[music playing] ANNOUNCER 1: The following program is a production of Ozarks Public Television.

Good evening and welcome to a "Sense of Community."

I'm Jennifer Moore.

Tonight's guest is new to our community, and she'll be leading the largest public school district in the state.

Dr. Grenita Lathan is the new superintendent at Springfield Public Schools.

Join us as we learn more about her and about the plans she has for SPS.

[music playing] ANNOUNCER 2: Welcome to "Sense of Community."

"Sense of Community" is a public affairs presentation of Ozarks Public Television.

Dr. Lathan, thank you so much for joining us.

We have heard from the Springfield Public Schools board of education on why they decided that you were the ideal candidate.

They decided that unanimously.

I want to hear from you why you wanted to come to Springfield.

Thank you.

Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you today to share what I selected to become the new superintendent for Springfield Public Schools.

Springfield Public Schools is an innovative school district.

In conducting my research, not only about the school district but also about the community, there are a lot of opportunities for economic growth, which means that when our students graduate, they have an option to go on course to community college, four-year university, or into the world of work.

It was also interesting that-- and thankful, very thankful that the voters passed a bond several years ago.

And so Springfield Public Schools is in the middle of building new buildings or renovating schools.

Also the school board, based on previous research, school board works very well together.

They work very closely with the outgoing superintendent, who has been wonderful, let me add, has been a wonderful transition.

But it was just the opportunity to be a part of a school district that is growing, that believes in innovation, and is ready to go to the next level.

So you've been in Springfield for a few weeks at this point.

What has been your impression of the Springfield community so far?

The community leaders, parents, students, everyone has been very welcoming.

People have been willing to share the great things that are happening and working in Springfield Public Schools with me.

But they've also pointed out some things of, hey, you might want to think about this as you start your new job.

And so it's been a great couple of weeks.

JENNIFER MOORE: OK, great.

So I'm curious, you are both the first female and the first person of color to be superintendent of the district.

How does it feel to be breaking those barriers in Springfield?

It's exciting, but it still gives me room for pause, because it's like, wow.

It has taken this long to be the first female and the first person of color.

So that means the expectations are extremely high, but I'm excited that I can be a role model for the students here in Springfield Public Schools and also in our community.

JENNIFER MOORE: So tell us a little bit about your background in public education.

I know it is extensive, but yeah, give us an idea of the breadth of your background in public education.

Well, I started my career as a high school business education teacher.

I also was a club sponsor, cheerleading sponsor.

Had the opportunity to become an assistant principal and then a building level principal at several locations in two states.

And then I moved into a central office positions, supervising principals.

Also served as a deputy superintendent, superintendent, chief academic officer, and then most recently as the interim superintendent in the Houston Independent School District.

That's a huge change coming from Houston to-- Houston, Texas to Springfield, Missouri.

What if anything do you anticipate to be the biggest challenges coming to a city of this size?

You know, I wouldn't-- so regardless of size, school districts and cities have their own unique set of challenges.

You know, in Houston and in Texas, we were dealing with hurricanes a lot.

Here I'll be dealing with snowstorms.

And I've had that opportunity of living in the Midwest before.

And I would say the largest challenge is always about school finance.

And it doesn't matter what state you're in.

And I know that there have been concerns and issues also as it relates to public education.

And so that will be a concern that being able to work with our elected officials to ensure that public education and the financing for public education receives the attention that it deserves.

You have mentioned that the issue of transparency is really important to you.

Just tell us how you plan to be transparent in your role as superintendent.

Holding community meetings, meetings with parents, meeting with-- meetings with staff members.

In fact, I've already conducted some meetings over the past several weeks, and I have many more meetings that I need to schedule and to hold.

But sharing with the community and our parents and staff members of what's working in the district.

And then also our areas of needed growth.

And also admitting if I make a mistake or we make a mistake as a district, admitting that.

But then also presenting the public with a solution to how we're going to address this so that this doesn't occur again.

I'm sure that you have realized at this point in your successful career already that relationships are key to making things work well.

What do you see as some of the key relationships in your new position here going forward?

Definitely with our city leaders, our elected officials, the local chamber of commerce, the president, of course, of Missouri State University, president of OTC.

You know, those elected-- those elected officials but those community leaders, but also it's important for me to have relationships with our staff members, our custodians, our bus drivers, teachers, principals, and just also our parents.

It's important for me to be out for people to be able to interact with me on a personal level at various community events.

So all of those relationships are important, regardless of the role or the title that a person holds in our community.

What are some of your priorities as a superintendent going to be for Springfield Public Schools?

Well, initially, I mean, it is about building relationships.

You just mentioned that earlier.

So I'll spend the next several months building relationships, trying to connect with various community partners.

I believe partnerships are very important.

And I've had some wonderful opportunities over the past several weeks to meet with some of our community partners.

And I'm excited about the opportunities and additional resources that those partners will be able to provide to our students.

So it'll be very important is finding out about the various initiatives that we have in place currently in the district, but also those partnerships.

You know, you can have all these great ideas coming in, and I have some ideas, but what I'm finding is those partnerships, they exist, but there are some different things that maybe we could do to enhance those partnerships.

And so I want to spend the next several months just truly getting to know the district and getting to know the community.

And I need to spend time also reviewing our curriculum and reviewing all of our operational procedures.

You know, every school district has a way of conducting business.

Every state has state statutes that govern-- that govern education, so I need to spend time familiarizing myself with those.

What do you foresee as some of the main challenges coming out of the pandemic?

Oh, definitely academic learning loss for all students, even students that were on grade level prior to the pandemic.

Social emotional, mainly mental health concerns, not only for our students but also our staff members.

I see those challenges being an long going-- ongoing, but also the health concerns.

You know, we had staff members and students that experienced or had COVID or their families.

And I think we're going to see some of those health challenges to play out.

And we need to be prepared not only as a school district but also as a community, not only in the city of Springfield but in Greene County to be able to address that.

And that's why I'm very thankful to our partners at Mercy and also Cox.

I have had opportunity to meet both these CEOs, and those are some great partnerships.

And so I'm looking forward to-- and to some of our other health care providers, our mental health providers of making sure our parents and our students have access to services.

So one of the perks or benefits, I guess, of having somebody come from outside of a region is that they bring fresh ideas.

And I'm wondering if-- I don't want to put you on the spot-- but I'm wondering if you have any programs or ideas that have worked well elsewhere that you're particularly proud of or you think might work well here in-- in Springfield.

And if so, would you share those with us?

Sure, and I've actually shared them at some of my previous community meetings, and one is Parent University.

And I've actually utilized that format for parents in two different school districts.

And it's an opportunity for parents to attend, and just like a university, they will attend a general session.

The general session is normally hosted by the superintendent, superintendent's staff, where we discuss the latest things that are happening in the school district, take questions from those parents.

And then parents are able to self-select breakout sessions that they attend.

Those would be sessions around resources.

It could be mental health support or how to help your child with advanced placement physics or introducing them to various academic programs, whether it's the gifted and talented program in the district.

here's how it works.

Here's how you go through the application process.

But it's just a one stop shop for parents to receive information of how to navigate the school district.

I had a wonderful opportunity to speak with a partner at the United Way about some possible opportunities for mentoring program to support young girls in our district.

And so that's a program that I've used previously in another school district.

But we've done a lot of things-- what I'd say one difference of coming from a large school district versus a smaller school district is that we did a lot of things internally.

So we had a lot of internal staff that could support programs.

I think the difference here for me will be that those partners exist outside of the school district, which I think is great.

And so we've already started talking.

And so I've started planning those seeds with some of our partners in the community.

Wow, so with the Parent University-- and I'm a parent, so this is interesting to me too-- you know, it's been said that public education or really any education with schools is kind of a trifecta of this relationship between parents or home, the schools, and the kid.

I'm just wondering, how do you incentivize participation in something like that for parents who might not otherwise come out to an event like that?

Well, based on the topics.

You know, if you attend a workshop or a personal-- professional development opportunity, you're going based on your needs, right, and your interest level.

And that's the same thing.

I will tell you, this past year, my previous school district, everything was online.

It was everything was virtual, but we provided opportunities for around rental assistance.

So it was those various partners.

And so everything is going to be about interest levels.

Also one opportunity I used in a previous school district-- district was a support group for parents.

Parents of students with special needs and parents of students who have this-- or are dyslexic.

And so there was a support group.

And so everything is about need.

And so I think the incentive will be ensuring that we have topics of interest for parents.

JENNIFER MOORE: What does Springfield Public Schools look like in terms of technology?

So far, based on what you've seen, is it where it needs to be?

Whether it's technology with student learning or access to internet?

What-- what's your first impression?

First impression is great.

And see, that's one of the other things we think about innovation.

You know, Springfield Public Schools prior to the pandemic had opportunities for technology or technology access for students.

Of course, over the past year, just like other districts across the country, they've had to increase that and increase-- increase access to technology for staff members.

And so that's another area, I think, an area of focus.

And that was something that was surprising to me in my previous school district when we went into closing down the school district in March of 2020, we were focused on student access, but I had staff members that did not have access at home to technology or to the internet.

And so they will continue to be a focus.

I've received questions about my beliefs around technology, technology usage in the classroom, and it has to be a balance.

But, you know, technology is here to stay, and so we need to make sure our students understand how to safely utilize technology in this changing environment, where everything is online and everything is available.

But we need to also make sure our staff members have the resources they need to teach our students.

Springfield, as you know, has a high poverty rate.

How do you intend to help kids who experience barriers to learning because of poverty?

GRENITA LATHAN: And it goes back to those partnerships and ensuring that we have the programs in place and expanding those partnerships so students have access.

Access is so important.

And previously working in high-poverty districts, that was one of the barriers is students didn't have access to things beyond the school day as far as enrichment opportunities.

And so very thankful and excited about our Explore program.

You know, and students have had an opportunity to participate in two sessions this past summer.

And I'd like to see that expanded for next summer.

But that's where you look at, when you talk about high-poverty is ensuring that students have access just like their peers that do not have financial challenges.

I'm curious, you obviously have held several positions of leadership already.

As for a superintendent, I'm curious what you feel makes a great superintendent in terms of qualities and skills.

Oh definitely someone that's able to build relationships, someone that understands our areas of operations of a school district.

Not only the academic side, but also the operational and finance side.

Someone that's able to successfully work with the school board and work with the greater community.

I'm curious how important you feel it is to incorporate current events into the classroom in public schools.

And so I'm thinking about the past year that we have seen with both the pandemic and the social justice movement that we've seen across the United States.

Do you feel it's important to incorporate that into classrooms?

And how can teachers do that?

Well it's important to incorporate current events, but it's also teachers and principals need to be provided training.

What's scary at times for parents and also community leaders, especially over this past year over everything we've heard about various topics is people worried about someone influence-- using their own bias when they instruct students to share information.

And so that's why I say it goes back to training.

Ensuring that we present a balanced view, and we present the facts.

And so that's important, but teaching students current events is important.

Because they're going to-- I mean, like I said, technology is everywhere.

Information is readily available.

It's more available than when you and I were in school, just two or three years ago.

But so it's important that we do share that information and that students are able to-- and parents make informed decisions and know what's going on in the world.

But also how to exist and how to respect individual differences and cultures.

What inspired you to become a teacher?

Oh gosh, and I'd hate for people to hear this all the time.

The educators that I had an opportunity to interact with.

Of course, my family, teaching was just-- and it still is-- very respected position or occupation.

My Sunday school teachers, who were also teachers in the local school district.

But I always wanted to be a teacher or a social worker, and I feel like I'm doing both as a superintendent.

One of the challenges is school safety across the United States.

The landscape has really changed over the past 10, 15 years for kiddos in school and for teachers as well.

Tell us about your ideas of how to balance creating a safe place for learning without making schools feel like a prison.

GRENITA LATHAN: You know, I tell you that's been a big topic, and I'll go back and I'll tell you my views have changed in recent years.

And the reason I say my views have changed, I was always one that, OK, yes, we wanted counselors and social workers.

But also when different things started happening as it relates to safety issues and gun violence and just people with, you know, experiencing mental health issues that might show up at a campus, I see the need for both.

I see the need for security, police and safety support, but also counselors and social workers.

And it's important, but it's important also that students have an outlet, and it goes back to that mental-- mainly a lot of stuff still ties back to that mental health support.

And they have someone they can reach out to when they're dealing with different issues, whether it's suicide, ideas or thoughts around suicide, bullying, just mental health in general.

You know, years ago, we didn't talk about mental health, especially not in the school.

We barely talked about in our own families.

But it's important now that we that the educators know what the triggers are.

And when I say triggers of what might push a student into a mental health episode or-- so it's important, but it's important to also have some level of safety or security on our campuses, but also to make sure our campuses are secure as it relates to the entry points.

Cameras-- I mean, it's a totally different atmosphere.

But you don't have to send a prison-like-- make it a prison-like environment.

Schools can still be well-- welcoming and still have the necessary security measures in place.

How early in a child's education do you think that that mental health, I guess maybe monitoring or coaching attention, should be given, and what does it look like for that younger population of kids?

Well, I mean, it starts at the elementary level.

I mean, like I said, things that we used to notice maybe when students were in high school, junior, senior year, you know, people talk about various-- and like I said, I'm not a medical doctor.

I'm not a psychologist.

But you know, different diagnoses at certain ages.

But students should be talking-- should be talking about their feelings even at the elementary level, expressing how they feel.

You know, I read a story last week that was so alarming of an elementary student that went to school with the plans to-- to hurt himself or to be hurt by the police because he was dealing with issues around suicide.

And so that outlet needs to be available.

Staff members need to be available.

But there needs to be staff available and trained for that.

And our teachers can't do it all.

They can't do it by themselves, and our principals can't.

That's where you need either that staff member or that wraparound support from a partner to provide those supports.

Let's switch gears.

We're still in a pandemic, and you are overseeing the largest school district, public school district in the state of Missouri.

I'm curious if you have any thoughts about monitoring vaccine rates.

We are looking at very low vaccination rates in our region.

About masking or any other protocols that you might consider going into the school year.

Oh, it's ongoing.

You know, that was when I arrived here several weeks ago, that was the big discussion about the low vaccination rate, not only in the state of Missouri but also in the Springfield area.

We saw the number of cases increasing.

And so I'll continue to monitor that.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with our partners from the health department, county health department.

And as I stated, our local CEOs of our hospitals.

So we're monitoring-- we are monitoring masking.

And we have a reopening plan that is posted to our district website.

And if we need to update that plan based on recommendations from either the CDC, our local health department, we will do that.

But I really see that as an ongoing part of our discussion throughout the '21, '22 school year.

I'm wondering, as we get close to the end of our program here, if you can give us a sense of your-- your management style.

What do you foresee yourself doing in a day-to-day and the first few days of the school year?

Are you going to go head over to the schools?

Do you think you'll be stuck in a lot of meetings?

What's your-- what's your style?

Well, my style is very collaborative.

My style is going to be out there.

But you're right, you'll see me out.

I'll be out at the schools, and that's one of the things on our staff agenda we've discussed is my first day of school visit-- and really it's the first week of school visit-- and then my visits throughout the school year.

But you will see me out and about.

It's important that I truly know what's happening in our schools and that I'm able to work with not only our school leaders but central office leaders to ensure that schools have the necessary resources.

So my style is, like I said, it is collaborative.

And I believe that people work with me not for me, and I try to model that that we are members of the same team.

You know, at the end of the day I might have to make some decisions, and I have to make that final decision, but I value and respect input.

I also value people having a different solution or outcome than myself.

And I'm OK with it.

If they bring a better idea to the table than the one that I've presented, I can go with that, and I can make it work.

Research shows that early childhood education, so pre-K, really can impact the entire trajectory of a person's life.

And I'm wondering if you can weigh in on what you see in Springfield Public Schools in terms of what it may need to do better in terms of early childhood education.

And we've done a great job of expanding opportunities for early childhood education.

We have our early childhood centers.

Of course, we could do more.

Meaning, maybe having additional classrooms available either at some of our elementary campuses, or it might be a partnership at some workplaces where there are opportunities available.

But I think it's very important for three and four-year-olds to have access to a public education early on.

And so that will be another focus area.

But ensuring that the curriculum is in place or our local partners.

I've had opportunities to work with other partners in the past.

And if we don't have the space and they have space in their buildings, who says that it has to be in a traditional setting?

It could be anywhere where we placed a certified teacher and the necessary support staff members to educate children.

What are you most looking forward to this-- this fall, this school year?

A sense of normalcy as it relates to face-to-face interaction.

And I know that's-- you're like, OK, that's-- that's probably not what you were looking for.

But when we've been in such a virtual format for over a year, not only have I moved to a new location, a new city and a new school district, but being able to interact with people, being able to hold a professional development where we're in the same room together.

And we are we have that think tank going, and we're working on strategies.

And so I'm looking forward to it.

But I'm looking forward also to truly getting to know the school district and our community.

Dr. Grenita Lathan, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we want to thank you for joining us this evening.

We're going to leave you with some websites and phone numbers where you can go to learn more information.

I hope you have a great night.

[music playing] ANNOUNCER 2: Here is where you can find more information about the topics covered in this program.

[music playing]