‘Grace and understanding.’ First Black superintendent in Nebraska a finalist in Fayette.

Editor’s Note: In coming days, the Herald-Leader will be profiling all 5 candidates to become the next Fayette County Public Schools superintendent.

Tawana Grover, the first black superintendent in Nebraska, is one of five finalists in the search for Fayette County Public Schools’ next school superintendent.

She currently leads the Grand Island Public Schools overseeing a $132 million budget, more than 10,000 students and 1,500 employees.

Grand Island “was the most prepared district” in Nebraska for reopening schools during the pandemic in August 2020, held up as an example by that state’s governor and education commissioner, Bonnie M. Hinkle, the chairwoman of the Grand Island Board of Education, said in a December 2020 letter citing Grover’s accomplishments.

“Mixed in with the issues of the pandemic, the equity and racial issues occurring across the country in Spring of 2020, found their way to Grand Island. Because some of the decisions made in response to the pandemic were unpopular, Dr. Grover was personally attacked,” Hinkle’s letter said. “She handled this with grace and understanding. The board of education and Dr. Grover were aligned in our first priority -- kids in school and kids and staff safety. She took the brunt of the backlash, and never wavered from our priorities.”

In June 2020, after the deaths of George Floyd and others in police custody , Grover issued a statement calling for a commitment to racial equity.

“It means a lot to me that my school community recognizes that I am not only the superintendent of schools, I am also a Black woman and the mother of two Black men, as well as the leader of a diverse school district with students of every color,” Grover wrote.

“When the video of Mr. Floyd lying under the knee of a police officer went viral, all I could see were my sons, my brother and my students in his pleading, terrified face,” said Grover. “ I shut my phone off, but I couldn’t shut off the reality that he is not the first black man to die unjustly and I am daunted knowing it will take a monumental movement for him to be the last. The weight of this moment in our country’s history is so very heavy .... I recognize we must ‘lift as we lead.’”

Grover, born and raised in a small, rural Alabama town, said her two grown sons are entreneprenuers.

At a Fayette County virtual forum Wednesday night, Grover said she was excited about Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton’s focus on equity.

She said Fayette County school board members already understand how inclusion and access benefits students.

“Diversity and inclusion is definitely a direct line to being excellent,” she said.

“It is critical that we dismantle the inequities that exist in the education system,” Grover said, including which students have access to Advanced Placement and gifted and talented programs and extra curricular activities.

In a 2020 application for a superintendent position in Louisiana, Grover said she has in her current district increased the number of students of color graduating with Advanced Placement and Dual Credit by 38 percent.

She increased student achievement in 75 percent of “Needs Improvement” schools and increased the number of students scoring 20 or above on the ACT by 5.4 percent within two years.

Grover said that when she looked at the profile of what Fayette County is looking for in their next superintendent, she felt “a strong conviction and a call to action,” as if she were reading her own biography.

She said her goal for Fayette County schools is that after the pandemic, students will not be derailed

Grover said she had increased diversity among staff in her current district. Having a culturally responsive educator in front of students is not always about the color of their skin, Grover said, but about whether the teacher understands the students’ background and culture and how that adds to the equation of their success.

She has said that in her current district, she implemented teacher recruitment incentives and revamped a mentor program retaining top talent and reducing teacher turnover by 26 percent.

And Grover said she had doubled the number of community partners helping students in her current school district, a goal that Fayette schools also has.

Grover said her district is reviewing the role of law enforcement in schools, just as Fayette County is.

In 2020, Grover was named a “Superintendent to Watch” by the National School Public Relations Association.

“I ...am a very transparent leader,” Grover told student journalists at Lexington’s Paul Laurence Dunbar Lamplighter. “I always want to be an inspiration.”

This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 12:41 PM.