Evan Abramson: Ed Tech Innovation, AI in Education, Building Trust in Schoolsca

Hayley Spira-Bauer: Welcome back, everybody to the Learning Can't Wait podcast. I am so excited to introduce you to my friend and today's guest, Evan Abramson, the director of tech and Innovation at the Morris-Union Jointure Commission. Welcome, Evan.

Evan Abramson: Thank you, Hayley. Glad to be here. Super excited.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: I am so excited to have you on the podcast because, well, first I need to set something up. This is going to be one of many because if I know you and I know me, this is going to be a conversation that we're never going to want to end, but it's the first installment of the Evan Guest Series on the Learning Can't Wait podcast.

Evan Abramson: I cannot wait to be a continued guest back over and over again. We're going to have a blast with this.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: It's a promise. It's a promise.

Evan Abramson: Can't wait.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: So Evan, some people might know you from the world of education, but I want 'em to really get to know you on this episode. So can you start us off by answering the question, how did you come to be the personal and professional version of yourself?

Evan Abramson: For me, I came from a place where both my parents were really hardworking, they were dedicated. I was fortunate that my mom was home working and then was a teacher beforehand. And after my sister and myself grew up, she went back and she was a special ed math teacher for 35 years. And so we always saw the hard work, the dedication, her passion with children. And so that was something that always truly just resonated with me. And so I actually went to school for business and my dad and I had a computer growing up that it was just something that we messed around with and we played with. And once I fell in love with just the repair of it, but also just all the possibilities of things that it could do. And so when an opportunity came to be a part of a school system and start teaching, I fell in love with helping others understand technology and to teach them technology. ([02:01](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FqBptxTw8iQY54X-vl15spLjoixSIVPnxzUC94UfnzKidSIq_OSjNS6UNEZ2aJNEDd7SM2tMdcisGnGLOy2hhuMwGHQA%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D121.56)): So I started as a classroom teacher, but ended up becoming a technology coach. And then as I was coaching it for five years, the superintendent at the time told me that I was going to become the next director of technology. And so I better get ready and better start learning everything I could. And so I did. And again, every day I'm still learning. It's amazing to me how technology changes every single day and especially how school districts use, it changes every single day. And the invention of AI and how it's come along in schools, the influence that it's having is now taking a whole other loop into what people are doing. So with special ed where I'm at right now, and certainly with the invention of AI, it is just a wild ride and a roller coaster, but I love it every day. And for me it's just fun.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: It's so obvious that you're having fun when you do it, but I want to touch on something, technology. When you started your career, it means something very different than technology today. Can you talk about how technology in schools has evolved from that computer you had in your house that you played around with to what we're looking at in front of us at the end of 2024?

Evan Abramson: It's so different. And so when I first started, we had a Commodore 64 and we played simple games and it was really exciting when we could hit the print function, it would print out a certificate for us in black and white, and it was incredible, but we had it and we would post things around my room. When I first got into technology in the schools, everybody had the old bubble Macs. And again, it was so simple, but it was great. And our students would play The Oregon Trail and they learned all these amazing diseases that

Hayley Spira-Bauer: Were happen. They caught dysentery

Evan Abramson: Every time, every time,

Hayley Spira-Bauer: Every time.

Evan Abramson: But they loved it. And to see how it's evolved now and how technology is being used to truly help kids, it's not something about just being fun. It's part of life. And I think there's a certain set of skills that technology is being applied to critical thinking skills that our students are solving different problems now in different ways. In the past it was go to an encyclopedia and then all of a sudden it was, okay, well now that Google's here, we can ask a Googleable question and we would have an answer in four seconds. But now we can take the technology and we can really build something that's individualized to that student and let them dive deeper. And so whether it's using of AI or it's just typical programs that a lot of schools purchase, the students can dive deep and really start to use their critical thinking and apply that knowledge to solving so many other problems. A thing that we see in society today is our students are so addicted to technology that we don't necessarily teach them how to communicate. And I think that's part of it now in our classrooms that we're seeing the leveraging of technology and students grabbing the information, but now working really with groups and communicating and working through problems that are just so much deeper than we ever got to as kids.

[05:00] **Hayley Spira-Bauer:** You taught me something about the type of technology that exists today and how schools are capitalizing on this that I had no idea about. What's funny is I'm still wrapping my head around it, and I'm sure a lot of guests will too. So without further ado, I want you to talk about esports because when you first told me about what's happening with esports in schools, I think my head exploded.

Evan Abramson: ESports is exciting. It's the most inclusive activity that a school can run.It is not very expensive at all. It is something all of our students are doing in some way, shape, or form anyway. So they're going home, they're playing games, whether it's on their phones or their computers, their Nintendo Switches, it doesn't matter. But what we realized was that students of all kinds are athletic students are non-athletic students, doesn't matter color, gender, it doesn't matter when you're behind the computer screen, they're playing and having a great time doing it. But when my son first wanted to play esports as a tech person, I actually said no. And what was really fascinating to me,

Hayley Spira-Bauer: That is so funny to me. You are not the first expert in tech who's like, yeah, my kids weren't allowed at first,

Evan Abramson: They weren't because I felt that they were so young and that he would get addicted to it and it would be something that it would just be behind a computer screen. There was no communication, there was nothing behind it. I didn't feel the passion or the energy that he was going to be putting into it would actually be worth it for him. And so he's the one that actually brought me downstairs and we were talking about it and he said, dad, just come and watch and if you still don't agree with it, then I'll stop. But if you can understand what we're doing, then please allow me to do this. And so he did. He got all of his friends on a game that they were playing, and I sat there for 15 minutes and watched them solve problems. I watched them communicate in every single way that I had dreamed of him doing on a sports field or being out with his friends riding bikes. ([07:22](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FT3cO0QZG7ZtgrqPaFjGdAHvEQ67dPaNs2XifqkCJ3nvCJRmxNNtORmr1LafLQ4cqewGdpAX0ifuRIqv5cZ8PDHC1D8E%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D442.01)): They were doing all these things. And then even when something happened to one of them during the game, they all jumped in with this empathetic voice. And I stopped and I just understood. I said, I got it now I understand. And so he still plays. He's very good. He plays with his friends, he plays professionally. But on the other side of it too, he also has limits. And I think that's what a lot of people don't understand at home, there are limits. Homework always has to be done first. He's limited to the hours that he can play. If there are tournaments and things that are going on at home, we have to be made aware. It's not that he's going to sit there all weekend long and play, it's just not feasible. But we also learned in talking to others that were professional players, diet was critical. ([08:07](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2F6cShOOU6aaPoAP23GLuAWHVWYoVqut_dQxvut_1iVG1BKTT8I7_jJWmqYn6N4l-fX4lp-n5KbwWD5FKCgceuAFGKoMU%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D487.64)): Critical. It's because they're on and they're being trained as athletes. Sleeping and having true sleeping patterns, getting nine to 10 hours of sleep at night is critical for them because if they're playing one misstep can cost them a whole game. And a whole game might be a challenge. It could be financial, it could be a scholarship opportunity, it could be all these different things. So in schools, it has become a home for a lot of students that typically would never get involved in school-wide activities. And it's incredible when you watch these kids talk to each other and plan. It's incredible to see how colleges now have embraced it and are offering full scholarships. So almost every college in New Jersey has full scholarship athletes and talking to coaches that are in the Ivy League, athletics have a small portion of finance. The esports teams actually get more money than the athletes. And so athletes on the football team are actually playing on the esports programs. It

Hayley Spira-Bauer: Blows my

Evan Abramson: Mind. Mine too. It was incredible. And you just going to the championships and seeing what companies like Garden State Esports, which is New Jersey's largest platform, what they're doing for schools is incredible. And just to see what the passion in my son's eyes, it lights up when he talks about it. And he takes his assignments in school super seriously because he understands what his goal is at the end. And he sees a lot of kids that want to be YouTubers and streamers, and I think he has that dream, I think. But on the other side of it too, he realizes now that there's just so much hard work involved to get there. It's not as easy as just turning on a computer and saying, I'm going to be a streamer today. And I think being part of that and being part of esports programs, when you watch children work together and encourage each other and are just empathetic to each other's needs, it's incredible.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: Yeah. So I want to pause for a literacy moment because I didn't know what esports were at first. They're organized competitions between individuals or teams playing video games. So the kids are sitting at their own devices using their own controllers, but interacting with one another on a screen. If you don't have children of video game age, this might be totally foreign to you, but if you have kids of video game age, you probably get it. If you get it, you get it. But Evan, talk to me about, okay, so your son is actually coming on the podcast. We're so excited to have him. But I want to hear a little bit more about how you've used esports to transform an extremely vulnerable populations access and equity to technology tools. What's going on right now that you are excited to share?

[10:00] **Evan Abramson:** Yeah, so for us, in our school system, we deal specifically with students with autism. And a lot of times there are programs that are out there in the community for them to go to but are not typically in a mainstream program. A lot of these students are not going to be on the baseball team, the basketball team, a football team. So it's hard. It's hard for them to relate to other students or general education students. And so what we see when I came here was the opportunity was the opportunity to prove a lot of people wrong and to allow students to be empowered to do things that no one else thought they could do. And that's my passion. And so for me, we won a grant and we're allowed to build one of the first national esports arenas for students with autism. And everybody around here in our community, all our stakeholders, thought we were absolutely crazy for even thinking about doing it. ([11:44](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FdVmIIAUcx4HX-NokRhA6CrgzNtIXHPYqueVybk1gsCfrL3St4jsXVKMZYDWE_tO1RwJgMXF9Ztr3dVNqSHW6oS5kKfw%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D704.7)): Our teachers thought we were crazy. And so we said, we're going to do this anyway and we're going to see how it goes, and if we fail, we're going to fail forward and we're going to try to adapt and see what happens. And for me, it was we built the equipment, we had some great people that we brought in to help us. Once we got everything set up, I took the students in there for about a month and training them on the equipment, understanding how it would break, but how to use it and just how they can work together and play games. We wanted to start it off light, just go play. And so we started them playing Rocket League, which is a game of cars where they're driving cars and playing soccer. So it was so simplistic, but that's one of the most popular esports games nationally. ([12:31](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FsFfNc6r1I-ROwxsWmcU8TWTPxtaQOX5eV2fQmIJDoH0Wsr46rTqFRukzyyj3dJpytLAv8ff3hBmSZdwJT6VjBH9w9gk%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D751)): And so our students were playing, and once we did it, and once we saw it, they were just playing. It took them about five minutes to figure it out. But we worked with great companies like Microsoft and Logitech to create adaptive controllers that the kids can use along with special mice and keyboards that they can use and play really well with it. And so it took about a month for them to really understand and really get into the nitty gritty of it. And then we had our grand opening. And I think what happened during that was kind of my moment in education where the parents were able to bring in their siblings, the student siblings as well, to watch the students play. And immediately the siblings walked over and started sitting down next to these students. And for the first time in their lives, they were playing together and the parents were just eyes welled up. ([13:17](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FXEQKWCWmyERv9UrZ5Jdj8dKPF734NtkRwnmdV2pW8VECPyAqSumJ-kVp3MKHSSRdbGW0X7damIAIJ-Ky7d6DMcDk4FM%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D797.56)): Everybody in our room was welled up because these kids were normal. They were normal. And I think it was just so fascinating to see it that the kids were interacting with each other in ways that they had never interacted. And the parents saw that. And it was just a special time for us as a school community to really see our students embraced. So right now, we still have the local police department comes in and plays games with them. FBI comes in and plays other school districts that are local to us will come and play with our students. And so with Garden State Esports, there's a community of students with special needs that are all going to be starting to play together next year. And so it's fascinating that this world is taking over because students with special needs can do it.They're so smart, they're so talented, they just need people to believe in them.And I think that for us was a team effort. We believed in it, and we've proven everybody wrong because our kids love it.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: What a powerful story. I have the chills just listening to that story. I mean that is, talk about profound impact. That is the definition of profound impact. Evan, you have the ability in your role to make a lot of decisions about what tech comes through the front doors of your schools and what tech doesn't. As you've said, some people think I have the influence of just a couple of teachers in one school, but actually, what is it, 150 schools that you touch?

Evan Abramson: We have 30 member districts of our commission, and so we work with all the different schools that are part of those districts. And so what's really fascinating is a typical board of education are made up of elected officials. Our board of education is actually made up of 30 superintendents. ([15:00](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FXFidTIpRsGlfCN0cbz77McwwMBso8G7xIYgrCA49PO7ZklCdQRdW_FWnaqC7aCtk6qdgmDk5wAoteGF4ZCltf5uNSEU%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D900.26)): And so when things happen here, whether it's technology wise, educational programs, whatever we're doing, it impacts those 30 districts because they get to see it firsthand. And if we can do it here at the Jointure, they can certainly do it in their districts. But we take risks here. We try new things. We try to be innovative with programs because we can then showcase it to other schools and other districts. And the superintendents send their curriculum members, their STEAM teachers, their IT directors, tech coaches, they all come to our district for monthly meetings. And we talk about all the different ideas that are happening not only in their districts, but certainly in ours. And a lot of times we bring in people of places that we work with to meet with all of them. And it's critical because we have an adaptive environment. And so a lot of companies are specifically made for gen ed students or they believe that they're for special needs students, but they don't necessarily understand tier one interventions versus two or tier three interventions. ([15:55](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FxebEwanctSHcE8GeHvgsXa34EpQUfMOlAJ-IKvdl60-jCpP8HrBp_QkZJ450lFc_LfVA4vm1wg3Mh4qVvHZDOymvVeY%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D955.91)): And so when we're doing things specific with physical needs for our students, it could be something as simple as an iPad protector or a Chromebook protector, but we also see certain things that allow our students to really have an influence on company's decisions. And so when we work with those 30 districts, we showcase our students, we showcase the work of the companies as well and what they're doing and how adaptable they are. So it's a really fascinating place to work because I don't just get to influence my 200 students here. I also get to work with these 30 districts and showcase all the amazing work we're doing, but how it can help them as well.

[15:00] **Hayley Spira-Bauer:** I am obsessed with collaboratives. In your case, it's a commission collaborative by another name. I'm obsessed with them because the idea sharing and the collaboration that comes out of it breeds innovation. But Evan, just to go back for a second, how do you personally decide what you're willing to try, what tools you're willing to try? I feel like I heard you talk a little bit about this at New York edtech week, but I'm curious because you must have an extremely high bar for what makes it through your doors. Do you have a framework? What's the process you go through?

Evan Abramson: So for me, there's a couple of things that happen. I think we always ask the companies, why did you build this? What are you trying to do? What are you trying to influence? And really what problem are you trying to solve? I think a lot of companies that are out there right now are trying to solve problems that may not necessarily be problems. And what I mean by that is the fact that they develop them in their labs or their companies, but they don't speak to educators. And so we've had companies that have come to us and tried to work with us with an electronic hall pass system, and we understood kind of the why behind it, but understanding does the district really have finances at this point in time to go pay for an electronic hall pass system as opposed to things that we've been doing for 50 or a hundred years in schools to go to the bathroom. ([18:01](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FC6RcUYXLcJiPSDrS29kmMrWdI8Yfctt4xFkis6pTpE8Sa6yTmW3orqWQw-61cxXPu5ES7de-G303un7rfW98ewRCAlc%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1081.83)): And so understanding that part, the other part that I spoke about at New York EdTech Week is thathere we invest in people, we work with people who we can trust, who are really doing it for the right reasons with kids.And so when we're working with companies, we want to know them. We want to know the CEOs, we want to know their leads, and it has to be consistent. And what we've seen is the companies that are super successful, not only with our students, but our member districts as well, have had the same representation that we can reach out to. If there's an issue that comes up that we can call somebody on the inside that we say, okay, that's our person. We know who that is. And what we're seeing right now, a lot of times, this probably more so in the past year than any other time, was that people on the inside have changed dramatically and they keep changing over and over and the companies are changing them on purpose to reach different subsets of groups. ([18:55](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FtDYUjTP6hNh-HfgUuRMZnLFQJxO2OiASQSXriiqouNNVtRJVHzZkIgbNPnFbekrDYCp57kFblVOWd7aOMkWb0aXARAM%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1135.71)): But if I've had somebody who I trust for 14 years, they understand me, my needs, my student needs, my district needs, I don't have to go through it 10 times over. And I think what we're seeing amongst the directors in our districts is that same angst of every time we get an email saying there's somebody new that we have to deal with. And we certainly understand people leave to go to take other opportunities, that's great and we appreciate that. But what we don't appreciate is if they're still in the same company, if they've moved up in the company, great, let's celebrate that. But if they're still doing the exact same role, but they're now just supporting other districts, I feel like a lot of the companies are losing what really brought them there, which was relationships. And we've got to build relationships. And I think kind of what you and I spoke about at New York EdTech Week was the fact of as we looked around those rooms, there were some people who were great at building relationships and took the time to ask questions and actually listen the same way we do of them. But there were a lot of people there that were just telling us their story and telling and telling, but they never really understood why they were talking to us. They didn't understand what our needs were. And it could have saved them a lot of time or they could have adjusted their conversations based on asking simple questions.

[20:00] **Hayley Spira-Bauer:** So many people confuse leadership with having a big voice commanding a room. But you've touched on what I've learned that leadership really is, which is the ability to listen and the ability to hear. I imagine your inbox is flooded with tools and people trying to get your attention. I mean, even at New York EdTech Week, no shame on these founders, but they were clamoring to get a minute of your time to pitch you on their idea. And I remember being an assistant principal and having that same thing happen, and I didn't even have the purview you have. So it's noisy out there. And so to really set apart, you have to understand the buyer and the end user.

Evan Abramson: It is, it's noisy for sure. And I think something that we touch on was the fact of just getting to know us. If there's something that you want to talk to me about, that's great. Don't send me a generic email. Send me something that there's research out there. You can certainly call find out, look online at what the Morris-Union Jointure Commission does. I mean, the information is easily available. It takes five minutes of research. And if you send an email to me, make it personal. And I think for all of us who are in positions like myself or school leaders, superintendents, our inboxes are anywhere between 500 and a thousand emails a day. And so something that I told people at New York EdTech Week was, I actually read all my emails. I do, and it's something for me to get down to that zero inbox. I'm proud of it, but I read everything and I can pretty quickly eliminate a lot of emails. ([21:57](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2Fp6PwNZsLHtKoRtBSESKULOeL-3Dt_tQWBHmgxkM4__jYl3gl1GNHmwG_0r3n1OolpTlLje0AIVpPwRg8j1ZnqmjE-_g%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1317.1)): If there's a generic email about this and this, I'll take the time. I may take a second glance at it. But if it's something that my district would never even have an idea of using, it wouldn't be for us specifically. I can just click through pretty quickly and identify that. But if somebody, even if it's not for my district that says, I saw this, but I just have a question about this or that, can you help? And I always jump in. I think it's important that we help each other out and we build a collaborative community in EdTech. I think people in school superintendents, principals, vice principals, supervisors, directors, they all want to help because they want to meet and be a part of something. We want to feel connected to a company that we're going to use. Or again, even if something that I can recommend to somebody else that might not work for me, but I know it'll work for them and they have to be able to trust me that I'm going to give them a good recommendation that a product that really will help them and that they can take a look or a second look at it. ([22:54](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2F-J9-6rfYyzThD29BYKGmw9W8m3iHi-oLjiUslbxLNtpzCIVvQqhoCeMx0-3Piw5HAuMaylxCzJF0tTTfnINIBZvYFRo%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1374.97)): And so I think the relationship piece is important. I think really understanding who you're trying to talk to is critical. And so doing a little bit of research and understanding the people who you're trying to connect with is huge. The one thing I hate, and we talked about this and everybody got a good laugh, was please don't ever send a calendar invite on, put it on my calendar without ever talking to me, because that will drive me absolutely crazy and you'll never get on. Right. And I think a lot of people, we all had a good laugh about it, but people do it.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: You used a word there that I want to hone in on for a second. You said the word trust. I think so often people think you establish trust by just having a good relationship. But I took it a step further, and I'll take it a step further here too. I think you also build trust by acknowledging what you don't know. And by being very honest, when things aren't going according to plan,

Evan Abramson: For sure,

Hayley Spira-Bauer: I have seen so many, so much bravado because we want to win, right? In education, everybody wants to win, not just the vendors, but even leaders. They want to win. But if we all could just be a little bit more humble and admit what we don't know and where things are wrong, I guarantee we would be moving ourselves forward faster on behalf of kids,

Evan Abramson: A hundred percent. And I think that's the hardest thing, even as a school administrator with our own egos is sometimes we don't want to admit that we don't know something. I think for me, it's taken a long time. I think it's something that a lot of times you don't want to admit that you just don't know. But I think as you self-reflect and evolve as a leader, people look to you and say, you're never going to know everything. ([24:45](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FJ8FloGyqrLhhedGdTo1DJ0JlQsQTjfSl46Qurn-dhXiVwpKvJg8uePkd8IkUXg_4uvGlfr27lD2T1Qj2rTwLjHyO9cQ%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1485.71)): And so if I don't know something, I can just say, I don't know it. I am not sure about this. Let me figure it out and get back to you. And I think the follow-up is critical to that. Actually get back to somebody and say, I didn't know it at the time, but you know what? I learned something along with you. And that was a really great question you had because it made me think about this, this, and that. And so it's not necessarily specifically to just our lives in education, it's how we deal with our own personal lives. And a lot of us struggle to say, I don't know, or I'm sorry, I can't help you, or things of that nature where a lot of times our students are farther ahead of us, and that's okay. It's okay to let them lead and show us and demonstrate. ([25:26](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2Fp3FXaNO8DHtWkxJQUDqimVct_EwCpFyXaq8LzgJUBa3thWMWiNO0jcW6HN_KO01dk4Td7j-J7gaavOJlged_Zh5IuNM%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1526.06)): And so for me, if I don't know something, I want to know it because if it's critical when somebody's asking me something, it's part of my job to understand it and to understand why are they asking me that question. And so one of the things that we do here with our technicians, and we've evolved it into a lot of programs statewide, is any computer technician has to also be either a Google Certified Educator for the Google districts or a Microsoft Innovative Educator because they have to understand where teachers' needs are. And so a lot of times technicians think they have to manage the network or they're just doing a specific program with servers and access points. And we say, listen, if you're going into rooms, a teacher might be asking a question that can certainly lead into 10 more questions. But if you understand that question, you can be solving that problem in five seconds. ([26:20](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FwYGfWR8T-cNzciXky2tVuUyLgbWZPg2WQEWw-C_JHh2YypYUVJqIMFGAmZcmqdSOJPpE6d6-_Wh96lVmc5vnPWw6LZQ%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1580.03)): And I think it's critical for us to, as leaders, to adapt to the needs of our teachers, to adapt the needs of our students. And our parents are huge, huge helpers in our district, but they have questions that they don't understand at home either. And so for me, if they ask me a question, I can say, A lot of times, I just don't know. I'll get back to you. And so for me, I trust partners who are willing to help me and explain things to me. I want to know, because there's a lot of people out there that they'll just do something for you. But my question to them is, well, how did you come up with that? Can you show me how to do this? Because when I have to do it the next time, at least I'll know it right there and right then. I don't want to have to bother you again. And so I think people just relate to that. I think people want to see people feel vulnerable as a leader because we can't know everything. And I think people who try to know everything or make up answers that are just false, I think people see right through it,

[27:00] **Hayley Spira-Bauer:** Mic drop. No, that so true, so real.

Evan Abramson: And you never know where they're going to come from. You never know where they

Hayley Spira-Bauer: Never know what's something you're learning right now.

Evan Abramson: So I mean, the world of AI is critical for schools. It's adapting and changing every single day. And so for me, I try to learn a new tool. I try to learn a way that it can be implemented in ways that I never thought it could be. One of the things that I've had to really focus on in our world here is working with AI with parents because a lot of efforts are being made right now in schools with policy for students and for teachers. But a lot of people don't realize parents are a really great resource for us in our schools. When we send our students home, there's a lot of time that parents are either going to help the student with an assignment and they might help them in a wrong way where the parents are struggling to really help and connect with their own students. ([28:14](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FbxWUJjRWCL1iWRVb6qx5eT4CXxqwvAIsJQX3JbF0hDuQyUbdfelV3ZhDCWIVBUUOCHr_nNGP_IEwADRVOqF5bDtznf4%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1694.94)): So I've really dove deeper into the AI world for parents and how they can use tools. Well, it doesn't matter which tool, it doesn't matter, but to understand how to help the parent learn how to prompt the right way to help their student or to change languages and translate things that the teachers might be asking for, or to help them write a letter to a parent from a parent to a teacher or to an administrator to express some of the concerns that they have that they might not normally know how to communicate that. And so for me, there's so many amazing AI tools that are out there. There's a lot of resources, but a lot of them have not been directed towards parents yet. And I think for me, as a parent of two young children, I understand I have a background in technology, and that certainly helps, but a lot of my friends do not. ([29:00](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FCaAWvWefdc-YCYT7XKKR9SqI-5hLV4rwtJP7rOYXeLPs4YkOw8VuK0u5g2l1Jrmy8K10cQk1m-2tcy0-iEruxMtGJYc%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1740.72)): And so for me, if I can show them in five minutes, 10 minutes, just small snippets and say, here you go, let me work with your parents. I show them, they're like, wow, this was mind blowing to me. I can go home and help my student. And something so simple that we always forget about, back in the day, we used to have conversations at our dinner table, how was your day? What was going on? Tell me all these exciting things. And right now, a lot of times parents are getting home late, they just throw dinner on the table. But if a student is reading a book that you know about before you get home, you can go into one of the AI systems, ask for a quick summary of the chapters, and then have it create two or three questions, high level questions, low level questions, and at the dinner table, you can ask your own kids. And that way you're starting to develop a conversation about a book that you may or may not have even read.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: I know that. I love that. I haven't even thought about that as an application. That's amazing. I love that. Wait, so you know what, you're making me transform my last question based on this response you gave me here. The question is, instead of what advice would you give a teacher starting their career today, I would ask you what advice would you give a parent looking to meet their kid where they are today?

[30:00] **Evan Abramson:** I think the biggest advice I would give a parent right now is ask questions. Look around, see the resources that are out there because there are so many incredible people inside of the school district that are willing to help. And I think whether it's the IT department, there's a ton of superintendents that are doing amazing things with AI or even directors and supervisors, and your classroom teachers are doing great things, whether it's in AI or just support of what your student's needs are at home. And we've talked about it in education for years, that every student should have an IEP, right? Every student should understand and have lessons built specifically for them because they all have different needs. And so now our teachers have the ability to build quick lessons to meet each student's needs. But if our parents can ask questions and learn how to adapt AI for their own specific student, because they might be a high level student, a gifted and talented child, and sometimes they may be farther along than the parents, and that's wonderful, but now a parent can equal the playing field and ask them questions or develop and learn skills that maybe they didn't have. ([31:21](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2F7wAvnBVaDq3YmrLmcm8tYG1gpl1N_bHuf6Sq6VsLHUGGuHsCWSh7tAOCESK9xu18GAovg2OHZ-dlGWi5Ika4Qvqd5E8%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1881.61)): We talk about the YouTube generation where a lot of things parents can do in their houses, they go on YouTube, they watch a video. It's the same thing with AI. I think from an educational standpoint, AI is going to be a huge help to parents. And I would say take some time and learn it and ask questions of your teachers, your classroom teachers, to maybe help you along because it can transform your child's learning at home on a daily basis. And when you watch your children win and smile because they've succeeded in a lesson that they didn't think they were going to be able to do, it's just super rewarding. And again, for the parents too, you're building those connections with your children in a different way that maybe you never could in the past. And so it's a wonderful thing.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: And then so much wisdom, and really the podcast listeners we have that tune into this series are school leaders and teachers and folks in edtech, and many of them are parents. So thank you for dropping that wisdom at the end of this episode because I know it gave me a lot to think about. And thank you for coming on the podcast for the first of many episodes.

Evan Abramson: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate it. I love you. We have this passion that we share for education and for helping others. I think it's just important and we've got to spread it out. We've got to make people feel comfortable with technology and not scared of it. ([32:52](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rev.com%2Ftranscript-editor%2Fshared%2FrI0j731xKxJabn4GrGO26S0bkQf7eC93hmoWq2pdLqNVuArPbw3rui7vnTZ0KGCC2DzNp6SDuwtY4rt9oYw8iHKuliE%3FloadFrom%3DDocumentDeeplink%26ts%3D1972.28)): Because our kids, we talk about the digital natives and this is them. They know these things already. And if we can show that, we can kind of do it too, right alongside of them. We've got a lot of episodes to talk about things like this, but we can do this. And I appreciate you having me on here so much. It's something that I'm passionate about. And if we can help the listener, even one listener, you can make a connection with our own child, then we've won. So thank you as always for having me. I appreciate it.

Hayley Spira-Bauer: Oh my gosh, Evan, thank you so much. And thank you to everybody who tuned in today for this incredible episode.