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The Superintendents to Watch award recognizes up to 25 school district leaders each year who have fewer than five years of experience as a superintendent and who demonstrate dynamic, fast-paced leadership with strong communication at its core.
What does leadership mean to you?
As a superintendent, I firmly believe that leadership is a conglomerate of many aspects. Having a student-focused mindset is paramount. Ensuring that every decision made is in the best interest of the students we serve and dedicating ourselves to understanding the unique needs, aspirations and challenges each student faces and working to educate all students is the ultimate goal. Leadership also requires being forward-thinking. Striving to envision a better future and inspiring others to join the journey alongside you is important. It takes embracing the challenges and collaborating with stakeholders to creatively determine the best solutions and outcomes that support students not only in the present but for years to come. I believe leadership also takes building trust amongst your team. Each staff member plays a vital role in the success of our school community. Having a passionate team to work alongside and rely on to move the division forward transforms challenges into success.
How have you integrated communication into your district’s strategic plan?
In my transition to the permanent superintendent role, I have prioritized supporting ACPS’ areas of focus and the Strategic Plan: Equity for All, consistently communicating goals and strategies through various channels. This involves fostering a culture and school experience for all, displayed in the One Team, One Journey campaign, promoting programs rekindling student’s love for learning and invigorating enthusiasm for serving them. Addressing nationwide absenteeism is a top concern, and strategic efforts include the creation of engaging student-centric videos that are strategically released throughout the school year. Student engagement is integral, evident in campaigns like #TitansRising school visits, where I talk with students as young as elementary age about their future, along with a tangible reminder of the ultimate goal, such as special pencils imprinted with “Future Titan.”
What communication initiative are you most proud of that have you implemented in your district?
Implementing a new communications platform for the 2022-23 school year is one of the projects that I am most proud of for ACPS. Providing students, families and staff with a streamlined set of digital tools that supports real-time communication is critical for a division of more than 16,000 students with families who come from 119 countries and speak 121 languages. This tool allows our division to further enhance engagement between families and the division. ParentSquare has been vital in sharing messages regarding classroom activities, family engagement opportunities, facilities and operations services, ensuring that safety and security are timely, accessible, translated, recognizable and updated. ParentSquare has also been a key element in the division’s efforts toward student attendance. Utilizing the app to notify families of their student's absences promptly and allowing families to engage with the division in their preferred language has been instrumental in our progress.
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.