Crabill’s track record of success reforming school boards eventually led to his appointment as the Deputy Commissioner of Education at the Texas Education Agency, which is responsible for the education of all public school children across the state. During his time at the state agency, Crabill helped spearhead the design of the student outcomes-focused school board governance model, helped redesign the continuous improvement-focused school turnaround model, and helped pilot the peer-led restorative discipline model.
This last initiative —bringing peer-led, restorative practices into schools — is part of Crabill’s work to honor the autonomy and needs of children. When a student breaks a rule or harms another student, they’re brought together for a conversation led by trained peers to process what happened and come to agreement about how to make it right.
“Taking time to really talk through the situation,” he explained. “To get clarity around why the student made the choices they made and offering them an opportunity to take full responsibility for their behavior.” Crabill has observed over the years that these processes pull students back into the community rather than alienating them through the blunt instrument of detention or suspension.
Today, Crabill serves as the Director of Governance for the Council of the Great City Schools—a national organization dedicated to the improvement of education for children in urban school systems. He is also working with 30 school districts around the country, including the DeSoto Independent School District in DeSoto, TX for which he is the Conservator. In addition to coaching the superintendent and school board in DeSoto, TX, he’s personally training high school students in Columbus, OH to be the restorative practice leaders within their schools.
“I feel incredibly blessed that my story has turned out more wonderfully than I could have ever imagined—certainly more so than I could ever deserve.” Crabill reflected, “And so, I have just always been eager to give back. Like my parents before me, I've always been big into community service, and I suspect that will never change.”
The Act 2 Network was created by Schmidt Futures to amplify the impact of exceptional executives, technologists, entrepreneurs, and change-makers, like Crabill, who are working to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. Apply to become an Act 2 member and explore how you can use your talents to help address the issues that matter the most to you.
His experiences of being failed by the safety nets that are supposed to protect our nation’s most vulnerable children instilled in Crabill a deep desire to honor children’s autonomy and needs above the whims of adults with power over them. Again and again, Crabil has felt humbled and enlightened by the children he works with.
Crabill recalled a conversation with a student he was mentoring who was upset that he couldn’t take the Advanced Placement (AP) classes that interested him. Crabill—a school board member in his mentee’s district—felt certain the child was mistaken. Those AP classes were offered in their district.
But after listening to the student, Crabill realized that because the student’s school was so small there wasn’t enough student interest to justify teaching many of the AP classes. Eventually Crabill realized “that we were keeping high schools open because of sentimentality.” He came to the counterintuitive conclusion that the best way to give his district’s students the best educational opportunities was to close schools, increase class sizes somewhat, and consolidate resources.
There was some fierce pushback when Crabill brought the idea to the community. He reflected, “You have to be willing to have people tear down every part of your character. If you're not willing to sacrifice those things, to get something greater for children, then you probably shouldn't be in that leadership role to begin with.”
Eventually, Crabil was able to build the trust and alignment he needed in the community to implement the proposed changes in the Kansas City school district. Remarkably, after the school consolidation was completed, Crabill’s mentee was able to take enough AP courses in high school to graduate with an associates degree.
Crabill’s track record of success reforming school boards eventually led to his appointment as the Deputy Commissioner of Education at the Texas Education Agency, which is responsible for the education of all public school children across the state.
Another part of Crabill’s work to honor the autonomy and needs of children is focused on bringing peer led, restorative justice programs to schools. When a student breaks a rule or harms another student, they’re brought together for a conversation led by trained peers to process what happened and come to agreement about how to make it right.
“Taking time to really talk through the situation,” he explained. “To get clarity around why the student made the choices they made and offering them an opportunity to take full responsibility for their behavior.” Crabill has observed over the years that these processes pull students back into the community rather than alienating them through the blunt instrument of detention or suspension.
I have just always been eager to give back. I’ve always been big into volunteerism, and I suspect that will never change.”
Today, Crabill serves as the Director of Governance for the Council of the Great City Schools—a national school board organization dedicated to the improvement of education for children in the inner cities. He is also working with 30 school districts around the country, including the DeSoto Independent School District in DeSoto, TX for which he is the conservator. “I feel incredibly blessed that my story has turned out more wonderfully than I could have ever imagined—certainly more so than I could ever deserve.” Crabill reflected, “And so, I have just always been eager to give back. I've always been big into volunteerism, and I suspect that will never change.”
The Act 2 Network was created by Schmidt Futures to amplify the impact of exceptional executives, technologists, entrepreneurs, and changemakers, like Crabill, who are working to solve the world’s hardest problems. Apply to become an Act 2 member and explore how you can use your talents to help address the issues that matter the most to you. ...
