In each of my roles as a teacher, principal, administrator and school board member, I’ve learned there is no substitute for firsthand experience when it comes to understanding and meeting the needs of students, staff and families. Of course, all educators should have a strong grasp of theory, but abstract knowledge cannot compare to the lessons learned when you are observing, communicating and interacting with the people that make our schools work.

Recently, I had just such an opportunity when I took a tour of school districts on California’s beautiful Central Coast. It was a wonderful and illuminating experience and reinforced my belief that model practices exist in schools all across the state. Our challenge is to support, uplift and replicate these strategies to ensure student success is the norm in every school district and county office of education.

In the Lompoc Unified School District, I visited the tremendously impressive aquarium at Cabrillo High School that doubles as the site for a career and technical education (CTE) program that readies students for careers in oceanography. I was surprised and delighted to find out the Monterey Bay Aquarium, perhaps the signature institution of my hometown, donated tanks and other equipment to help make the program possible. It was an emotional moment to see this connection between our communities and the growth and development of youth 200 miles away. When one student told me she wants to attend California State University, Monterey Bay, to study marine biology, I was moved to tears.

I was equally impressed by my trip to Santa Paula USD, where I visited the SeaPerch program at Isbell Middle School Academy of College and Careers. SeaPerch lets students work in teams to design, build and test their very own underwater robotic vehicle, a process that helps them develop problem-solving skills, and practice teamwork and creative thinking. As Santa Paula noted in their generous account of the visit on the district website, this innovative program is made possible through a special partnership between the school district, CSU Channel Islands, and the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center STEM Program in Port Hueneme, under the direction of Ventura County Board of Education trustee Ramon Flores.

These sort of public-private partnerships have the potential to expand access, opportunity and college and career readiness for students, and we should be sure to nurture them. My tour provided great examples of schools evaluating the unique assets of their communities and then designing programs and pursuing partnerships tailored to the needs of students, parents, caregivers and staff. In particular, my visit to a program at J. F. Kennedy Elementary School in Riverside USD provided deeper insight into how students who require after-school support and are not picked up until 6 p.m. are receiving additional instruction that increases their readiness and helps moves them to grade level. This is a great example of how having boots on the ground allows you to meet people where they are and produce better outcomes as a result.

I saw more evidence of this during a trip to Los Angeles at the very end of March when I received a personal tour of the nation’s second-largest school district, Los Angeles USD, from CSBA Regional Director and Los Angeles USD trustee Rocío Rivas. We made stops at the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles and the district headquarters. Along the way, I had the opportunity to talk with parents and children at the different schools, stop in classrooms and witness the beautiful art and music made by creative students. It was a reinvigorating experience and one that provided valuable insight into what our constituents see in our schools. It also provided an affirmation of the positive effects we have on the students we serve.

When Director Rivas’ Chief of Staff Rudy Gonzalves heard that someone by the name of Bettye Lusk was visiting the district, he grabbed his high school yearbook from 1987 and confirmed that “Mrs. Lusk” had been a school administrator when he was a student in Monterey. Rudy was kind enough to bring his yearbook to campus and give me the opportunity to walk down memory lane as I thumbed through the pages of past students and colleagues. I even autographed the yearbook. It was a wonderfully unexpected ending to the visit and one that underscored the lasting impact of our work as educators.

At a time when school districts and county offices of education face headwinds in the form of declining enrollment, lagging test scores and uncertain state and federal funding, it is essential that we work closely with people on the front lines to better understand how to optimize our systems and practices. It is also critical that we be creative and resourceful in forming alliances that can expand our capacity to serve students.

I’m fond of an anonymous quote that says, “Good partnership is like a healthy tree — it requires strong roots, constant care, and shared nourishment.” As educators, if we want to help our students grow from saplings into mighty oaks, we cannot restrict our efforts to the boardroom. We must get down in the dirt, examine the conditions, and provide the support our students need to thrive.