that we're agreeing on, that we're gonna roll it out as an initiative instead of just saying, "We're gonna do this new math program or this new English program, and there's an AI component."

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Like, no, no, no. What-- why are we doing this, all right? Not, like, to check those boxes, I guess, like you and I were talking about earlier. Intentionality, I think, is imperative. And we cannot forget the kids. So student-centered. If we ask leaders why 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: they went into 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: teaching, right? Anyone. If you do not answer with, "I love kids," or, "I wanna help kids.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Kids bring me joy. I love watching them grow. I love watching them succeed," we should not be leaders, right? Why are we not involving our kids and our students in the decision-making for where curriculum is going? Ask them what [01:03:00] would resonate with them and their peers, right? Because it really only matters about teaching and the success for kids if we're actually building it around what they need to succeed and what they need to thrive.

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: And I do still think so many people are stuck in protecting the adults' comfort, right? And just continuing to do what they like or what makes them comfortable, 'cause adults don't like change and don't like coming out of their comfort zone. But we have gotta get out of our comfort zone, and we have to involve the student voice in moving forward.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. Well stated, Dr. Dutt. Vision, intentionality, and student-centered. Thank you, Dr. Dutt, for coming on Voices for Excellence. Now, if any of my audience wanna get in contact with you, whether it be about Be Your Best, Lead by Design, expand on any of the concepts and sentiments that you unpacked today, or even [01:04:00] NJAEL, how would they be able to get in touch with you?

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Email me. That's, that's number one, and it's, uh, Jeaneane, you w- I can spell it out for you. Um, or I can send it to you. Um, Jeanene@becomingyourbest.com. So J-E-A-N-E-N-E @becomingyourbest.com. I'm also, in my business, I am on social media. So on LinkedIn you can just find me at Jeanene Dutt, EdD, and Becoming Your Best Education Division on Facebook, and BYB Education on Insta, and BYB Education on...

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: What's my other platform? X. X. Yeah. But email, I mean, email is, you know, you can ask me a lot of questions and things on that if you wanted to ca- catch me there. 

Michael Conner: Yeah. And to my audience, please make sure that you reach out to Dr. Dutt. [01:05:00] She's involved in a variety of different things, but overall what we're seeing is two, the two I words I always say, Dr.

Michael Conner: Dutt, impact and influence. Thank you, my good friend, for coming on Voices for Excellence. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: Thank you. 

Michael Conner: It was so fun to have you. 

Jeanene Stettner-Dutt: I appreciate it. It was great. 

Michael Conner: Absolutely. And on that note, onward and upward, everybody. Have a great evening.