Up Close: Superintendent Starts District Podcast To Reach Students, Faculty

WEST JORDAN, Utah – Jordan School District Superintendent Anthony Godfrey has started a podcast to reach out and better understand what students, faculty and staff in his district are experiencing.

“Welcome to the ‘Supercast,’ I’m your host Superintendent Anthony Godfrey,” Godfrey says as he starts off his weekly program from a little studio that used to be a closet in the district office building.

But this is not something that’s all done in-house – Godfrey has taken his show to the classrooms, hallways and school offices across the district.

That’s where he really gets to connect to the 56,000 students and 5,800 employees he watches over as superintendent.

“You learn face to face, one on one, and that’s the deepest kind of learning to have the experience yourself,” Godfrey told KSL’s Dan Rascon.

One week he may be meeting with fire science and EMT students as they are learning CPR and how to be a firefighter. Another week, he may be serving lunch to students and another week he may be working alongside a custodian sweeping the hallways. So far, he’s done more than a dozen podcasts.

The podcast started a short time after Godfrey took his position in July as the district’s newest superintendent. He had worked in the district for 27 years and thought it would be a great idea to connect in a whole new way.

“It’s been really fun diving into the median. It’s something I’ve never done before. For me it’s just based on curiosity I’m very curious to know about people and know what their story is,” he said.

Godfrey plans to continue his “Supercast” each week for the rest of the school year, saying there are plenty of stories out there to tell.