In this episode of Standing Tall, Superintendent Dr. Adam Bayne shares insights from his unique journey of returning to lead the community where he grew up. He emphasizes the importance of servant leadership, intentional work-life balance, and strategic communication to build community trust. We hope you leave inspired by Dr. Bayne's commitment to fostering relationships and preparing students for successful futures beyond graduation.
"Leadership always has to come from a heart of service—it's always about everybody else."
"You can't just tell people to take care of themselves. It has to be intentional."
"Tightening the safety net means creating systems where no student falls through the cracks."
Strong relationships and consistent, positive communication build lasting trust.
Work-life balance requires intentional planning and boundaries.
Effective technology use in schools enhances—not replaces—teacher-student connections.
Transferable skills, like teamwork and critical thinking, are crucial for students' future success.
Dr. Adam Bayne is the Superintendent of Holton Public Schools, dedicated to student success, community engagement, and innovative education. A Holton graduate himself, Dr. Bayne's commitment drives his collaborative leadership style.
So it's always got to be out of the heart of a service when you're leading, it's it's always for everybody else, because it's really that back and forth communication. That's what builds your trust. Part of what I've come to realize about that work life balance is that it is incredibly intentional, and we do a little bit of disservice where we just sort of say, Take care of yourselves, everybody you know. Welcome
back to standing tall voices in leadership, the Podcast where we explore the stories, insights and strategies of inspiring leaders in education. I'm your host. Randy Lindquist, and as always, our goal is to leave you feeling informed, inspired and connected. Today, I'm excited to introduce a leader who truly embodies dedication to community and student success. Joining me is Dr Adam Bain, superintendent of Holton public school. Dr Bain is known for his collaborative leadership style, passion for education and commitment to preparing students for success in college careers and beyond. In today's conversation, we'll talk about the initiatives driving Holton success, the importance of community engagement and the leadership lessons Dr Bain has learned along the way. So whether you're listening in the car on your lunch break or doing chores around the house, thank you for joining us, and hope you gain some valuable insight from another impactful leader. Let's stand tall. We choose to go to the moon. You can't do it alone. Team of team
of Team embracing change. There is no courage without vulnerability. Being brave.
Attitude. Reflect leadership. Captain, can you rumble with vulnerability,
not because
they are easy, but because they are hard. Can you stay in tough things, or do you tap out? I have a dream, learning how to get back up and keep moving forward, learning how to rise.
Let's stand tall. Welcome to standing tall. Adam, thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me. I appreciate the invitation. Yeah, I'm excited about this.
So you have somewhat of a unique journey to your role as superintendent at Holton public schools, tell the listeners kind of about your history with the district and your career path to where you are right now. Sure,
I am a K 12 graduate of Holton public schools, so it's a full circle experience for me to get to come back and serve the community that raised me. I, you know, started my my career in education at fenville public schools, and taught there for around five years, and then ended up making my journey back towards home. And opportunity opened itself up, and I was able to serve as the middle and high school principal for about five years, and I'm now in my eighth year as superintendent of the district. So it's been amazing to get to reconnect with families that were a part of my life and my upbringing, and being able to serve the community. It's there's nothing better. Yeah,
you can see the smile on your face. You're pretty proud of that, that you're a K 12 graduate, and you're back home leading that district now.
Yeah, you know, it's not something I would have predicted was gonna happen. As far as you know, you think of what your life's gonna kind of unfold, but yeah, being able to come back, there's something special about that. Yeah, for sure, certainly I see a lot of me and the kids I get to serve, and the partnership that I get to build with the families is it feels deeper and more meaningful. Yeah,
it's pretty cool. So how does your background as a red devil influence your approach to leading the district now in your role? Yeah,
you know, I think,
you know, Holton has always been small and mighty, and I, I've appreciated that the opportunity to be brought up in a community where hard work and kindness have always been at the crux of what we're about, and part of what as a whole and Red Devil, there's a little bit of being the underdog that's just a part of our community. Sure, yeah. And I'll be honest with you, I kind of like that. I kind of like people underestimating us and then being able to sort of shine brightly. There's just something about being able to have people maybe, uh, make a little bit of a under guesstimation about potential that you know, we have as Red Devils. And I think it feels great when people are like, Whoa, yeah. That was awesome, yeah. And I think that's what makes the community so special, is it's kind of this shared like, oh yeah, we
got wait and see for sure. So you're very connected in the community. Obviously, have been having been there for quite some time, even in your childhood. That connection is pretty critical. Share what you've done as a leader to make sure your community is informed. Number one, kind of a what's happening in the district, the work you're doing, as well as how you provide them opportunities to provide you with feedback on things they may want to see happening in their schools. What's that dynamic look like?
Yeah. So you're kind of asking about, sort of how the how communication broadly works within the community, yeah. So I think, you know, we, we try to, i. Honestly, communication is so critical, a part of it is because there's so many different ways that we get information, and so it requires us to kind of have multiple ways that we're communicating. And so we use a communication driving system to help communicate across the district, all of our administrators have certain expectations that they are in frequency and cadence that they're communicating around. And as much as it's important to get information out so that might be newsletters, and you know, community wide communications, certainly social media is a dynamic there, but it's also super important for us to share what's positive and what's going on, and that has to be said again and again and again. And part of lifting up those celebratory moments and the times that we have success, it is a part of social media, but it's also that, you know, text message to a family like, oh my gosh, Johnny just did this, and it was amazing. Or it's, it's right down into the teacher relationships with kids, and then those teacher relationships with parents, to be able to celebrate that that might not get broadcasted over social media, but it's just as critical as a part of our communication approach as any of anything else that we do, because it's really that back and forth communication that's what builds your trust and builds this relationship that you have that allows for you to then be in a position where, if sometimes the communication is not as positive and it's a bit more constructive, you have some fuel in the bank that you're able to weather that storm or weather that hard conversation, because those experiences have happened. Yeah,
it's interesting that you, you, you, I think you alluded to the fact that the smallest of communications, a text to someone saying, congratulations on something your son or daughter did, helps to build community trust over time, so when the things coming out are not so positive, they trust that you are providing the right information, at least
right absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm you know, and we still have postcards that we snail mail out so that those little moments of you know, whether people still scrapbook these days or not? You know, there's this moment in time where someone took the time to hand write something, certainly emails and texts are just as important. But those one, those that two way communication that that taking that time is so important. Yeah, agreed.
I imagine being such a familiar face in the community with your history there, etc, people probably aren't afraid to knock on your door and just say, what's going on. How we doing express an opinion. Is that true?
You know, I think it's somewhat true. I mean, certainly, you know, there's not many events that I attend that I don't end up hearing the next greatest idea, or an area concern or and that just, I think is true for the gig. And I think, you know, I will say, you know, even being small and being connected with the community, we are not insulated from just, you know, people being a bit harsh, frankly, on focusing on what may be a frustration or wanting to sort of elevate a perspective that might not have the whole story, and that can be really tough, because then part of what I'm responding to is factually inaccurate, And sometimes I can't share all of the story. And so that makes it tough, because you've got folks that are taking the liberty to give a version of some scenario that doesn't include all of the facets, and that takes up a lot of time, and that's tough because as much as we want to celebrate being a trusted organization with loaded with trusted people, those can be knocks to your trust, and they're they're hard to control. Yeah, yeah,
you said sharing the positive so important. That's a common theme I've heard from multiple guests. Now I'm glad you're finding ways to share the positive stories too often the media and other places tend to shed a poor light on education, and I think there's so many great things happening classrooms every day. It's important you share those within your community. So good job on that you have a one to one initiative in your district, I believe, and I'm putting devices in the hands of students, helping them in the learning process. So tell me about how this is enhancing the learning experience for students, and then how you think AI is going to continue to push your district in that area of technology?
Yeah, great question. You know, I think the one to one initiative really came to fruition related to the county wide technology and security millage, which we've been able to renew and be able to sustain that opportunity for our students and staff, and really be able to be on the cutting edge of teaching and learning. And so it's really exciting and so grateful to be a part of a community that supports their schools in that way. I think, as we learned through the one to one initiative, part of what we. Been able to see is one we started just as ninth through 12th grade, and have now been able to expand that through a K 12 all kids have access to a device, certainly that put us in a position where, through the pandemic, we were ready to transition in the way that we did. I think you know, as we learn, certainly, developmentally, there's differences in what kind of screen time engagement should look like, from a kindergartner to a 12th grader, and it's different. And so we've had to make some modifications and adjustments as we've learned through that. I think what is most important as we've learned through, you know, the gadgets that are available for us in the way that we teach and learn is it's still the relationship between teacher and student that is most critical, yes, and being able to get students to excel at high levels. And so the the need to have technology is certainly there, but it is a balance, and there's still a need to engage students deeply, far beyond just looking at the screen. Certainly this is important as we think about artificial intelligence. And how does that engagement look when we're we know that high quality teaching learning is between teacher and student, and so I think there's a lot of opportunity for us to learn. And certainly I think for us, we're in an exploratory space of really trying to see where AI fits in. I think what we need, and this has been true for many years, is how do we equip students to be able to understand how technology fits in to the way that they interpret the world, and so some of that is experimenting and seeing what works and what doesn't work, while also maintaining safeguards that are important so that students are safe while they're kind of in that sandbox of technology, learning the ways of what opportunities out there. And I think where we're headed, as far as what and how AI is going to impact education? I think there's going to be a lot of efficiencies that are going to be provided for us, being able to save time and hopefully be able to then invest in, how do we help support the learner in these really high levels, and more than ever, how to be a critical consumer of information. Yeah,
that's very, very important. I also believe that if we embrace AI and use it the right way, we can actually develop stronger relationships with kids, because we're taking some of the, I'll say, tedious tasks of preparing lessons, et cetera, maybe away from the teacher, that having to do that in the evening and after hours enable them to build stronger relationships in the classroom, because that's taken care of. Right? Absolutely. My hope is that we as schools can embrace it the right way. Yes, absolutely. So Holton is focused on preparing kids for college careers and the workplace. Can you share some of the work that's happening in the district to prepare students for what maybe happens after high school?
Sure. Yeah, I think this has been a great area of development for us as a district. We certainly have gone all in in the partnership with the ISD and being able to utilize the career specialists to help us really pivot the conversation as it relates to career development to a K 12 one, not just your juniors and seniors, who are starting to kind of really dive more deeply, but really, how do we get, you know, the imagination and the brain thinking about, what are your interests and what, what makes you excited about, you know, being in this human condition. And I think that that experience really starts at grade K, and there are certain experiences that we're able to now think through. And you know, this is coming from, you know, what does medical professions look like, and experiencing some of those career professions in third grade to, you know, job internships and shadows that are happening in the high school, and really allowing for students to feel well informed about where their interests are and kind of what they want to pursue. And this certainly doesn't mean that any of us can change our mind, you know. I think it's, it's often, you know, you're always wondering what you want to be when you grow up, you know? And I know I did, right? So I think it's more about just having that self awareness of kind of not being fallen into a space where you you don't think you have any options, and that's a dangerous space to be in. So part of part of the work too, is we've learned everything is connected. So as it relates to whether you're headed on a career path, directly into the workforce, or you're looking at some sort of skilled trade, the military, or you're heading into a college or university, the skill set that students need really is very consistent, and a lot of that is still connected with strong SEL good work ethic, behavior. Partners, and so we've come to realize that it's so important for us to teach students about how to demonstrate yourself as a strong worker. And a lot of that is demonstrating good teamwork, showing up, doing the things that you're asked, following directions, being a positive contributor to everyone else by encouraging them. And these seems like such soft skills, but when you talk to employers about what is the gap with, you know, being able to hire strong candidates, it's often those soft skills, yeah, showing up being a good team player.
One of our guests talked about that being transferable skills, because those skills useful in the classroom can transfer to pretty much any workplace, and employers are looking for those things. Can you critically think solve problems, work together, etc, as transferable skills? Absolutely, so important, so
important, so important. And you know, we've, we've even started to work through, how do we intersect those skills from our PBIS matrices, and making that conversation very intentional and very out front with all kids K through 12, yeah, yeah, you
have a virtual program also, and you've had that for a while. So kudos to you for kind of being innovative around that space. It's tailored towards non traditional learners, I believe Correct. Yeah. So how does that help with the focus of getting non traditional learners ready for whatever's next for them. Yeah, you know,
sometimes students the brick and mortar and the traditional experience is just it's not the right fit. There's a number of reasons for that, and it's often down to those individualized stories. However, what we know is those experiences. You know, sometimes negative, sometimes positive, they prevent a student from being successful. And when you are, you know, 1718, years old, minus a high school diploma, it's going to be a rough go. Yeah. And so we knew we needed to support students who maybe needed a different pathway. And so the Virtual Academy came to be. It allows for students to have a lot more flexibility. They can be employed, they can still attend the CTC, and they really do have, kind of, on their terms, a pathway to get to that completion. We have a mentor that's available to them and supports them through it, and they can even come in person, if that's more helpful and they need that structure, yeah, so it has had the ability to help students get to that completion space. Certainly, we want more of our students to be successful in that program, but it has been helpful for a lot of students. Yeah,
I think it's wonderful. You have multiple ways for students to be thinking about their career or where they're headed next once they get that diploma, and where they're going. So kudos to you and your community for making that happen. So what strategies are you focused on to ensure continuous growth and academic excellence for all your students to hold and kind of what's the focus now? Yeah,
so we've spent a number of years really focused on systemic approaches to our work, and often the phrase I use is we want to really tighten the safety net for our students, so that there's nowhere for them to fall through the cracks. And in order to do that, we have to have really deliberate systems. And those systems are really how we ensure students are on the right path. We often take student driven data. This might include climate culture data, self reporting data that comes through our social emotional surveys and that helps inform, sort of where our priorities should be. And so the system is often very cyclical, and we're often trying to find what is the most urgent issue that we need to focus on, which helps us be a more responsive, more nimble to what the students need. I think in general, we're constantly trying to continuously improve, and even within our successes, sometimes it's important we have to hit pause and say, hey, you know what? We should celebrate everything that we have done. Because when you're in that cycle of improvement, there's always something to improve, yeah? And it's important to hit pause and and say, Hey, let's look at what we've done. Yeah, celebrate and be able to honor
that. Yeah, super. I love that concept of tightening the safety net, making sure there's no loophole crack whatever it is that the student can follow through whatever they need. We got to make sure they're successful in that way. So what excites you about the future of Holton public schools? Yeah,
well, there's, there's so many things that are exciting at home, public schools, I think, you know, we have recently started for the first time in school history, career, tech education certified course that has allowed for us to plant a seed of CTE programming in the district. And I think that the opportunity that that provides. Guides for us opens the door for some additional CTE programming, which allows for students to have really hands on experiences as they're trying to figure out what it is that they might want to do for their own career. So I'm really excited about the prospect of that. I'm also really excited just about the students being able to experience more kind of out of the classroom experiences. We have a good number of staff who are really committed to trying to find ways for students to experience more, because those those experiences are what inform you is if we can get them outside the classroom and, you know, studying the creek water samples and doing those sorts of experiences, it just lands so much harder. Yeah, as you're learning the
importance of project, problem and place based education, right? That upset the ability to learn through those experiences, those things stick with you for a long time after you got out of school, for sure, yeah, yeah. So you have to wear many hats as a superintendent, and especially in a district your size, right? What do you do to find a good work life balance, to make sure you are meeting the many demands of your district, but also finding time for yourself and your family?
Think this is,
this is a work in progress, always, for all educators, it's it's challenging, I think, especially when you know there are two days that are really tough and you know you're going to be putting in way more time than you feel like you should, or you just have to, and because you need To support the people that you're taking care of. And what I've learned as I've tried to be a good leader in being more than just saying, Hey, you should engage in self care actually doing those so showing it right. So what I've learned is it is a lot more intentional than I thought. I thought that maybe if you, you know, go for a run, that that you're good, you know, or but it is. It requires more than that. And I've, I've come to realize that it's important to set screen time timers on your phone. I've had staff engage in turn like, turning off notifications so that nothing comes to them during certain time frames. I've also reinvested in, you know, taking time to listen to podcasts and read books, excellent sometimes, you know, ones that aren't necessarily associated with education, that that provides that kind of brain break and gives you a chance to sort of remember that you're, you're beyond just the career that you are, and also those moments in time that, especially as my kids get older, that you got to be president for, you know, it's real easy to get pulled into that email or, you know, get into a text exchange about something that's coming later that week, and then you're missing out on what could be, you know, a moment that's a fleeting moment, you know, especially with kids. And so I think part of what I've come to realize about that work life balance is that it is incredibly intentional. And I think, you know, we do a little bit of disservice when we just sort of say, Take care of yourselves. Everybody you know, make sure you're resting and relaxed. Can't just say it. You can't it is actually a real thing you gotta kind of do. Yeah,
I appreciate that. So I think you've listened to a few standing tall podcasts. So you know that we end every episode with some rapid fire questions. I'm sure you've been preparing yourself for these, which are very random, but yeah, are you ready for some rapid fire? Okay, here we go. Let's give it a shot. All right, what's your favorite book
of all time? I really enjoyed leaders eat last by Simon Sinek. Okay, a
Simon Sinek fan I am as well. So huge. Yeah, I'm with you on that one. If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be?
You know, I've always been an Abraham Lincoln guy. I just, I think, to lead through such a incredibly divisive timeframe, it would be fascinating to just hear the commitment that he had to the vision Absolutely, for our country, what's
a hidden talent you have that most people may not know about? Talent? I'm sure you have them. Yeah.
Well, so I, I don't know if today's the day, but I can do back handsprings. Oh,
I think I see a future superintendent meeting activity where you might show that off.
You know, hopefully there's no injuries. There's done some tumbling in my past,
coffee, tea or something else. To get you going. Black coffee, please. There you go. There you go. If you could instantly master any skill, what would it
be? Finger picking on the guitar?
I tried guitar once I was terrible at it. I can show them some chords. But to really get want to get after it. Well, how about favorite vacation spot you'd recommend to anyone I know you've been to some pretty cool places. We
love to travel. And so you know this, we live in such a beautiful place. So I've just got to say we are infatuated with Beaver Island. Oh, it's just such a it's different than Mackinac Island, and it's just the pace of life is it helps with that self
care a good place to practice self care, right? If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I'm a big fan of some steak and risotto making me hungry now. Yeah, that's pretty good. How about
the song that always get you pumped up.
That's a tough one too, because I have a lot of them. You know? I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with Michael Jackson's man in the mirror. Oh, wow, it's that one gets me going. Nice
dogs or cats. What's your preference? Dogs?
Okay?
I have some staff members who think it's cats, but it's they do. Yeah, that might
be an interesting story to tell me later. Yeah,
all right. Last one, what's the best piece of leadership advice you've ever received?
I think it's always got to be out of the heart of his service. You know, it's when you're leading, it's it's always for everybody else, right?
Yeah, a good, a good reminder. That's what we're doing our jobs, for sure. Well, Adam, thank you for joining me today. Appreciate it. Your insight was great. What's happening, Holton, is wonderful. You're a great leader, and appreciate the work you do every day, and so does your community. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. Well, let's bring in producer Ben for a little reflection on that interview with Dr Adam Bain. What'd you think, Ben, what'd you take away from that? Yeah,
always really, really looked up to Dr Bain. It was cool to hear things that he said that I've actually seen reflected in how he actually leads a lot of these amazing guests you've had on I haven't actually known, but it's cool to see he doesn't just talk the talk. He walks the walk. And starting with the his idea about communications that you really can't over communicate. And that was a big learning for me. Coming into administration, you think you say it one time and you're good, but good communications is a practice of memorization. Really like you say it so many times, and once you're tired of it. That's when people maybe start to hear it.
Yeah. And we also have heard more than once on this podcast from leaders that sharing the positive stories is so critical to success. And what I liked about Adam talking about the way he communicates, it's building trust with this community. And I think that does build that trust when you are constantly giving them the good information. Things are happening like that. Yeah,
it was cool. The handwritten postcards made me think of Peyton Manning, when he retired, did handwritten postcards to equipment, staff, trainer, everybody, and people still have those framed on their walls, and you don't remember. You know, that handwritten thing goes a long way, and you've done that. I still have handwritten postcards that you wrote me my first year here, before you were actually my boss. And it does go a long way. You know. Yeah,
I really loved how he had the perspective of that safety net. You want to tighten that safety net when you look thinking about, I what you can do for all kids, we got to make sure they don't fall through the crack, whatever it may be. And tightening that safety net was a pretty cool perspective. And I think Adam doing a lot of that in Holton, doing whatever you have to to make sure kids able to find their path, whatever that might be, and they're prepared for that next step beyond high school. Yeah,
and a crucial part of that safety net is like the structure, but then it all is the relationships. And he talked about that so many times that it comes, technology comes and goes, but it all comes down to those relationships. So that was really cool.
Well, I hope you took something away from that. I know I did. I appreciate Adam and his direction at Holton and leadership he provides. And I'm sure the listeners out there took something away from that also. So until next time, keep standing tall. You