Katz, s. (march 2010). women superintendents: standing for social  (Page 6/9)

Knowing and understanding others

As a student, Corwin had lived in the district that she now serves as superintendent. She felt that she knew the community well since she lived there previously. She had moved away for work but when she became superintendent, she felt it was important to move back and live in the community. When Delia was interviewing for her position, all of the search committee members mentioned a common concern. One-third of the district’s population was Korean and the question loomed as to whether the district was doing all they should to welcome and include this group into the school community. Korean parents were not attending parent teacher conferences, school functions, and other school events. Delia knew if she was hired, the first thing she needed to do was make sure that the Korean population became more engaged. For Delia, “part of it was learning more about the culture.” She began to ask the three Korean members on staff: “How can I approach the Korean community in order to have them engaged in this process?” Three years ago she set up a meeting to meet parents. “And because I was advised by these [Korean] teachers that many of our Korean families’ adult parents still feel intimidated coming into the building, we had it [the initial meeting]at the Korean American School, on a Saturday.” Tina had the same kinds of concerns about knowing and understanding others in her district’s community. Tina said that Latino parents trusted schools to take care of their children but may not feel totally welcome in schools. She encouraged her mostly White staff, teachers, school secretaries, and school aides to recognize and own their biases against those who are culturally and linguistically different from them. Because of these tensions, Tina said that Latino parents were not as involved in the district’s schools as she would like them to be. She put it this way:

[They believe that] it’s the schools’ job to take care of the student and the child. [They might say]we won’t interfere; we won’t be judgmental. And so trying to turn that around to say, oh, no, no, no – be involved, ask questions, and don’t let the school just take it upon themselves to raise your children.

Carmen’s community issues were very different. Working in an affluent community consisting of a many Jewish American families, Carmen knew that community members’ traditions were “steeped in values” that she was not familiar with. She made an effort to get to know families on a personal basis so they would trust her with decision-making that would include all community members.

Leading a large high school district that encompasses all or part of 13 different communities is a challenge for Karen when trying to know and understand her community members. Karen talked about how the different communities share the same values.

So the beauty of it is that you have communities of great diversity and I think that’s the richness of what we have and it also creates challenges because of the misunderstanding of how different cultures or different communities work. If this was a school district of one community, it would be different. But it’s a community school district of all or part of 13 other communities. So the challenge is trying to respect and blend the diversity of the communities. But the values don’t change that much. It is still church; it’s still family and still community.