255 - Dan Gohl on Leading in Crisis

<p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">In this episode, Tom Vander Ark is speaking with Daniel Gohl. Dan is the Chief Academic Officer at Broward County Public Schools. The district serves the greater Fort Lauderdale area of South Florida and has nearly 270,000 students on 241 campuses. It’s the sixth-largest district in the country. Dan has been a learning leader in Austin, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Houston, Texas. In his fifth year in Broward, as part of Superintendent Robert Runcie’s team, Dan oversaw the development of a great system of schools with well-developed personalized learning, the biggest speech and debate program, and the biggest computer science program in the country.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">In this interview, Dan speaks about their crisis response program, Learning Never Closes. He reflects on leading through crises, including hurricanes and mass shootings, and talks about why this pandemic is far more challenging.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">The Getting Smart team thinks that you’ll find Dan to be one of America’s most thoughtful education leaders <span style="color: #14171a;">—</span> just as they do!</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[:10] About today’s episode.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[1:05] Tom welcomes Dan Gohl to the podcast!</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[1:15] Dan tells the story of opening the McKinley Technology High School in Washington, D.C.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[2:35] Dan speaks about his background in science and involvement with the Science Academy of Austin (that led to an opportunity that took him to D.C.).</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">[4:25] Why did Dan end up in Austin in the fall of 1986? And what kept him there?</span></p> <p><span style="font-f