January 2022 | Dr. Christina M. Kishimoto

Superintendent Melissa Sadorf’s rural leadership perspective may best be understood by considering her week-long hike down into the Grand Canyon that she took years ago with her former high school English teacher (now mentor) and several friends. Sure, the journey was hard, the backpack heavy, the conditions challenging and there was no turning back. But Melissa remembers this difficult journey fondly as a place where friendships were deepened, perspectives were reconsidered, and ideas were discussed within a unique space that allowed them to appreciate one another. This speaks much to how Melissa leads, learns and mentors others…through deep networks, friendships, collaboratives, and meaningful connections.

Speaking with Melissa Sadorf, superintendent of Stanfield Elementary School District in Arizona, gave me this same feeling of long-time friendships, a sharing of deep personal joy, and a feeling of being fully present in the now. Additionally, I was excited to learn hot-off-the-press news about new developments in Melissa’s professional journey.

The devastating impact of the COVID pandemic is real with pressures on Superintendents escalating beyond reasonableness, but Melissa has found a way to stay grounded and joyful in her community, her family and in her service to others. “The question of wellness is top of mind for leaders today, but it’s typically not about us, but about whether those around me are well, and so we sometimes forget to turn the mirror around and look at ourselves.” So, every morning she starts the day with meditation – thankful for the opportunity that comes with a full day ahead and a reminder to deeply appreciate those around her.

She begins her day grounded in the now. “I start my day with deep breathing, relaxing, clearing my mind, and see each day as a reset.” The rest of the day will be a whirlwind of crisis response, partnering with educators and community to support students, and networking with other thought leaders around improving support for rural educators. Despite the ever growing complexity of the role, Melissa says “I feel energized about the possibilities and moving the needle in new ways for kids.”

Melissa is a rural education leader who cares deeply about people. She actively contributes to the development of future leaders in her home state of Arizona and at the national level, particularly through mentoring and professional networks. Her policy passion is around quality leadership development, particularly of the School Principal. She understands that the school principal position is the orchestrator of school quality expectations and deliverables for kids, while also being the critical access point to district superintendency for rural educators. It is important to note that she draws her inspiration from the people of the Stanfield Elementary School district, a close-knit, diverse, family-focused rural community where she has led as Superintendent for the past ten years.

Her students are racially, ethnically and economically diverse, including first nation students, and twenty percent of her teachers are internationals working under federal work Visas. She believes this brings strength to the learning environment. “It’s an opportunity to build connections, build understanding across cultures and across race, and [serves as] a microcosm to ensure our kids have a diverse learning environment that will serve them well in life.”

Melissa is quick to mention the juxtaposition between her decade long Superintendent success and the dismal number of women who are provided the same opportunity and access as she has had to the executive seat. Her own access was not free of bias. Prior to being selected for Stanfield, Melissa shares that she watched herself be passed over in executive searches that resulted in all white male finalists, and discounted in interviews for her competing responsibilities as wife and mother. She recalls that the interview questions “skated along that line” but in reality they were neither subtle nor unbiased.

Melissa believes the added layers of bias that women of color contend with, is much worse, and also not subtle. While some boards are not ready for a woman leader, others are not willing to even consider a person of color. “As a White woman, my experience with gender biases are probably not as negatively impactful to my psyche as racial bias. Because I’ve seen that. That is so damaging and ugly and hard to navigate.”

The challenge of facing male conservative boards that are gatekeeping is figuring out when, how and if to respond and at what cost to your own future opportunities. “In rural communities they tend to be more conversative and gravitate more toward men.” “There are some situations, where no matter what I do or my record or what I talk about, or all my accolades, it’s not going to matter to them, because they are not going to get past the fact that I happen to be a woman.”

Melissa advises women that when they are in this situation, to reconsider their interest in working in that community since the lack of board support will make the job impossible. Melissa describes her experience with the board in Stanfield as very positive over her entire decade there, and she says that “makes all the difference in aligning with who you are and where you want to grow forward.” Melissa believes that the growth of women’s networks has been invaluable to getting support through these situations. Without these connections to talk through situations with other women, those accumulated biased comments “can just break you.”

Melissa loves her rural education experience and is a champion for rural educators. It is a place where people lead with deep and long standing community relationships that can be instrumental in addressing rural school designs. She describes rural as having a context that is different from urbans, with greater isolation, less resources, less well paying jobs and many part-time roles. “There is no affinity grouping within rural districts, you’re it!” A school principal can be the special education director and also be the bus driver. A secondary teacher may be the single teacher of science, social studies and math.

The Superintendent is the business manager and the grants administrator. It’s a unique work situation, but it also tends to be a very close, intimate set of relationships that hold the community together and provide consistency over lifetimes. This is what led Melissa to get together with colleagues to create a space for rural leaders in Arizona to talk, share ideas and find solutions together. There was such a great need for networking that these Arizona convenings have today morphed into a five-state collaborative.

One of the key areas of focus for rural educators is how to support students through the isolation challenge. “In a community like ours that is six hundred square miles and is resource poor, we lack consistent food security, broadband access, cell phone tower access, medical access.” From an academic growth perspective, “when you have absolutely nothing to visualize a life that looks different than the only one you know, how do you get yourself into new roles? We have a moral obligation to provide that exposure through college, careers, CTE, and experiences. There is power in showing [students] the opportunities and mentoring them.”

Melissa notes that the challenges faced by rural and urban educators overlap in many ways. “It’s very interesting how both rural and urban students lack access even though resources in urban areas may be closer to them.” Opportunity and access, particularly for students in poverty, is a national issue across community types. “It seems to be that the barriers in terms of equity whether it’s racial equity, religious equity…it’s access, it’s opportunity…poverty is a huge issue, it’s not just a rural issue.” Melissa sees the poverty conversation as critical to the national policy dialogue.

It’s hard to miss Melissa’s energy around her work. She works continuously to be the best version of herself as informed over time by her parents, mentors, and friends who “helped her uncover who I am.” This week, it was announced that she was competitively selected as President Elect of the National Rural Education Association – work that will deepen her national reach and provide her with another equity policy pulpit. Additionally, Melissa has added to her leadership journey as she closed a book deal with ASCD to publish a much anticipated piece about rural education later this year. Melissa is a leader that is on an equity journey where she is leveraging her positional privilege to break down barriers for students and aspiring leaders. Melissa is at the policy table using her voice for equity.
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Dr. Melissa Sadorf is School Superintendent of the Stanfield Elementary School District in Pinal County, a small rural school district in Stanfield, Arizona, which is equidistant between Phoenix to its north and Tucson to its southeast. Dr. Sadorf advocates for rural education and rural leaders within local, state and national organizations to help raise awareness on the unique challenges that rural educators face. She hosts a podcast that explores rural issues and also holds monthly superintendent virtual round tables to ensure rural voices are being heard. Connect with Melissa on Twitter @dr_sadorf

February 9, 2022 | Dr. Christina M. Kishimoto

On Wednesday, January 5, 2022 I was honored to sit down with Dr. Luvelle Brown, friend and colleague, who is in his 11th year serving as Superintendent of the Ithaca City Public Schools in New York, to talk about receiving the 2022 Dr. Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award presented by AASA. Hear what he had to say about this honor and much more.

DR. KISHIMOTO

The Dr. Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award is a prestigious honor for the recipient. Dr. Jones believed in advancing the pathway and access for women and people of color to executive leadership positions in education. She was not just about access, but about how sitting leaders contribute to this mission to elevate others – to serve beyond self.

I was thrilled to hear that you – Dr. Luvelle Brown, are the 2022 recipient of this great award in honor of the namesake of a woman leader who contributed so much to the work of equity.

What does this award mean to you and how does Dr. Jones’ legacy speak to you?

DR. BROWN

This is the most important recognition I’ve received in my lifetime, both personally and professionally. It means so much to me coming at this moment in my life. When I read about and hear people talk about the legacy of Dr. Effie Jones, I think about, see and hear my mother! My mother, Lucille Brown, was also an educator. She was in the elementary classroom and she was in the system for 46 years. She is known by generations of young people in my home community, as an amazing educator, just like Dr. Effie Jones. My mother, just like Dr. Effie Jones was a connector of people. She was always validating and affirming, not only the young people that she was blessed to be with, but she validated and affirmed everyone that came into her presence. Particularly women and people of color who traditionally had grown up marginalized. My mother was a beacon of hope, she connected people, and was also the one that made sure everyone was seen and heard.

My mother passed away at the beginning of this awful pandemic and with her passing I felt myself going to a place I had not been, as an educator, as a professional and as a person. I wasn’t in a great space. I used to talk to my mother everyday about this work and she inspired me everyday to do something different and better. Every single day of my life. And all of a sudden that was gone. And when the work was at its toughest…the health pandemic shut down and not being able to be with students everyday, I needed my mama, and she was not there. So, I had to lean on her legacy and her words just as I now have learned to lean on the words and legacy of Dr. Effie Jones. My mother said to me right before she passed, the great equity warriors they don’t last for very long. We are not always going to be here because people are going to find reasons to discredit us or find reasons for us not to be in leadership roles but what we hope we have done is inspired people to take our places when we are gone. And I finally understand what that means. She reared me to be an equity leader, like she is, like she was, just like Dr. Effie Jones. Now it’s my time to take her place, now that she’s gone. You asked me what this honor means to me…it’s the most important honor that I have ever received and it is coming at the right time in my life personally and professionally.

DR. KISHIMOTO

I believe that things come into our life at the right time. Also, it sounds like you had a very powerful woman in your life in your mother and that is a beautiful blessing. I thank you for sharing your story because I think it is so important for others to hear the personal stories of leaders and what and who stands behind them, what painted your perspective as you now lead.

Dr. Effie Jones believed in social justice and the responsibility we have to leverage our power as leaders to create the space to support and prepare others to lead. How do you keep yourself from saying “I’ve arrived!” and instead saying “I’m just getting started!” Where does your motivation come from in this difficult climate today to keep advancing this important work and to bring others along?

DR. BROWN

I’m learning everyday and frankly I’m learning everyday from folks who have struggled to be seen and heard in this space. Women, minorities, folks that I work with, folks that I mentor, women that I worked with who are now colleague Superintendents. I learn from them how to better connect with people, how to be an instructional leader, how to inspire folks, how to teach reading, how to change policies. I am inspired everyday through the people that I have connected with. These are folks who have had to overcome barriers in order to lead. This is about supporting one another in this journey. I’ve had barriers I myself have had to overcome as an African-American male but I also bring some privileges to this space. I know nothing about what it is like to matriculate through this space as an African-American female or a Latinx. But I see what they struggle with and so when they speak I listen, and they inspire me, and I learn from their experiences and their work. We all need to be in that learning space right now because our schools are in a pivotal place where we need to transition. Who better to learn from than to look to those who struggle just to be seen and heard in this space. This makes us a first year educator every year.

DR. KISHIMOTO

That brings me to a question that requires you to assume how Dr. Jones might see the education world today. As I look at the percentage of women superintendents in this nation at 27%, and women of color within the groups of Black, Asian and Hispanic each in the single digits, it raises a lot of questions. It’s not moving very quickly. The pipeline is full of women, with the majority of teachers today still being women, yet something is happening there with women not gaining access to the top leadership seat. What do you think Dr. Jones would think today in 2022 about the progress made by women, and by all leaders of color, in accessing the Superintendent seat?

DR. BROWN

I am humbled in being asked to think about what such a brilliant mind would be thinking at this moment. I think she would go to policy. There has to be a policy shift and a policy change to significantly impact those unfortunate numbers. Is there a policy that we can implement that requires all board members nationally to go through implicit and unconscious bias training? Is there some kind of policy that we can implement that requires that our pools of candidates must be diverse? At this point, when we’ve been attempting to have horizontal accountability, and attempting to connect to the decision-maker’s understanding of the data that clearly shows that we must do something differently, this has not worked, and so now we need to focus on policy. Culture does not change until policy changes first. We need to change policies to force the change in mindsets, and ultimately the data hopefully will show that equity of access.

DR. KISHIMOTO

Dr. Brown, whether you intentionally choose to be a role model or not, as a black man in a public-facing executive level leadership position, you are being watched by children and youth who cross your path everyday. What do you hope they are observing and learning from watching you lead?

DR. BROWN

Thank you for asking that question! I haven’t chosen this, they have chosen me. I started mentoring programs, I still mentor, and I talk with students and they say what they see. They say they see grace. And I learned this from my mother. They also say they see people coming for me, making up things about me, lying about me [laughs], they see all of the things a typical public leader has to face, and they see me respond. They say, Dr. Brown, you always respond with grace. And yes, that is required. We need to be patient, we need to be forgiving, we need to be truthful and honest with folks, and we need to do that in a loving way. And young people who see me as a mentor, see me responding with love at all times. They also tell me they see what I wear [laughs], they see the car I drive…whatever it takes to inspire young people to read, to write, to do something after graduation! You want to wear a suit like Dr. Brown, boom, this is what it is going to take! Dr. Brown is reading and writing something every night, journing everyday, he’s always on time. You want to drive that car, you need to be nice to people, you need to connect with folks, you need to speak with people. Young people talk to me and they say they see those things in me and it has inspired them. I know that they are looking and some of them are always watching.

DR. KISHIMOTO

Folks outside of education often ask why we choose to do this work of public education today? Why do you choose to dedicate your career, your life, your passion to public education?

DR. BROWN

I watched my parents attempt to disrupt oppressive systems every single day. They’ve asked me to do the same. Why I do this? To disrupt oppressive systems. My industry, other industries have been built to perpetuate systems of exclusion. We, folks like me, need to disrupt that. That’s why I am doing it. I know with that active effort to disrupt that oppressive system I must also be prepared to give up privileges. My right to comfort, my right to safety…I have to give up some of those in order to disrupt the oppression. I know why I am doing this work and I also know the consequences for this work. And I have chosen to stay on this path.

DR. KISHIMOTO

Luvelle, you have a personally inspiring story. Thank you for your leadership and service to our nation’s children and youth! Again, congratulations!

DR. BROWN

Thank you for this opportunity to reflect in this way!