Getting the community on the path toward equity

When Xavier Botana took over as superintendent of Maine’s Portland Public Schools, it was clearly a great match. Portland is a diverse and progressive district of about 6,500 students, a little more than half of them white, nearly 30% Black, 5% Asian, and 9% Latinx. Over the years, the immigrant and multilingual population had grown, and the community created programs and services for the newcomers. The school board spoke openly about needing an equity-minded leader, and Xavier had experience as an educator and system leader in large and diverse communities. Yet, once he started the actual process of creating a transformational equity agenda, Xavier found that talking about it wasn’t the same as doing the actual work.

Coming out of his first budget meeting, which can always be a challenge when a superintendent is new to a community, Xavier realized that equity was touted as a value, but it was “a thing inside of a thing within a thing.” In other words, it was embedded in a lot of system goals, but it wasn’t a central goal in and of itself. He knew he needed a different approach, and he needed to mobilize and engage all parts of the community to get behind his vision and give it the resources to make it a reality.

Every superintendent has community engagement as a goal. They’re expected to be visible at student events, public forums, and awards ceremonies. When I was in the seat, I used to say I had two jobs. My day job was working with my team and visiting schools. My night (and weekend) job was being out and about at community events or meetings with elected officials. Superintendents are expected to build relationships with key community leaders, too. Elected officials, leaders of community agencies, faith-based leaders, parent advocates, and members of special interest groups all want a seat at the table. Community engagement is part of the job, but they don’t really teach you how to handle its nuances and difficulties in superintendent school.