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My first year as Principal of Oyler School in Cincinnati Public I received a phone call from the Office of the First Lady of the United States. The caller simply asked if I was Craig Hockenberry [C1] and then proceed to inform me that he was calling on behalf of the first lady of the United States of America. My first thoughts were that someone was joking with me, however it was clear within a few minutes that this was not a joke. They asked me to keep this quiet and that a secret service agent would arrive soon and give me details.
Sure enough I left my office and went outside to process the news and before I even opened the door I received a call from the United States Secret Service. It was official, the First Lady of the United States would be arriving at my school in less than three days. The secret service set-up some times to arrive at Oyler and I immediately began a checklist of everything that need to be done to prepare for her visit.
The first area that needed addressed was getting the building clean. It was summer time so the cleaning schedule was different. I turned this over to Bob Walters our plant operator who worked around the clock. He did everything from cleaning the ceiling to power washing the outside of the building. In 15 years I had never seen the building look so good. He did one heck of job.
Then we had to prepare the kids as she was scheduled to read them a book in the school library. I turned this over to two of the most talent teachers I have ever worked with Wanda Neville and Bonnie Roe. They practice everything with them. They had the entire day planned out from a child’s point of view. We were in great shape.
We worked with the Cincinnati Police, Cincinnati Public Schools, community members, Oyler partners, and the media.
The first lady was coming to Oyler School in Lower Price Hill!
On the day of the arrival all of my staff was dress in red, white, and blue as we anxiously awaited her arrive. About three hours before she arrived six black suburban’s pulled-up on the sidewalk and out came five of the largest men I had seen since my college football days. All of them were dressed in black suites and sunglasses.
I greeted them and turned the entire facility over to them so they could begin their work. They put snipers on the roof, they hide several armed men on different floors and turned loose bomb dogs throughout the building. I just watched in awe at the level of security.
Now, the work is done. All is quiet. We waited and waited.
The kids looked out the windows of the library their faces smashed against the window. Crowds were forming outside. I could hear the Secret Service radio going off with coded messages. Then I heard on of the students said….
SHHHH!!! It is the First Lady!
Everyone turned and she got out of the car in a perfectly pressed turquoise suite and walked straight to the door of the school. When she entered she reached her hand out and she you must be Craig Hockenberry
[C1]
Craig Hockenberry: Faith Advisory, Aligning Partnerships
When I was named Superintendent of Schools at Three Rivers I was pretty well experienced with bringing together partnerships to work with schools, however one of the challenges I faced at 3Rivers was all the different churches in the district and near the district that all wanted to do something, but we had no alignment. Each group was doing something and duplicating almost everything.
As a result, during my second year as the leader of the district I put together a “Faith Advisory Committee”. I created dates and times for the meeting, invitations, and agendas that were perfectly aligned to the core values of faith based organizations. When the date came for the first meeting I was expecting two priests, however Craig Hockenberry was surprised when eleven church leaders showed-up!
This started a quarterly engagement meeting that grew to as many as fifteen and even sometimes over 20 people attending the meeting. We covered updates from each faith-based organization, school finances, academics, social issues, and much needed support. CLICK HERE
We also had the chance to build amazing relationships which grew into those type of partnerships that anytime we needed something our Faith-Based Team showed up to support. These meetings became my most productive meetings and leading them was much easier than others as you could feel the amazing support and kindness in the room.
Craig Hockenberry: The First Strategic plan at Three Rivers
After settling in as Superintendent of Three Rivers Local Schools and focusing on the development of the core values it was clearly time to start the process of developing the first strategic plan at Three Rivers. This was not going to be an easy task as change comes slow at Three Rivers. We realized we were going to have to reach out for support. There are many companies that help with this work and push you through the process. We chose someone who had an impeccable reputation for getting results and working with the entire communities. That person was Dr. Bobby Moore the CEO of Epic Impact.
Dr. Moore taught us that setting high expectations for each of the strategic goals and not reaching them was way better than setting the bar low an achieving the goal. That made us all uncomfortable because we felt the board would go after us all if we did not reach the goals. We expressed our feelings to Dr. Moore and continued to remind us that it was about the students and setting high expectations for them.
We spent more than 40 hours with Dr. Moore collaborating, developing surveys, setting goals, presenting to the board, conducting small groups, large groups, and breaking down the data. Once we had a rough idea of the strategic plan I took the first version on a complete tour of Miami Township and to every corner of our district. I went to community council meetings in Addyston, Cleves, Miami Township, and North Bend.
I went to civic clubs meetings such as the Cleves-Three Rivers Kiwanis Club, Western Hills Community Service Club, The WEC, the Three Rivers Women’s Club, and many others. I also spent considerable time having breakfast, coffees, lunches, and dinners with all of our key stakeholders, staff, and alumni. The objective was to gather feedback for our first strategic plan. We got much feedback and adjusted the plan based on their feedback. This was a process of high level transparency and top level collaboration.
Once we were finished, two board members wished to take over the process from the leadership team of the district. They did this in December 2019 and thirteen months later the district anxiously awaits the final product…
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Craig Hockenberry: Top Priority, School Security
By Craig Hockenberry
I have worked in educational leadership for over twenty years and developing a strong security plan should be the top priority of every school leader across the country. I have worked in an urban setting, rural setting, and a suburban setting and although the urban model requires extreme high visibility on a daily basis the overall objectives are the same.
Prepare, Plan, Practice, and stay current.
Operating a great security plan requires hiring a staff that is highly qualified and building a team that understands the importance of school safety. School safety is different than corporate safety, street safety, and safety in the community. School safety is based on top quality relationship building with the security staff and the students. In my experience most safety issues were ended before they started because the SRO or security staff were tipped off by students and staff that they have built remarkable relationship with them during their school career.
Kids want to help, but they are not going to turn on their peers and give information about a fight, a gun, social media, or bullying issues to an SRO or security staff member who is a jerk and has not been able to connect with them.
I have been fortunate to work with top level “chest players” in the School security who have included: Sargent David Bingle, Ricky Thomas, Nate Cole, Charles Dukes, Mike Slayback, Officer Jim Robb, and James Holland.
Almost 100% of the people that know the leadership of Craig Hockenberry will tell you that school security is without a doubt his top priority. Parents send us their most precious possessions and they expect us to make sure they are safe.
Craig Hockenberry: Standing with Generals
(North Bend, Oh.) - Every year a wreath is laid at the tomb of former President William Henry Harrison. And every year I got to stand with Generals. Each year the White House dispatched a different General and each one did a spectacular job honoring our ninth president William Henry Harrison who is entombed in North Bend which lies inside our school district boundaries.
Only serving his term for 31 days, Harrison became the shortest tenure president. Harrison was also the first president to pass away while in office, therefore, his death sparked a brief conflict and many questions about presidential line of succession.
The wreath ceremony which was implemented by President Gerald Ford has become White House tradition where the current president sends a wreath to each tomb of the former presidents in remembrance of their lives and their service to our countries.
As the Superintendent of Three Rivers I always hosted a large luncheon at the campus of Three Rivers following the event. I truly enjoyed this event as we are proud of our presidential heritage inside our district. It was always a day filled with history and pride. It felt patriotic! CLICK HERE
Craig Hockenberry
Superintendent Three Rivers Local School CLICK HERE
Craig Hockenberry
Craig Hockenberry: Barrier free pipelines after High School
During the 2017-18 school year in we began the process of developing the Taylor High School Career Academies in the Three Rivers School District. CLICK HERE
The Career Academies came out of the idea that not every kid is going to college and that was 100% okay, however what is your post-secondary plan? Our goal was to launch 3-4 academies inside the high school that created a pipeline without barriers to a career. In typical Craig Hockenberry style leadership if one career academy was good then five would be great so let’s start talking and building relationships.
Career academies promote smaller learning communities within high schools, creating personalized learning environments while promoting students’ readiness for college and careers. After describing the career academy structure, we present four research-based aspects that can assist school leaders and teachers in developing and implementing academies. Career academies can be effective in preparing students for college and careers, while also providing economic benefits to the community. We started with Cincinnati State Aviation and Drone technology, added electrical, and informational Technology through the University of Cincinnati and will continue to develop partnerships to add these programs.
By Craig Hockenberry
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Craig Hockenberry: The Development of Core Values
Leading a school district without identified Core Values is like flying a plane without instruments. When I arrived as the Superintendent of Three Rivers I was caught off guard about how little the district had identified goals, mission, vision, and core values. Core values are the pillars that your organization is founded upon and what drives the work that you do every day at the board, district, and building level. I knew this was going to be a huge task ahead and required some strategy that I knew I was going to need help to complete.
I reached out to a community member who owned a company called, Seek who worked with many companies throughout the United States on core values and other leadership work. I took our entire team off campus to the Cincinnati Observatory on a Sunday and we turned this day into one of the more productive days I have had at Three Rivers. We broke into groups of three and four and spread throughout the observatory and spent hours upon hours reaching deep inside everything we knew about Three Rivers to develop three lasting core values that we could present to the Board of Education, the staff, students, and community. The team was incredible and so focused. The day was filled with mnay ups and downs, but we stayed focused.
By the end of the day we had our first rough draft of the potential Three Rivers Core Values:
Inspire Innovation
Cultivate Excellence
Nature Inclusion
Once we were complete our next steps included months and months of engagement with staff, students, community leaders, alumni, supporters and friends. I went to every community council Cleves, Miami Township, Addyston, and North Bend and presented to the communities to engage our supporters and seek feedback. I did breakfast, lunches, coffees, and dinners across the west side of Cincinnati with key stakeholders and got the much need feedback. During these meetings I could feel the excitement and realized the next steps was going to be the development of the district’s first strategic plan.
Craig Hockenberry
Craig Hockenberry: Launching Board Development
Convincing your bosses that they need professional development is never an easy task, but as a superintendent it is clearly part of your job. It is easy when a newly elected board member joins the team to let them know that they need to attend an OSBA sponsored new board member orientation, but letting them know that we need a yearlong professional development structure in the evenings off campus is a challenge.
It was not a difficult decision to start the board development as two board members were spending their time focusing on things that were outside of their role as a board members. The trainings occurred off campus at places such as Cincinnati State, Western Hills Country Club, the Three Rivers Campus, Forward Edge, and other places around Cincinnati. I understood that regardless of the training the two board members had the right to act however they wanted, but might does not make right so the plan was to give them another perspective through a yearlong training session.
Everyone did great and the training was done by one of the most professional leaders in Board Development in the entire region. I personally learned a lot and was thankful to go through the experience. Each session was built around setting goals and supporting the leadership of the district to accomplish the goals. This idea was to make Three Rivers a better district. After each session, I saw several board members get better and I saw a much different board.
I did similar development at Manchester Local, but most of the training was done in the form of retreats that last several hours and we always focused on a single topic we wanted to improve on such as; school law, community engagement, dealing with complaints, and other pressing issues.
In 2018-2019 school year we spent almost $600,000 in professional development for our staff to improve practices and develop our workforce, but I found it interesting that leading up to 2018-2019 we spent $0.00 (not a single cent) on developing board members.
The money we spent on board development was worth it as board members are critical in the success of local school districts. Like teachers and other staff board members should also get top quality training and professional development.
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Craig Hockenberry
Craig Hockenberry Superintendent Three Rivers
Craig Hockenberry
Craig Hockenberry Superintendent Three Rivers
Craig Hockenberry
Craig Hockenberry Superintendent Three Rivers
Craig Hockenberry: Who selling what? Real Estate Forum
I found it strange that real estate agents who sold homes in the Three Rivers Local School District where I was Superintendent for over five years had very little knowledge about the local school district where they were selling homes. I can image that clients had many questions about Three Rivers as they toured homes throughout our school district. Who was answering them? What were they saying? Was it true?
These questions led to action. I formed series of what we called Real Estate Forums at Three Rivers specifically targeting real estate agents that were selling homes in our school district. These were in the form of luncheons where I was able to communicate to over 60 plus real estate agents. I gave them accurate facts about enrollment, sports, curriculum, instruction, school report card data, class sizes, and future plans for the district. The agents always left with updated information, photos, and factsheets that they were able to reproduce and have available if and when their clients ask questions as they were trying to sell them homes inside our school district. The other important outcome from these forums included a service I provided which was a commitment from me to offer tours of potential home owners. Each real estate agent was given my business card that included my name: Craig Hockenberry my cell and my email address to set up personal tours of their potential new school district. This idea was popular because it came down to me selling the district while the agent sold the home. This was truly a win for both of us.
Craig Hockenberry: The 3R Academy
Culture matters. When I arrived as the Superintendent of Schools at Three Rivers there were three major topics I had to lead the district through as soon as possible. They were, development of core values, strategic planning, and we had to address the poor culture of the staff.
Every day I heard the words I have come to hate….Morale, morale, and morale. We could be feeding the staff a free meal during their lunch from food trucks and teachers would be talking about how bad the morale is at Three Rivers. We would give them snow days, free spirit wear, an amazing party during teacher appreciation week and the words continue to come about their morale. There were times I thought I was the captain of a pirate ship rather than a Superintendent of schools. So to address the issue of culture and boost morale we created the 3R Academy. This academy was a yearlong relationship building academy. We started by picking thirty-five people and each month we would plan a daylong event or events around the city of Cincinnati. We would get to know each other and build relationships.
The selection of people was very strategic as we would invite custodians, bus drivers, instructional aides, elementary teachers, middle school teachers, high school teachers, and administrators. Our goal was to have people that work in the same build get a chance to meet and build relationship with people they normally would just pass in the hallways.
We took them to places like the B & B Riverboats, the Freestore Foodbank, the Museum Center, Urban Axes, the justice center, Camp Joy, local colleges, and many other places. We spent the entire day working on relationships. We fed them, we thanked them, we made them laugh, and we watch them get to know each other and grow together.
At the end of the journey we held a graduation ceremony where they received diplomas and had a very nice dinner celebration. Following the graduation we immediately picked thirty five additional staff for the next class. We did 4 years of the 3R Academy which included impacting one hundred and forty staff. I have many fond memories of watching the staff engage with each other and build amazing relationships. We made each year a totally different experience.
Craig Hockenberry Finding Our Values
Craig Hockenberry: A Leader Sharpens a District’s Focus
By Craig Hockenberry Superintendent
As the new Superintendent of Three Rivers School District, I engaged in a series of conversations with the community. I used this time to learn the community’s expectations for the district.
I was also using these meetings to lay the groundwork for addressing a gap in the Three Rivers culture. The district had never identified its core values nor, in recent memory, created a strategic plan.
The work of identifying our values included four clear steps
- Gathering the community for visioning and drafting
- Writing the goals
- Getting authentic feedback
- Communicating the core values
First, I recruited a trusted and experienced community member to lead the conversations. Then I created the space and time for discussion, as described in a previous post. The main emphasis was that the district compensated people for their time and energy, providing meals and a beautiful space for doing the work.
I recruited Tim Urmston to guide us in the process. He had led Fortune 500 companies through this work and - just as importantly - his children attended Three Rivers schools. I couldn’t say no when he told me I would need to co-facilitate the process.
My initial groundwork to eliminate barriers to participation was rewarded. On this Sunday, when we gathered to draft our core values, every Three Rivers administrator was present. This dramatically increased the chances that our results would be not only fully representative of our district, but would be widely supported and implemented.
The process of discerning core values includes working to lower our social barriers and creating an environment of trust. As residents of several small towns tied together by our schools, there was already a strong sense of community.
Then Tim prompted us for specific statements describing what we hoped our schools would be, or what they would reveal about and add to our community.
The statements we came up with helped capture the true spirit of the schools as I saw them.
When I arrived, we had a vacancy for the High School Principal position. We hired Ceair Baggett, who had been principal of a Cincinnati Public elementary school. While his work in the community, fighting for every student’s right to a chance at success, was remarkable, it was also worth noting that he was the first Black administrator ever hired in Three Rivers.
The Three Rivers community was exceptionally welcoming. The lack of Black administrators was more a factor of being a rural district with almost no Black students or families, and not a measure of any sort of discrimination.
Our community was also incredibly supportive of students with disabilities. Ohio law allows those Catholic and private schools to choose their students, and they often lack resources to meet the needs of students with individualized education plans and extraordinary needs. So those students attended our schools.
I was happy to see that the descriptions we came up with in our drafts all spoke to our love of diversity and our concern that every person felt welcomed and challenged to be their best selves at our schools.
What we were hearing from the small groups and seeing shared out in pictures was a common pattern, and it formed one of our values.
I felt the community really captured their heart when one of the values we identified was “Nurture inclusion.”
Many schools and districts claim to be inclusive, but it is done as an afterthought. I was proud that we had adopted it as an intentional practice on our part.
Some would see our school system as compromised in some fundamental way. After all, some saw us as a mix of students who couldn’t afford to attend Catholic school and students prevented from attending those schools because of their disabilities.
But we chose to understand that these characteristics made us strong. It made us a community.
And, in fact, some parents who could afford to send their kids to Cincinnati chose to keep their students in their community school. This made us strong.
And this increased our commitment to excellence - expecting the best from every child and adult in the system. Our next identified value was “Cultivate excellence.”
In the drafting phase, then, we had identified and taken pride in who we were. We would nurture inclusion.
We had also proudly embraced who we wanted to be - the best versions of ourselves. We agreed we would “Cultivate excellence.”
We had also identified a vision for who we could be in the future. A core value that spoke to our bright future that met our needs and that drew others to our community. A future that perhaps kept a few more families right here at home, while opening new vistas for our existing students.
We knew that we could try new things, with the freedom of having a cohesive, successful community school system. So we created a space to invent with our third core value.
We would “Inspire innovation.”
At the end of a long Sunday together, we knew we had taken an important first step. However, identifying our three core values was the start of a larger process of truly inculcating those values into our school system.
That was the work of the next few months - getting meaningful feedback and then widely spreading and applying these values.
Craig Hockenberry
