Ralph’s Reflections: November 2022
Meeting the Needs of our Families
My journey towards leading a charter school network wasn’t a traditional one. As many of you know, my career up to this point has mostly been in the government and the private sector. There are a few skills and mindsets that I’ve carried over from places like the Cuyahoga County Welfare Reform Agency and McKinsey & Company. Chief among them is a relentless focus on delivering for the customer. Applied to education, that means orienting everything we do toward meeting the needs of our scholars and families.
With parent-teacher conferences behind us, I’ve been reflecting on how we are living this value here at Breakthrough.
And I thought of Tyrinda Turner.
Some of you may know Tyrinda as the leader of our Breakthrough Virtual Call Center (VCC) and the proud parent of three Breakthrough scholars enrolled at the Citizens Southeast campus.
But before she joined the call center, Tyrinda was looking for additional support for one of her children. Our Director of Family Partnerships Teresa Brown-Sayles arranged for Tyrinda to meet with her school principal and the child’s needs were met. All of her children are continuing to grow and thrive thanks to the dedicated team of teachers at Citizens Southeast.
While speaking with Tyrinda about her concerns, Teresa realized she could be a tremendous asset to the Breakthrough team. At the time, Tyrinda had just left her job as a social worker in a homeless shelter and was trying to support her family as a caterer. But with the pandemic raging, catering opportunities were few and far between.
She mentioned that our Chief Information Officer, Stephanie Wernet, was looking to hire positions at our new Virtual Call Center. Would she be interested?
Tyrinda responded with an enthusiastic “yes.”
It quickly became evident that the people best able to support our families in the VCC were……our families. When we shifted to virtual instruction, Stephanie immediately recognized that families would have trouble using Chromebooks and navigating Zoom and would need tech support.
The VCC was developed not just to provide support to parents–but indirectly to teachers. Here’s why: A teacher’s job is demanding. It's often difficult for teachers to respond to the myriad of requests coming from parents at the end of a long day. By having an outlet where parents can get questions answered by other parents, teachers can focus precious attention on what matters most–-student learning.
Very quickly, families began to call for more than just tech support. They were calling with questions about enrollment, concerns about certain policies, and sometimes just to vent about the stressors of pandemic life. Stephanie allowed - no, encouraged - the call center to become more than tech support, but an actual customer service center.
Stephanie came to us from Goodyear. She had experience running call centers. As she described it, she came to believe that her job was to help the customer, regardless of the issue. Or as she puts it: “It’s not just about the tires.” She wants the VCC team to listen, help, and do whatever it takes to meet the needs of families. So that’s what the VCC began to do.
Tyrinda recalls one time a parent called about some very personal challenges. Tyrinda exuded empathy and soon she and the parent were crying and laughing together. The call ended an hour later. At a typical call center, Tyrinda would be chastised for such a long call. At Breakthrough, responding to parent needs is the intended focus of the VCC.
Because the VCC was created to support families with remote instruction during the pandemic, it didn’t have a permanent budget. So at the end of last school year in May, Stephanie informed Tyrinda and the VCC team that the VCC was closing.
This summer, Stephanie and I got to talking and I realized that the VCC was clearly something special. As fall approached, I had made up my mind to find the resources to keep it, but I hadn’t yet communicated my decision broadly to staff and families.
On the first day of school, as I was with families at Citizens Southeast, Tyrinda approached me and introduced herself.
“Hi. I used to work for Breakthrough at the VCC.”
I smiled and replied “Don’t start looking for new jobs just yet. I hope to have some news for you soon.”
A week later she got a call that the VCC was back and she was going to be in charge. Today, Tyrinda manages a team of two, Daisha Gray and Jedda Whitfield, both of whom are parents of Breakthrough scholars. I’m so proud of the VCC and what it means for Breakthrough’s path to truly becoming a network that puts our families first.
A week later she got a call that the VCC was back and she was going to be in charge. Today, Tyrinda manages a team of two, Daisha Gray and Jedda Whitfield, both of whom are parents of Breakthrough scholars. I’m so proud of the VCC and what it means for Breakthrough’s path to truly becoming a network that puts our families first.
With the VCC in place, the important work of building strong relationships between schools and families continues. The model of customer service is a key tool for meeting the needs of our families, and supporting both teachers and families as full partners in a child’s education. When everyone works together, our families and scholars win.
