Boulder Valley Strong: Insights from a Colorado Superintendent on Leading During Crises

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Superintendent, Boulder Valley School District (Colo.)

Exploring the human side of district leadership to find strength when your community needs it most

Welcome to the final part of a four-part blog series exploring how Boulder Valley School District in Colorado navigated natural disasters while building community resilience. The series examined crisis response strategies, support systems, and leadership approaches during unprecedented challenges鈥攑roviding valuable insights for districts preparing for or currently facing similar situations.

Rob Anderson overlooks a neighborhood where the Marshall Fire passed — Superintendent Rob Anderson overlooks a neighborhood where the Marshall Fire impacted students and families.

As you鈥檝e read from our previous three blog posts, our community has been through a lot during my seven-year tenure as superintendent here in the Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado.

Like every district, we navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic. As school began to return to normal, tragedy struck our community. Ten community members, including two former BVSD students, were killed in a senseless mass shooting at a local grocery store during Spring Break in 2021. Then, only nine months later, we faced the Marshall Fire 鈥� Colorado鈥檚 largest wildfire in history, which destroyed thousands of homes and left hundreds of our students homeless.

In all three instances, the first thing you do as a leader is take a deep breath. It is important that you compose yourself so that you are ready to lead and respond.

During a crisis, people need leadership more than ever.

It takes extra energy, extra focus, extra care, extra attention to detail. As the leader, it is important to first mentally prepare yourself. When a crisis happens, steady yourself and get your team ready to respond.

Focus on communication and empathy.

Intentionally create a pace and cadence for communication. What do we know? What do we not yet know? Your communication must be smart and strategic. Strike a balance by providing parents and staff with vital information without overwhelming them with excessive frequency or detail.

Sure, a lot of what we do as leaders is at the 30,000 foot level, but sometimes you鈥檝e got to be on the ground 鈥� giving people who have lost their homes a hug or giving a caring call to ask how we can help.

A crisis is a great time to show how much you care. It is important to connect with people directly with a level of responsiveness and empathy.

Sure, a lot of what we do as leaders is at the 30,000 foot level, but sometimes you鈥檝e got to be on the ground 鈥� giving people who have lost their homes a hug or giving a caring call to ask how we can help. It is important to tell people that it is going to be okay and we are here to support you. That is what they need to hear. Facing a disaster the size of the Marshall Fire is overwhelming. Your words of encouragement can let them know they are not alone, giving them the ability to hang on and pull through.

Determine the challenges and create a plan. Have the courage to stand behind it.

During the early hours of the Marshall Fire, we were working to determine whether our schools were damaged and considering plans for opening schools. There were a lot of questions. Who has to approve the plan? What are the risks? What are the benefits? Who needs to be in the room to help make the decisions? Then, once the decision is made, how do you execute and communicate it?

Throughout this process, it is important to stand up for your principles and core beliefs as a school system and as a leader.

Superintendent Rob Anderson poses for a photo with our school nurses and paras during a Superintendent's Honor Roll — Superintendent Rob Anderson poses for a photo with our school nurses and paraprofessionals during our Superintendent's Honor Roll.

Doing this is not easy. After we made the decision to reopen schools, we faced a lot of feedback from our community. Many people were traumatized and could not imagine going back to school. We, however, knew and understood that our most vulnerable families 鈥� those that were impacted most directly 鈥� had to get their kids back in school to begin to start to sort out their lives. We stood strong and confidently pushed back against loud voices in our community. It was difficult, but I knew we'd made the right decision when parents stopped to thank us as they returned to school, despite how difficult it was at the time. Some families broke down and cried. They were so appreciative that we were there and that there was a safe place for their children to come while they started to sort things out.

Don鈥檛 face the crisis alone.

As the situation begins to take shape, be sure to reach out to your trusted partners early. Let them know what you need and then let them help. BVSD鈥檚 educational foundation, Impact on Education, is often one of my first calls. Not only are they able to help supply funding support, but, importantly, they help direct the community鈥檚 effort to support. This is important because folks鈥� genuine desire to help can quickly overwhelm your team, diverting your team's focus away from their mission.

The night of the Marshall Fire, we went from having a handful of homeless students to having more than 1,500. Immediately the questions multiplied: How are we going to support the mental health needs of our kids after this? How are we going to support the academic needs? Our partners were essential in helping us find solutions.

Superintendent Rob Anderson speaks to Nederland Elementary students about their robotic car races — Superintendent Rob Anderson in action! Speaking to Nederland Elementary students about their robotic car races.

The impact of a crisis continues far longer than you ever anticipate.

Last December marked the third anniversary of the Marshall Fire. While many families have rebuilt their homes, some in our community continue to suffer from the long lasting impacts of disaster. These tragedies are massively traumatic. They stay with people their entire lifetimes. If it's windy outside it immediately sets people on edge.

It is important to build out a multi-year plan to ensure that those families that are still impacted are not forgotten.

To this day, I鈥檒l receive emails from Marshall Fire families. A recent one said, 鈥淗ey, Rob, I don't know if you remember me, you contacted me during the Marshall fire. My kid is running through this issue. Can you help me?鈥� I always do.

Read parts one through three of this blog series:

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