CC#46: Mr. Rick Rivera - Augusta High School

In this episode of Cool Coffee with Kansas Principals, Rick Sola interviews Rick Rivera, principal of Augusta High School, about his experiences advocating for education policy in Washington, D.C. They discuss the importance of education funding, building relationships with policymakers, and the need for educators to share their stories. Rivera emphasizes the significance of education as a great equalizer and the necessity of local engagement with community representatives. As he prepares for a leadership transition, he reflects on the importance of leaving a positive legacy and setting up his successor for success. Connect with Principal Rick Rivera of Augusta High School, USD 402 Email: [email protected] X: @Mr_RickRivera Chapters (time stamps do not account for CC intro) 00:00 Introduction to Education Advocacy 03:00 Experiences in Washington, D.C. 05:55 The Importance of Education Funding 09:02 Building Relationships with Policymakers 12:13 Local Engagement and Community Relationships 14:50 The Role of Storytelling in Education 18:01 Transitioning Leadership and Leaving a Legacy --------------------------------------------------- We want to hear from you--take 2 minutes (or less) and click HERE to contribute! YOUR FEEDBACK ON COOL COFFEE IS APPRECIATED!  Leave show suggestions, guest recommendations, questions HERE! Connect with Cool Coffee on... Follow us on X: @KSPrincipals; @KPACoolCoffee Facebook: KSPrincipals Contact the host: @MrRickSola, [email protected], or [email protected] The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service. Read more about the KPA HERE. --------------------------------------------- AI Generated Transcript (time stamps do not account for CC intro) Rick Sola (00:01.442) Hello and welcome to another edition of Cool Coffee with Kansas principals. Today I am here with Mr. Rick Rivera, principal of Augusta High School, USD 402, home of the Orioles. Good morning, Rick. How are you? Rick Rivera (00:16.113) Good to be here with you this morning. Rick Sola (00:20.27) Yeah, great having you and appreciate you making time for this. And I don't know if this is getting up any earlier than normal, but it is certainly early at 6.45 as we record this. Is this your normal start time or did you have to make some additional time for this? Rick Rivera (00:34.003) Fridays typically tend to be little slower but it's alright, it's good to be up. Rick Sola (00:41.036) Well, I really appreciate it. before we hit record here, just some things I'd noticed on your social media over the last couple of weeks I want to get into is some of your state visits and also visits over in Washington. you are here. Are you just is this the first week back from spring break for you? Rick Rivera (01:05.691) Yeah, we just finished up our first week back from spring break. Yeah, to spring break, had the opportunity to go to Washington, DC with NASSP and kind of visit with our congressional leaders about education policy. Rick Sola (01:26.926) That's great. you know, as we get started in this and it was really neat to go through, I was just kind of reviewing your X activity and all the different, just different elected representatives or their offices that you were making connections with and. I guess, jumping right in, as you went there with a team of people, guess, let's share that out, off memory, I can remember a few, but who was your team that went with you over to Washington? Rick Rivera (02:00.477) Yeah, so we all represented different portions of the Kansas Principles Association. So Carol Leedy, our executive director, was there. I'm the NASSP state coordinator, so I represent the principals on the secondary side. Eric Sago is the principal at Clifton Clyde, and he represents NAESP, so he represents principals on the elementary. side. Also joining us was John Cannon, who is our KPA president, and John Beffert, who is our Region 8 representative on the NAESP board. So there's a good number of us that were there this time around. Rick Sola (02:49.548) Yeah, really great. And you mentioned Eric, he's friend of the show. He's been on here before. you know, so as you go, this was not your first time doing this, correct? Rick Rivera (03:00.795) No, it's actually my third visit to DC. it was, and I left out Todd Dane. Todd Dane is on the NASSP board as well. So he was able to join us this time around. So no, this is my third time, my third trip to DC and getting to visit with lawmakers and again, get to discuss education policy. We also get to give them a picture of what's happening in our classrooms and how their decisions. Rick Sola (03:08.109) Okay. Rick Rivera (03:30.579) Sometimes it's a legislative aid, they're the aid that's providing input and research information to our representatives ...