Ky.’s first Black superintendent says there are challenges, but reason for optimism

The first black superintendent in Kentucky’s desegregated schools said people in the state have to be strategic and intentional about attracting teachers and education leaders of color if the numbers of Black superintendents are to grow.

“We need to educate and support school boards and communities on intentionally seeking African American applicants for their vacancies and to view those applicants as viable candidates for the job. “ Elaine Farris said.

Farris said the state should create a mentorship program similar to the one she participated in to support professional aspirations.

Farris said she was in the first Kentucky Minority Superintendent Intern Program, developed by the state in 2003 because Kentucky had not had a Black superintendent since integration.

Farris interned in Shelby County Public Schools with then-Superintendent Leon Mooneyhan. The next year, in 2004, she was selected as Kentucky’s first Black superintendent in Shelby County, on a 3-2 vote.

Farris saw the divided vote as a sign that she would face challenges, and she did.

She said the superintendent’s job itself is a challenge “but then there are still mindsets that African Americans should be relegated to certain types of positions.”

While Farris wants her experience with racial bias to be a call to action, she also sees reason for Black educators who want to be superintendents to be optimistic.

“I knew my role was to maximize student achievement while supporting the staff, students and families and to create a culture of community engagement, transparency and accountability and that was my focus,” she said.

Jim Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, said he and Farris went through new superintendent training together.

“One of things I admire most about her is that she was and continues to be a champion for all kids including those kids that are often the ones who struggle to find success. She always gave a voice and shined light on those students in particular,” Flynn said.

Mooneyhan, whose retirement opened the position that Farris was hired for, said he thought she did well.

“I thought it was good for her. It was good for Shelby County,” he said.

“I think it’s fair to say that she paved the way” for other educators of color to become superintendents in Kentucky, said Mooneyhan.

Farris left Shelby County schools to become the first Black deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education and served as Interim Commissioner for a time. She retired as superintendent of Clark County Schools in 2013.

In the school districts she served, Farris said, “as a black female operating as the superintendent I often felt that my decisions were unfairly questioned, most often by my male colleagues that had been in the district before I came.”

Still, she said, Kentucky school boards have continued to select Black superintendents. In February 2023, there are six.

She hopes that Kentucky school boards continue to look beyond race and gender and give Black educators access and opportunity to compete for superintendent positions.

Farris said she doesn’t know why the number is still so low.

She thinks one of the barriers is that Kentucky does not have an intentional pipeline to the superintendency for Black educators. Superintendents usually come through the teacher and principal pipeline, Farris said.

The diversity of teachers and principals in Kentucky are not proportional to its student population, she said.

Search agencies must seek Black candidates for school boards and the search firms that boards select should be diverse, she said.

“We have to continue to educate and promote the mindset that we need to see more diversity in all of our educational agencies if we want to see more diversity in our schools and districts,” said Farris.

Many school districts have aspiring leader programs, she said, but Farris thinks an intentional program like the discontinued Kentucky Department of Education’s Minority Superintendent Intern Program might help mentoring individuals who want to be superintendents.

Many of Kentucky’s Black educators, including superintendents, are a part of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, because they get to interact and learn from teachers and superintendents who look like them, she said. Farris said she was a member of that group both as a teacher and as a superintendent and found it beneficial

“I am thankful and grateful to God to have had the opportunity to open that door,” Farris said. “However the challenge continues for people of color to break that education leadership glass ceiling especially in Kentucky because we are not a very diverse state.”

She said she’s had the opportunity to work with some exceptional Black educators who would be excellent in district leadership roles and the superintendency.

“The challenge remains, how do we provide them the equal opportunity to serve in those roles?,” Farris said.