About NSPRA
The Superintendents to Watch award recognizes school district leaders who have fewer than five years of experience as a superintendent and who demonstrate dynamic, fast-paced leadership with strong communication at its core.
Dr. Tiffany Spicer has led Waco Independent School District through a period of renewal and momentum, using communication, collaboration and community partnership as core leadership tools. Serving a district where more than 15,000 students and families depend on strong, coordinated systems, she has made visibility, clarity and shared responsibility central to how the district moves forward.
Aligning Schools and Community Around Shared Goals
Fr. Spicer has strengthened how Waco ISD connects its schools to the broader community by building open lines of communication between educators, civic leaders and families. Her leadership emphasizes shared goals, clear expectations and mutual trust across organizations that serve students.
Key elements of this approach include:
“Dr. Spicer understands that genuine leadership requires transparency.” — Jessica Attas, CEO, Prosper Waco
“Dr. Spicer has demonstrated a dynamic and transparent leadership style, swiftly building essential trust between the district and the City of Waco, proving she is a superintendent whose approach to communication is central to her success.” — Josh Borderud, Waco City Council, District III
Making Transparency a Leadership Standard
Immediately upon her arrival in 2024, Dr. Spicer implemented her Waco ISD Community Engagement Plan. Beginning in October 2024, she established a strong foundation through a listening and learning tour across the district. She wanted to understand experiences and insights from students, parents, teachers, staff and community leaders.
Dr. Spicer championed the need for a unified voice, leading the alignment of all external and internal messaging around the new district brand: Wisdom Works Wonders. To ensure this brand is grounded in community priorities and staff reality, she launched focus groups encompassing all Waco ISD constituent groups. Critically, this was designed as a continuous feedback loop, with plans already underway to repeat the focus group process in the 2025–2026 school year to measure implementation efficacy and monitor progress on priority areas.
Dr. Spicer developed a Student Advisory Council that consists of a diverse group of students across the district in middle and high schools who have a chance monthly to express concerns. One major piece of feedback that Dr. Spicer implemented from this group was to adjust the block scheduling in high schools. She continues to build trust among the student groups by not just listening to their concerns, but taking action when it aligns with the district’s strategic priorities. In the 2025-2026 school year, Dr. Spicer will host a one time, elementary-level student advisory council as well.
Honoring diversity and ensuring every voice is heard are central to Dr. Spicer’s commitment. This is demonstrated by prioritizing candid conversations, such as dedicated time spent with the local NAACP chapter to answer questions openly. Furthermore, Dr. Spicer extends this outreach through high-level advocacy, serving on key community boards like Prosper Waco and the Baylor Center for School Leadership, while cultivating strong partnerships with city officials, the Heart of Texas Workforce and medical organizations to build a comprehensive support network for all Waco ISD students and staff.
Dr. Spicer has actively integrated feedback into operational practices, demonstrating her commitment to open communication. To stay closely connected to the daily reality of the district, she personally rides Waco ISD bus routes and consistently schedules 2-3 campus visits each week, making herself available for spontaneous conversations and on-the-ground support. Her leadership ensures communication integrity by establishing a procedure that requires all staff to receive press releases before going public, honoring them as the district’s primary stakeholders and ensuring they are always informed first.
Implementing a truly comprehensive communication framework, Dr. Spicer utilizes a blend of new and traditional platforms to ensure consistent messaging and a unified vision. She launched the "Sixty Seconds with Spicer" video series for accessible updates to staff and the community, and will host an inaugural State of the District meeting to align all stakeholders. This strategic use of platforms, coupled with regular email updates and her constant presence through personal visits, reflects a shared commitment to educational excellence and community values.
Building a Culture of Collaboration
Spicer is widely recognized for creating a culture where collaboration is not optional, but expected. She brings partners into meaningful conversations about student outcomes, workforce development and community well-being. This includes:
“Dr. Spicer has demonstrated a dynamic and transparent leadership style...proving she is a superintendent whose approach to communication is central to her success.” — Jessica Attas, CEO, Prosper Waco
A Superintendent Focused on Long-Term Impact
Through her emphasis on communication, partnership and transparency, Spicer has positioned Waco ISD to move forward with clarity and community confidence.
“Her commitment to communication is clearly a core priority for Dr. Spicer in the district. She recognizes that clear communication builds trust and is essential for a successful school district. As a local elected official and a parent of two WISD school children, I know from personal experience that communication has been strengthened and prioritized during her tenure.” — Josh Borderud, Waco City Council, District III
B.A. - Mississippi State University; MPA - University of Georgia
I believe school PR/communications is what I was born to do! One of the biggest decisions a parent can make is where to send their child to school, and it’s an honor to share with our parents the engaging work that their children are doing under the guidance of world-class teachers and leaders. On any given day, in any given school, there are many stories to be told and I take that charge seriously. As school communicators played a key role in COVID-19 communications, storytelling was more important than ever – not only did I share information with parents about our protocols, but I also made over 80 visits to schools last year and told a variety of stories about how students were thriving with both in-person and distance learning options. I also worked with principals to determine best mitigation practices and helped make those pervasive, because positive action must be the foundation of what we are ultimately communicating. School public relations is incredibly complex and I love that each day brings a new challenge.
My greatest school PR success was completing 11 nationally-innovative school communication audits using a process of research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. I am now in phase two of this project and am attending school council meetings to garner feedback from parents about school-level communication and how I can better support the work of their schools. One of the most significant findings is that as students take more ownership of their learning, they also take more ownership in parent communication. Therefore, next steps are to better prepare parents for this transition and to also determine best practices from exemplar teachers and coaches at the secondary level so we can strike the right balance with parents feeling informed and fostering student independence.
My greatest school PR challenge is overcoming rigidity. Like many PR professionals, I am detail-oriented and a self-described perfectionist. It’s a blessing and a curse to see when something is one pixel off, but the greatest challenge I have faced in my 13 years in this field is to learn to be more flexible. I might have an aversion to Comic Sans or Curlz, but it’s not the end of the world if those are a font favorite elsewhere. What’s more important is the bigger picture – staff and parents feeling well-informed and students growing and learning in positive school cultures. Instead of telling someone their website isn’t formatted properly, I now make a 2-3 minute screencast if I think there’s a quick tutorial I can offer to provide ongoing professional learning. By being much more flexible, I have deepened relationships and become better at supporting the most important job that occurs in our school system: teaching.
My favorite part of my job is the relationships. I often say that there is no substitute for showing up, and that’s why I make so many school visits each year. From getting to hold a gorgeous monarch butterfly to watching a vibrant student musical to seeing 3-D printing in action from engineering students, I have witnessed countless unique opportunities, and these experiences are just a small piece of what our students get to take part in each and every day. If I didn’t take the time to form relationships, I wouldn’t know that what students value is knowing that the photos I take may show up in their yearbooks. I wouldn’t know the myriad of annual activities that teachers do across our schools because I wouldn’t have witnessed them firsthand. I wouldn’t know about the families of our principals or what they believe makes their school unique. All of that is invaluable because at the end of the day and at the end of this career, relationships are what will remain – both professionally and personally.
The communication tool I use the most is Canva! I would be a brand ambassador if they asked! I am not very mathematically-minded and it can be challenging for someone with an eye for good design – but not an eye for rulers and gridlines – to be a graphic designer. However, Canva has made it possible and I am able to create aesthetically-pleasing graphics with short turn-around times. I have trained communication ambassadors at our schools how to use it as well. Right after Canva, the tool I most use is iMovie. I am completely self-taught in videography and using iMovie and Canva together has made me someone who can add “videographer” to their list of expertise.