Innovating Education: Carlsbad's Transformative Journey with Laura Pitts

Carlsbad, people, purpose, and impact, an essential podcast for those who live, work, visit, and play in Carlsbad.

Good morning, and welcome, everyone. My name is Brett Schonzenbach. I'm the president and CEO at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host this morning, and I'm excited to have with me Laura Pitts. Laura is the CEO of the Carlsbad Educational Foundation.

Good morning, Laura. Good morning. So good to have you here.

I'm excited to be here.

Yeah. You're excited, but you're also stressed because you kept emailing me about what we were gonna talk about.

Well, I've never been on a podcast. This very, very official.

So fun. Right?

It is.

But it's all super chill. We're just gonna have a fun conversation here. And you and I have known each other for several years now, which is fun, and I know you as a Midwest girl originally, but I don't exactly know your origin. I got University of Michigan, of course, for your undergrad and then Purdue for your MBA. So tell us where where you were born and raised and all that kind of stuff.

And

Well, I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, so I was born a wolverine. My parents went to Michigan. And, You couldn't escape it. I I tried. I played field hockey in college, and I really looked going elsewhere and just fell in love with the coach and this the school.

And I went on an official visit, and I got lost in the town. I was like, this is where I should be because it didn't feel like my hometown. So

That's awesome.

But then it said the second I graduated, I escaped and moved to Chicago and did that for about 6 or 8 years and then ended up in California.

Very nice. Yeah. My wife's a Ann Arbor girl as well. So, yes. Got some strong ties there.

But I find it interesting that you went when you went to Purdue, you got your MBA. Purdue University Global. It was the online school that I did.

Okay. Yep.

But you got your MBA, which is a master's in business, but you've been in this business slash educational space pretty much your whole career.

Mhmm.

Always in some vein of the education world going back to, like, Kaplan College and all that kind of stuff. So how did you get into that, you know, line of work?

When I graduated from Michigan, I moved to Chicago, and, I started coaching field hockey in the high school level and substitute teaching. And the coach there was like, I don't why are you not a teacher? And I'm like, it didn't occur to me in undergrad that that would be a good path for me. And so I came across this organization called SCORE, and it was a tutoring center for kids that work with kids 5 years old through, 8th grade. And it was really like a a business program, like a business management training program for young adults.

And so I ended up in that program and just loved the business aspect of it, but I really have always loved working with kids.

Yeah.

And so I did I worked at SCORE in Chicago until 2009 and SCORE closed, and I ended up transitioning to a different division of Kaplan, which is how I met you and working at Kaplan College. And I moved out to California for that. And so at that point, because of SCORE, I'd really built my business skills and I ended up getting an MBA at that point. And so I always knew I wanted to be in education. That what that's what feels right.

That's what I enjoy. I love working with kids. But I I never got an education degree and so I never took the path of being a teacher and

Yeah.

This has been a really fulfilling way to kind of work with kids and also just be kind of an entrepreneur. Some of the jobs I've done have really allowed me to make a lot of decisions and and have creative ways to work with kids.

Yeah. Yeah. Very nice. So so Kaplan College, is that what brought you to the West Coast working with them?

It is. Yep. I transitioned to Kaplan in 2009.

And tell everybody who doesn't aren't isn't familiar with Kaplan, what Kaplan is or was. I don't know. Is it still the same?

Kaplan is a very large educational company that has multiple different divisions. SCORE was the division I was working in initially, which was tutoring center for kids and then I ended up moving to the higher ed division. It is no longer, but it was a career technical college and we were primarily a medical school. And when I first moved to California, I was in this rotational program training new campus presidents. And so I got to learn everything about the business and the educational aspects and accreditation.

And so after that, I got, I was put at, the Chula Vista campus as director of operations and eventually the Vista campus, which is where I met you as the campus president. And so I I I loved that job. We had a we had a great staff. We had really good student outcomes. The thing I was most most proud of, I would say, is our nursing program.

We had a really successful nursing program. There was 1 year where 100% of our, students that we accepted not only graduated, they also passed the NCLEX. And so, you know, I think career technical education schools, a lot of times, get a bad rap for student outcomes, and I was very proud of the student outcomes we had at that school. And it was it was fun. We had about a 100 employees and 6 to 800 students at any given time.

Nice. Yeah.

That was a fun time when, we got to know each other there because, you guys were hosting our monthly rising star of the month breakfast

Mhmm.

At Kaplan and which was great. We would, bring our our rising stars to your campus, and and, it was a really fun, way of you guys supporting that and us exposing kids to Kaplan. You know? That campus, of course, prior to being Kaplan had been, like, National University and, I don't know, like Merrick College. College.

And so so it was good. We were able to bring kids and let them know what what you guys were up to, and got to interact with some of your students that way too. But then, as all things do, things change Yep. And things move on. And, I came here to Carlsbad at the very beginning of 2019, and you came to the Ed Foundation in 2020.

Mhmm. Tell us about that.

Yeah. I came I'm you came in 2019. I didn't realize that you I came very shortly after. I came in December of 2019.

Okay. So Oh, yeah. So I it was January. Yeah. So Yeah.

Basically the same year.

Yeah. So we, Kaplan closed. So we we had been we had been Brightwood College at the time. We'd been sold to a norm another organization, and the the school closed. And, that was it was a really awful experience just Yeah.

Closing our doors on the students and the staff and, that had happened to a number of our competitors as well. And so I just I wanted to do something new. And so I I looked into all sorts of different areas in higher ed, as well as nonprofit, and I had I had not worked in a nonprofit before. But I ended up reaching out to you for for some help and getting my foot in the door here. So maybe maybe you're partly responsible, which

is great.

I can give you some credit.

I'll take it. But

I was hired to run the earned income, side of our organization, which was, again, something I was really familiar with with my business background and, that's kind of running the, the kids care and after school enrichment. And there was a leadership transition, and this was a a good path for me to to take over as CEO.

Yeah. Very nice. Of course, you came in in, what'd you say? December 2019. Which, of course, all of us know means 3 months later, the world changed.

Right. Yep. Had to have been kind of fun. You thought you knew what you were getting yourself into?

I did. It was definitely difficult, supporting working families in a pandemic that did after school care was definitely a challenge. And that's

a good point that we're gonna pause right here because I wanna get into that story in just a second. So we are talking to Laura Pitts, the CEO of the Carlsbad Educational Foundation. And stick with us. We'll be right back. When we come back, we're gonna talk more about what the Ed Foundation does in their programs and how you can get involved.

So stay with us. We'll be right back. So, Laura, before the break, we were just starting to get into, your current role of the Ed Foundation, and let's just pretend there might be somebody listening to this who's never heard of the Carlsbad Educational Foundation. So tell everybody what you guys do, and how you operate, and then we'll kinda get into some of your programs and fundraising and etcetera.

Sure. So I can kinda start at the beginning. We've been around since 19 eighties, and this is an organization that was created by concerned parents, and they initially wanted to fundraise for a variety of things. 1 was a library, to just help support their students when where funding gaps existed. And so, fast forward to today, the organization has evolved in a a variety of ways.

We're a very very large organization and our funding priorities are to support students in music, STEAM, which is, like, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, as well as music, and then just general education innovation. So things that the district might wanna do, but they don't have, the right funding to to pilot something or, you know, something that a teacher an idea they have that might be considered innovative, we like to to help push the envelope on those types of educational opportunities. And, we fundraise in a variety of ways and we're very unique at Foundation in the fact that, at some point in our history, we took over the before and after school care program for our district. And so families, are able to receive childcare on-site that we provide. So we have a large staff.

We have almost, you know, I would say about 80 employees that work in our childcare program and it's a licensed career a licensed program so families can feel confident that their kids are safe after school. And all of the proceeds that we make in that in that program help to fund some of the vital programs that we do, within the school day. And so, we engage with teachers and faculty and staff and administration to figure out ways that we can best support the district. We're primarily here to create, programs that will be experienced district wide. So unlike a PTA that's gonna be raising specifically for their school site, all of our programs, we look through the lens of how can we improve the general educational landscape for all kids in the district.

So, for example, if we're gonna fund science supplies at one school, we're gonna do, you know, a per student kind of uniform funding for all schools. And so, in general, we're just we're here to be, a helpful arm of the district to really improve the educational experience for all students.

That's great. And I think you said it, but, just to clarify, I mean, you guys work specifically with Carlsbad Unified School District because I know some of our Carlsbad residents, are in different school districts. Mhmm. And you guys are, specifically chartered to help with the Carlsbad Unified specifically, which is great. Yep.

And are your after and before school day care programs, are they on every site?

They're on every elementary school site, so there's 9 of them.

Okay. Excellent. And, you guys give a lot Mhmm. Of money. I mean, it's it's impressive.

And, you know, I've had experience with some other educational foundations, and, I know you you probably interact with Ed Foundations all over the country, but, at least in my little neck of the woods, the amount that you guys give is, it's Yeah. Light years beyond what I've seen. So I saw just some stats on your website, like, this year alone, this school year, over 1,500,000 that you guys have given, to schools. And, there was something about a was it it was a new something new, some teacher thing

Teacher grant.

That you'd given $50,000.

Talk about that. Yeah. So we did I will start with this year. It's 1,500,000 is the budget. It's and change.

There's a little bit more of

that, that we've got available in our budget to give. And, the majority of those programs, were these district wide programs. And Mhmm.

What

we were finding was at the elementary level, it's really easy to provide a similar experience to all schools because you just, you know, out all if you wanna do, again, music supplies or science supplies or field trips, you just look at how many kids there are. Everybody all the schools are doing something fairly similar, so it's pretty easy to give uniform funding. What was happening at secondary, which is the middle school and high school, is there are a lot of nuances at the different schools. Especially at the 2 high schools, there's a lot of classes that are offered at Sage Creek that are not offered at Carlsbad, and it just felt like sometimes that there the equity piece that we were seeking to, like, make sure that each of the schools are getting something similar didn't exist at the high school at at times. And so our thought was if we could come up with a teacher grant program, it would do a couple of things.

One, it would provide an opportunity for all teachers to to ask for money and to help fund some of their programs that they're really excited about. It also would help us build better relationships with teachers because, you know, if you're a teacher that's funding, you may be grateful for it. But if you didn't ask for it, sometimes you're not able to use it in a way that is as impactful as you'd want when you've got this other idea in

your head. So That's yeah. That makes sense.

Yeah. So by launching the teacher grant program, again, we market it directly to teachers and administrators, but the the grants came directly from the teachers. And, we didn't have any idea what we were gonna get. Yeah. We've not done it before.

But we got some really, really neat requests. And, we we launched it in the fall, and we turned it around very quickly because we wanted the teachers to have the money this year. So we had a very small window. We opened it up. We got a lot of requests, and we were able to fund about 75% of the requests we were able to fund, but I can tell you about some of the programs if you wanna hear about some of the specifics.

I love it. Let's go. Yeah. So, again, our our funding priorities are music, steam, and education innovation, and we accepted grants that were from any neck of the woods in the district, but that was kind of, you know, we're gonna give extra weight to those programs. Sure.

And, so I would say the most the unique one that we funded that felt that we hadn't funded in the past, we got a request for, PE heart rate monitors for Sage Creek High School.

Okay.

And PE is not within our funding priorities. We don't typically fund something like that. But it was heart rate monitors. It was a way for them to to really figure out how to motivate students and to identify, like, you know, some students, like, if they run a lap, that's a big deal for them. That might be a big deal for their health.

Like, that that and others are that doesn't do anything for them. So the heart rate monitor allows them to give some feedback. And so it it was a request that our board and our committee for this grant, thought was really cool, and so we funded that. And it was great because the teacher immediately they've already started using it. They're, you know, they're putting up stuff for us on social and showing us some of the ways that they're they're excited about that grant, and so it was just a really cool way to infuse technology into PE.

I love that.

I mean, like you were saying, it's a I love giving the teachers a way to try and fund their own creativity, their own innovation. You know, you mentioned yeah. You might be grateful if you, you know, got some supplies for this or that. But if it wasn't something you specifically asked for, you know, versus as you just pointed out, somebody gets an idea and they they wanna they can see it. That's tangible.

It's like, oh, this would be so cool if we could do this or if we had a way to do that, and then you guys fund it. Oh, that's amazing. Mhmm.

Yeah. Love it. And another one I'll share, we had several requests for whiteboards. And when we first read the first, like, version of just reading the request, it sounded kind of boring if I'm being honest. Yeah.

And but then we started really digging into, like, why do the teachers want this? And several teachers, the math the entire math department at Sage Creek wrote a grant as well as an English class at Carlsbad High. And we started really looking into it, but it's just a whiteboard, which again doesn't sound all that innovative. Right. But what the whole point was was you're kinda like flipping the classroom.

So you're getting kids up. It's more collaborative. You're you're you all are looking at something with the same, orientation versus if we're sitting across from each other, the orientation's to me and not to you. And so I had a chance, to see again some pictures of the the classrooms that have been using this. And it's just like all the kids are standing up and they're just super engaged.

And I just thought it was really interesting, and it's a good example of we have great teachers in this district. And when you're able to give them I mean, that was not even a very expensive grant. When you're able to provide these materials, it really changes and invigor it invigorates the teacher and it really changes their environment, and it's just better for students. So it it was it was really cool. We're gonna do the teacher grant program hopefully annually.

This year, we're going to, open the window in, like, April, May so teachers can ask for it for the following fall early enough that we can let them know and notify them in, like, June so they know going into summer what's what their funding is gonna look like for the next school year.

That's amazing. Yeah. I really I really think that what you hit on there were having requests generated directly from the boots on the ground, and then you guys helping to fund that is so wonderful and impactful. I know you've mentioned it, and, I know from working with you guys, music is a big passion. So, tell us I know I I read it already, but tell our audience Yeah.

What you guys do for the district when it comes to music.

Music funding is so awesome. So we provide funding for t k through 12th grade in music, and there's a variety of things we do in the middle in the middle and high school space. For a long time, we've been funding, coaches, repairs, and instruments. So some of the schools will have, a secondary teacher that would a coach that comes in to help with just overall instruction of music. Also musical instruments are really expensive.

Yeah. And so we help pay for those instruments. The repairs are expensive. And so that's just something that we've been doing for a long time. In the elementary space, last year was the 1st year that we were able to do this, but we were able to take funding that was new funding that the state had provided, for the schools.

And then but it it fell short to allow, the funding that they really needed in the elementary space. So then we were able to combine the school funds with our funds and afford full time music teachers. And that was the first time that maybe ever that they've they've had full time music certainly in the last 20 years is what I've been told. And I can tell you and I've I've shared this with, with others before, but my kids go to Calavera Elementary School and the the change I've seen on the campus with having a music program was profound. So I before Way to Music Teacher, I would go to our assemblies and there would be a handful of parents that would show up.

Now that we have a music teacher and we've got regular performances from students, it's like there's hundreds of people that show up for these assemblies. And, just even I shared this at the school board meeting this last week. I got a message from PAC RIM's t Pacific Room Elementary's music teacher and same thing. Like, they they've been doing these great performances. I think it's happening at all the schools.

We're just and it's bringing the whole community in. And students are excited. My my kid, is not an overly musical human, and he's in choir. And it's just like and he's cool. He's a again, he's a 3rd grader, and it's just like now he's, like, singing around our house.

And so Yeah. It's just it's neat to see how music kinda taps into a different part of kids, you know, being and

And brain and brain development. And So

and and before, the schools had music teachers, but when they're part time and it it just it was hard for them to Yeah. Some some were great, but then other times, schools didn't have any at all. So it's it's definitely been

a big, profound change. Yeah. That's fantastic. I'm coming from a family of, kids in the arts. I'm like, yep.

Mhmm.

You're on the right path. Yep. Yeah. Those are really good things to to have in our schools. So, you got one of the ways besides your, before and after school care program, which is your bread and butter, but you also have an annual gala.

Yes. And, by the time people hear our conversation, it actually probably won't be that far till

Okay.

Gala time. So tell us about, your gala and what you think you have on tap for 20 25's gala.

Yeah. So we it's we are so excited to talk about 20 25's gala. It's gonna be great. This will be our 4th annual gala we've run. We have consolidated all of our events to 1 because we feel like that's the best way to use staff's resources.

And the thing that we really love about the gala is we're bringing together, you know, a a lot of people. We had about 600 in the last couple of years, so we're hoping to have that this year. But it's a it's a chance for us to bring everyone together and really celebrate what we do, and and the hopes are that people attend and leave really understanding our mission. But it's gonna take place, once again at Omni La Costa, and it is on should I get the date right? It's on May 17th, Saturday, May 17th, and we have a band, the might mighty untouchables, which are gonna be dance hits.

So it is a really, really fun event. We've got a great silent auction. We've got a great band. Like, it's a really good fun guest experience, but we do rely heavily on the proceeds from that event. Because even though I I mentioned that we do have, we're a very unique ed foundation, the fact that we've got these, after school programs and things that can help raise money, but we do really rely on our charitable giving as well to make sure that we're able to fund these vital programs.

And I will say from personal experience, your, galas are a lot of fun. Yes. And the We we have to kick people out. So it is a good sign.

Definitely, like, we're we definitely have to kick people out.

So it's definitely worth of people putting on their calendar for May 17th and Yeah. And planning on, you know, get your company to buy a table or Mhmm. You know, come individually. And then but people, I assume I don't like assuming, so I'm gonna ask you, but I I assume people could just give directly to you.

Yeah. We, by the time this airs, our our annual campaign will have, wrapped up, but we do, rely heavily on our, like, just local community. You know, my it's my hope that we really show people that the value of just participating in philanthropic giving in general, whether it's to our organization, which, of course, I hope. But just in general, I think when you're giving philanthropically, it makes you feel part of the community. And, you know, people might be very surprised to hear Carlsbad Unified School District, at least as recent as I've heard, is the 2nd lowest unified school district, in terms of funding in San Diego County.

I did not know that.

Yeah. And the reason there's it's a complicated formula that I couldn't begin to explain correctly, but I will say one of the main reasons is is that, school if if you've got a title one school, you get more funding. Yeah. And we don't have as many. We have a we have a couple, but we don't have as many.

And so what happens is when you're getting less funding, there there are positions like, again, full time music teachers, PE teachers, science teacher. I mean, these things are not funded by the state and, even things in the middle school level. I mean, one of the things I like to talk about because it's one of our, I think, coolest programs, we provide science supplies at the middle school. We call it Science Lab Supercharge, and the state provides under a dollar per student for science, and we are able to, with the help of our community and our business community, we're able to give $13 a student. Nice.

And then we also give $1500 to each school in addition to that. So you're taking you know, if you've only got a dollar a student, it really limits what you can do.

You mean like a dollar per year? Yeah. That's Like, it's not a lot of money. Nothing.

And so when you're able to do more I mean, you go to a science class now, and they're they're shooting off rockets. They're Yeah. They're dissecting cow eyes, and I I know because we buy them for them. So it's like, it's just really cool hands on stuff. And,

But it's those things that enrich it so much for the kids Yeah. And make it tangible, meaningful.

And And so when families, like, see that the the challenge we really have is I think a lot of times, if you're not if you're not a family that's really paying attention or or in the know about this stuff, you just assume the school's paying for it. Yeah. Because why wouldn't your school be paying Yeah. For the music teacher? Why wouldn't the musical instruments be provided by the district?

And so, again, it's just there's there's funding gaps that the district's really gotta gotta battle, and so we're here to help with that.

And the and the community is really helpful in in raising those funds. And, Carlsbad is not what we would call in San Diego County a large school district. Mhmm. It's actually one of the smaller Yep. School districts.

So, so I think having, you guys in there and enriching what's possible is so valuable and vital. And, yeah, everybody should be supporting you, coming to the gala, you know, just giving directly to make an impact in these these students' lives and the program. So and if they wanted to learn more and, start investigating or start giving, I your your website would be a great place to start?

Yep. Website would be a perfect place to start. There's a place that just says, like, ways again, I believe it says, like, ways to give and ways to get involved. Maybe that's what it says. There's a a variety of different ways.

And that's carlsbaded.org. It is. Yeah. Carlsbadeded.org.

Very cool. And I know, you know, jumping over to the personal side of life, you mentioned your, your field hockey, experience. You and I were, texting recent leagues. I wasn't sure if you were gonna make it today because your your alma mater's hosting, the field hockey, what, final 4 or what?

Final the NCAA final four is this in Ann Arbor, this year on my old field.

And We did not make it sitting here

at this podcast with you, which I am so happy about. But I do wish we had rescheduled because I wish I was

In Ann Arbor.

Face paint today, in the snow in Ann Arbor because it also did snow there yesterday.

Oh, well, I saw the last night I mean, again, by the time people hear this, you know, you and I are sitting here in mid November, and I saw last night, there was a NFL game in Cleveland that was a total just like a snowball. I mean, it was they were playing in a full blown snowstorm. So I can imagine Michigan is also coated in white this morning for

a field. Michigan likes to bring competitors to play in that condition because they're ready for

it. So They're bred for it? Correct. Yes. I saw too, and I know you mentioned at one point you had coached some field hockey.

It looks like when you got out here, you did a little bit at RBV and stuff way back in Yeah. Probably before you had your own kiddos and stuff like that.

I did. Yeah. Yeah. I did Torrey Pines and RBV just as a volunteer.

Yeah. That's great. It was awesome. But now you have 2 lively boys that keep you, moving.

I do. Yes.

3rd grade, and what's your other one? 1st. 3rd and first. Oh, that's great. Yeah.

Well, that'll keep you, on your toes to say the least. And I believe, your husband's a teacher as well, so you guys are really into the education thing all around. Yep. Is it high school?

He teaches high school. He's at Vista High School.

Yep. Yep. Very nice. I remember that from back in the day. Well, thank you for all that you do.

Again, the ED Foundation here in Carlsbad is just such a major component of our community, and, I love, our relationship with the the chamber and you guys. And I'm so glad to have you personally in this role and, having worked together so long before we got both got to Carlsbad. But, yeah, it's just great. And thank you for taking the time to come down and share with everybody.

You're welcome. And can I add one other thing? I wanted to say we'd shared about, you know, the importance of individual giving and Yeah. Engaging the community that way, and that's extremely important. But, again, considering we're on a podcast with the Chamber, I also just wanted to share, we've got some really impactful and important corporate partners and Nice.

We've got a really good support from the Carlsbad community. And I I wanted to just share this if in case, one, to thank the those that are current sponsors, but also if there's somebody that's looking to get involved Yes. Some of the ways that we get involved with organizations, like ViaSat, for example, is a great example. They host our Science Olympiad program. They also provide funding, but they also we their their employees are our coaches.

Nice.

And so we've got ways that, like, for organizations that want to build up their employer base and, like, we can work together to just connect students with their organization. Nordson is another example. Like, they're a big supporter

of our

robotics program. And, again, not just financially, but their employees are our coaches. And I I just I'm eternally grateful for that because it makes our program better. We've got, we have 2 other, like, major, I would say, programs that are worth at least sharing. I mean, one of them is, Millpore Sigma.

I had mentioned the science the science supplies in middle school. I mean, they are really involved with, like, helping with the funding for science supplies as well as Thermo Fisher comes out. Again, not only do they help financially, but they come out during our science days and help volunteer for it. So Love it. That is something I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget to mention is that we really also rely heavily on our community here.

And, again, I've I've been told I I don't know who said this. I don't know if it was my predecessor or where this came from, but just like the foundation of great communities or great schools and and vice versa. Great schools are built on great communities. And I think the more that we can work together, we've got such a vital business community. I think there's just so many opportunities to kinda help intertwine them with the educational community as well.

Absolutely. That's great. So, yeah, if you're hearing about this for the first time out there in our listening audience, make sure you reach out to Laurie and her team at, carls.ed.org and find out ways you can get your company involved and support them financially, come out and be boots on the ground with them as they impact students' lives.

Very cool.

That's what it's all about. Right?

Yes. Absolutely.

It's all about. Yeah. Very cool. Well, thanks for coming down today. Thanks.

This was fun. Yes. Good to have you. Thanks for joining us today on our Carlsbad People, Purpose and Impact podcast. If you got value out of our episode today, please hit the follow button on your favorite podcast app, and please tell a friend.

Can't wait to see you next time on Carlsbad People, Purpose, and Impact.