Leading with Heart: How Dr. Zandra Jo Galván Creates Thriving School Communities

Dr. Zandra Jo Galván on Leading with Purpose and Building Resilient Schools

The Ruckus Report

Quick take: From humble beginnings in Greenfield to becoming an award-winning superintendent, Dr. Galván shares powerful insights on leading with empathy, building authentic relationships, and preparing students for an AI-driven future.

Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker

Dr. Zandra Jo Galván serves as Superintendent of Salinas UHSD, is CALSA Immediate Past President (California Assoc Latinx Sups & Admin), was named ALAS National Superintendent of the Year 2023-2024, and recognized as a Top 100 National Influencer for District Administration 2024.

Breaking Down the Old Rules

In this episode, Dr. Galván challenges traditional education paradigms:

Key Insight #1: Authentic Leadership Transforms School Culture

  • What’s broken: Traditional hierarchical leadership creating barriers between administrators and staff
  • The shift: Leading with vulnerability, genuine presence, and intentional relationship-building
  • Impact: Staff feel valued, seen, and supported, leading to stronger engagement and better student outcomes

Key Insight #2: Wellness Must Be Systemic

  • What’s broken: Stigma around self-care and mental health in education
  • The shift:Implementing district-wide wellness initiatives including mental health days, beach cruiser bikes, and blender bikes
  • Impact: Created a culture where taking care of oneself is celebrated and supported

Key Insight #3: Future-Ready Education Requires Innovation

  • What’s broken: Preparing students for jobs that won’t exist
  • The shift: Embracing AI, creating innovative pathways, and focusing on future skills
  • Impact: Students develop entrepreneurial mindsets and are better prepared for emerging careers

Quotable Ruckus

“I’m a very authentic person and vulnerable, and I’m okay with that. And a title is not going to change who I am for the virtue of position.”

– Dr. Zandra Jo Galván

Your Do School Different Challenge

Ready to implement these ideas? Start here:

  1. Tomorrow: Start your day in classrooms, connecting with students and teachers
  2. This Month: Implement one wellness initiative for your staff
  3. This Semester: Identify future-ready skills and begin planning innovative pathways

Get the full episode transcript

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Follow Zandra on: LinkedIn

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If education ain’t a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning?

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Today’s RUCKUScast in Partnership with:

Quest Food Management Services: Creating joyful learning environments starts in the cafeteria. Quest brings 40 years of expertise in crafting scratch-made meals that nurture both body and community spirit through innovative student engagement programs.
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IXL Meet your students where they are and take them where they need to go. Join over 1 million teachers who trust IXL to drive data-informed excellence in their classrooms.
🔍 Learn more: IXL.com/leaders

More Podcasts You’ll Love

If education ain’t a bit disruptive, then what are your students really learning?

This show isn’t about doing school better.

It’s about Doing School Different — and joining a growing movement of bold, creative school leaders who reject legacy models and reimagine what’s possible.

Here are four ways we can help you on your Do School Different journey

notebook

Subscribe to the Free Newsletter

— An opportunity to Do School Different 3x a week. Tools, mindset shifts, and strategies that actually work: ruckusmakers.news

Read Ruckus Makers

— Exclusive content on Substack. Premium leadership insights, AI prompts and custom GPTs, new books before the bookshelf: ruckusmakers.media

 

Join The Ruckus Maker Club

Our private network + workshops, The Automatic School tools, AI Prompt Library, and more:
The Ruckus Maker

 
 

Apply to the Mastermind

— Weekly coaching, peer mentorship, and our proven leadership system (The Ruckus Maker Flywheel) to help you transform your campus:
Apply Now

 
Every tool, community, and coaching program we offer is built to help visionary school leaders play the new game — one where leadership is creative, tech-enabled, and unapologetically student-centered.

The podcast is your starting point. The movement is just getting started.

Today’s RUCKUScast in Partnership with:

IXL: Meet your students where they are and take them where they need to go. Join over 1 million teachers who trust IXL to drive data-informed excellence in their classrooms.
🔍 Learn more: ixl.com/leaders

The Ruckus Maker Club Community beats compliance every single time. The Ruckus Maker Club is your on demand network of bold school leaders designing the future of education. Join today for $100 a month and get coaching on demand courses, AI prompts and custom GPTs and all our automatic school frameworks and tools within our private digital community.
🔍 Learn more: here

ODP Business Solutions®: Solutions “Our STEAM program is too complicated” = Code for “We’re doing it wrong.” Stop letting fear kill innovation. Some leaders are transforming STEAM with a three-part framework that’s not what you think.
🔍 Get the playbook: ODPbusiness.com/education

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Danny Bauer

Daniel Bauer

As a chronically late student, Danny Bauer once told his Chemistry teacher a fib about saving an entire girl scout troop from a burning building to get out of a tardy.

Danny is not sure if it was the very made up story, the very real cookie he offered his teacher, or a combination of both that got him out of a detention that day …

That experience taught him it pays to develop your storytelling skills.

Danny has been telling stories since then, most recently on the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast, ranked in the TOP 0.5% of 3 million global podcasts, and via his two bestselling books, Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader and Build Leadership Momentum: How to Create the Perfect Principal Entry Plan.

He also loves telling stories while facilitating in person leadership workshops at national conferences and for school districts.

Danny’s mission is to help Ruckus Makers Do School Different™.

Soniya Trivedi

Soniya Trivedi

Soniya, hailing from the culturally rich land of India, is a dynamic professional in the field of web services, crafting digital landscapes. Soniya’s journey into the world of technology is a testament to her unwavering passion and commitment to excellence, transforming ideas into impactful online realities.

Since 2022, Soniya has played an important role in supporting BLBS with her comprehensive website services.

She loves to travel and cook new recipes.

Dragan Ponjevic

Dragan Ponjevic

Music is an inspiring art form. Sound is conveyed via the air to the ears of living beings, and each being perceives it in its own unique way, eliciting a certain feeling. Dragan feels the same sensation every time he hears music, from infancy to now, as if it were a part of his existence that he couldn’t fathom living without. Dragan opted to deal with sound his entire life despite his formal degree, and today he is one of the most passionate audio producers you can meet and chat to about sound and music all day long. His enthusiasm for audio production, student-like thinking, and curiosity keep him continually mobile in generating new, quality, and enjoyable sound on a regular basis.

Dragan has been producing BLBS audio and video content since 2020.

Christina

Christina

My passion for both baseball and literature was the initial catalyst that led me into education. Growing up as a softball player and a die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs from the North Side of the city, I developed a profound appreciation for the South Side of Chicago, not enough to convert me into a White Sox fan. As a National Board certified teacher, with over 16 years of experience on Chicago’s South Side, my journey as an educator has taken me from my roots in the Windy City to Virginia, as an instructional coach.

From the very beginning, I have been an unwavering believer in the philosophy of BLBS. My journey alongside Danny has been one of daring innovation and audacity, right from the moment he challenged me to say, “boom” and drop the mic during our initial city-wide professional development event. He has cultivated a team capable of winning a World Series, and I am deeply honored to be a part of this community of individuals who consistently push the boundaries and endeavor to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

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Premaria Mutambudzi

Premaria Mutambudzi is the BLBS Office Administrator, This is her 2nd year, she has served in the administrative field for 5+ years, Prim is originally from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She has been married for 7 years to her husband Takunda, and is blessed with two children.

Prim loves meditation, creative writing, poetry, and reading. In her spare time, Prim is a talented and creative Makeup Artist.

Sofia Hughes

Sofia Hughes

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Sofía’s lifelong search for a profession that would “leave the world a little better than she found it” led her to study philosophy and comparative religions, become a teacher, lead schools and educational projects, work for the Argentine Ministry of Education, contribute as a volunteer in various NGOs and become personally committed to causes that raised awareness about the world’s challenges and the potential of education to overcome them.

She is a practically-minded idealist, a profound believer in people and their potential for good, committed to collaborative leadership environments, and instinctively and naturally drawn to create order and systems in seemingly chaotic contexts.

After more than 30 years in the classroom and almost 20 as a school leader, Sofía now divides her time as Schools Development Manager for Cambridge University Press and Assessment, Executive Secretary for the International Confederation of Principals, Facilitator for the ESSARP Teacher Training Centre in Argentina and BLBS Mastermind Coach.

Each of her current roles allows her to travel near and far while contributing to her own lifelong learning, and that of school leaders across the world, in the slow way she cherishes: one experience, one adventure, one conversation and one relationship at a time.

Dan Watt

Dan Watt

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Bruises and broken bones couldn’t keep Dan out of the action. Those derby days weren’t just about dodging collisions—they taught him about grit, resilience, and leadership skills that he’s been flexing for 15 years as a school leader. Whether he’s coaching leaders as part of The Ruckus Maker Mastermind™ team or dodging freight trains in the fast-paced world of roller derby, Dan is always willing to lean into the next challenge.

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Jason Dropik

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Jason P. Dropik (Babaamii-Bines / Eagle Clan) is the School Administrator for the Indian Community School (ics-edu.org), in Franklin, WI, which serves Native students in the metro Milwaukee area. A member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (BadRiver-nsn.gov), Jason is committed to supporting students, families, staff, school/community leaders, and the community both near and far.

Having recently completed a two-year term as President of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA.org), he advocated for and spoke on the importance of tribal sovereignty, policy, appropriations, and student support across the country. As a Board Member of NIEA, Jason continues with that work, championing training and providing information for schools and community organizations, while creating visibility and understanding of Indigenous perspectives.

His greatest passion is creating welcoming spaces for students to develop their identity, take pride in their language and culture, and to celebrate the rich legacy and the promising future of Indigenous communities.

Gene Park

Gene Park

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First and foremost, I’m a husband, father and son. I’m someone who is driven by my faith. I’m the Principal of A. Russell Knight Elementary in Cherry Hill, NJ. The Parks are animal lovers. We have 3 dogs and 2 cats. Some things that I’m loving at the moment is playing Pickleball and cooking for my friends and family. I also have the privilege and joy of serving as a BLBS Mastermind coach.

Jesse Rodriguez

Jesse Rodriguez

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Back in high school, Jesse used to painstakingly unthread the logos from his clothing and hats so that he wouldn’t be seen as part of the status quo.

He didn’t know it then, but that was the start of his journey as someone who finds unique ways of communicating ideas.

Then when he discovered his connection to youth with disabilities, he realized that he was among experts who’ve been finding ways to do things differently all their lives.

Leaning into these connections has brought him to become the Innovation Lead for a statewide project called I’m Determined – developing and producing animated videos and feature-length movies, facilitating events and building tools and resources for youth, families, and educators – all as ways to help students ink their journeys for the world to see.

As a leadership coach, Jesse is someone whose consistent presence is there to listen and add value and belonging.

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Paige Kinnaird

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Paige has used this as the central driving force of her work ever since… a willingness to be part of the work, not just driving the work.

Karine Veldhoen

Karine Veldhoen

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Karine Veldhoen, M.Ed., is the founder of Learn Forward™ and a creative force in education. While her name may be difficult to pronounce, her mission is simple, to champion extraordinary potential. As an educational leader (15 years) she created the first model Learn Forward™ school while simultaneously founding and serving as Executive Director of Niteo Africa. She’s taught Teacher Candidates at both UBC-O and UNBC and serves as a coach for Better Leaders Better Schools.

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Now, she dedicates her professional practice to championing EdLeaders to design thriving schools. When Karine is not carving new paths for education, you’ll find her with her husband and three children, her heart-song.