Take a breath: It’s a Wildcat Town

“We’re all Wildcats here.”

That’s the message that grabbed me, after 60 nonstop minutes scribbling notes. In other words: We’re in this together.

An hour with Oak Harbor Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Kuss-Cybula can be overwhelming. In the best kind of way.

Amid gloom and doom and aging boomers’ complaints about “kids these days,” her clear voice of optimism refuses to succumb to negative messaging.

“You can’t tell me ‘no’,” she says. She delivers the words with a broad smile. Where did Oak Harbor find this dynamic person to lead our schools into the future?

Dr. Kuss-Cybula was raised in a small town in upstate New York, where she learned the value of community, of neighbors supporting one another when times were tough. She dreamed of being an architect – a dream that brought out the artist in her – and ended up teaching art.

A high school counselor told her she’d never make it in college. In response she snatched back the university application he had taken from her hand and said “oh yes I will.”

Her career now spans over three decades in public education. In her early years she taught every grade, and brought with her the enthusiasm that’s natural for a young, idealistic teacher. Her hopeful attitude wasn’t always welcome in the teachers’ lounge, where tired, jaded, older instructors shocked her with their cynicism.

“I thought, ‘don’t be a dream taker! It’s our job to give students hope and tools for success.’ And I knew I could help fix it,” she said.

With her husband, Kuss-Cybula moved to Washington, where they raised their daughters in the Skagit Valley. She knew Whidbey Island well, visiting often. Later, she was serving as superintendent of Cle Elum-Roslyn Schools when the same position opened in Oak Harbor. She saw it as a kind of homecoming to return to the west side of the mountains.

“I had watched Oak Harbor for a while, so I knew the community,” she says today. “I found the diversity attractive, and I knew how much people here care about kids.” She pauses, knowing “diversity” is a loaded word. To her, it means more than culture and ethnicity; it’s also about variety in where people come from, their families and their values, the longtime residents and the ongoing turnover of Navy kids. For a school leader it’s challenging and rewarding at the same time.

Kuss-Cybula knows public education is in a spotlight of cultural controversy. She welcomes the focus, and engages it with full transparency. Public schools, she says, have a duty to the community that supports them, to be open to scrutiny and to encourage public involvement.

“We can’t just react; we have to be proactive,” she says. “Parents have a right, and have had for years, to know what’s going on in our schools. My five bosses [on the school board] are the community. We are a public entity, with all the transparency that goes along with that. We’re not here to hide.”

For citizens concerned about what students are learning today, Kuss-Cybula reminds us that anyone in the community, especially parents, can review the district’s curriculum. And they can grab a bit of the reins themselves, if they volunteer to serve on the curriculum committee.

Kuss-Cybula bristles a bit at the word “indoctrination.” It’s a live grenade that gets dropped in school board meetings and political battles around public education and educators. “If we had the power to indoctrinate,” she says, her smile returning, “every one of our test scores would be perfect.”

Where the rubber meets the road, Kuss-Cybula knows how tough it is for even an excellent teacher to hit that sweet spot. “The best ones don’t let their opinions out; they give students information they need to make informed decisions.”

That can be tough when teachers find themselves in an adversarial environment, like they’re always in someone’s crosshairs. Kuss-Cybula notes statistics that in America, we have less respect for public education than any other developed country. “It’s a serious profession, but there has been a huge decline in our society’s attitude toward educators in recent years. And when so many of us disrespect educators, that is a huge demotivator for kids who might want to be teachers themselves.”

So… what’s the answer? “We’re stronger,” she says, “when we work together. It should be about our kids. Our schools are a collective, to educate and help our kids.”

Kuss-Cybula stresses that learning is different in a world that’s far more sophisticated and complex today than it was a generation ago.

“Why teach what I was taught? It’s not even applicable anymore.” And while we worry about protecting kids from what we don’t want them to see or know, she says, today’s kids already know more than we give them credit for. It’s a world where banning books just makes them more in-demand, and they’re available whether we like it or not. And, Kuss-Cybula admits, “we’ll never outrun social media.”

If it sounds like scary, uncharted territory, Oak Harbor is in good hands.

“It’s not about me,” says Kuss-Cybula. “But it’s up to me.” She knows this community is full of great leaders and tries to emulate their qualities of approachability, humility, and courage. She tries to be an authentic listener, who knows we can’t all agree on everything but it’s important to respect others’ views. “And stamina,” she adds. “I just can’t accept defeat.”

The strength and resilience of the people, in one tight community, didn’t surprise Kuss-Cybula when she came here in 2022. But they continue to inspire her.

“I love this one-high-school town. We’re all Wildcats.” She leans forward for emphasis, clearly the architect she once dreamed of being. “The whole community graduates our kids. We need everyone – coaches, grandparents, neighbors, everyone – to make that happen.”

Why is that important? Our superintendent has a clear reminder for all of us, here in this Wildcat town:

“These kids,” she says, “will replace us.”

William Walker’s monthly “Take a Breath” column seeks paths to unity on Whidbey Island in a time of polarization. Walker lives near Oak Harbor and is an amateur author of four unpublished novels, hundreds of poems and a stage play. He blogs occasionally at www.playininthedirt.com.