Marcus Robinson is preparing for his first day as superintendent of the Normandy Schools Collaborative on May 1 with another month of instruction still on the calendar for the semester. But he is already thinking about welcoming students back after the summer when they will not have seen the inside of a school for more than four months.
“It’s not just an instructional challenge, there are emotional growth challenges,” Robinson said. “Many of our kids depend on their schools for regular food, emotional support, access to broader co-curricular activities like sports and the arts. Most of our kids need schools in important ways that are not just reading, writing and doing math.”
Robinson himself learned to read, write and do math at McKinley Elementary in the district, though he would change schools six times by the 6th grade and graduate from Pattonville High School.
“I developed my first confidence in my ability to learn in the Normandy School District,” he said. “I went all the way to the Ivy League with the foundation I got in Normandy.”
He is completing his doctorate in Educational Leadership at Columbia University, an Ivy League school where he earned a master’s degree in Educational Administration. He also has a graduate degree in the field from Butler University and a bachelor’s degree in English from DePauw University.
Butler and DePauw are in or near Indianapolis, where he had the bulk of his work experience in educational administration. He was chancellor and CEO for the Tindley Accelerated Schools, a charter school network in Indianapolis. But he got his start in teaching at Jennings Junior High School and has kept an eye on that district as two dynamic superintendents – Tiffany Anderson and Art McCoy – transformed it.
Normandy and Jennings are comparable districts, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Normandy is a little larger (3,233 students compared to 2,511) and poorer (42.5% of families under the federal poverty line compared to 30.6%), while Jennings has a slightly higher percentage of black students (90% compared to 83%). But what is working in one district should work in the other.
“Dr. Anderson understands that we will never have better outcomes for kids in urban areas unless we lift our expectations,” Robinson said. “She implemented an early college program and articulated it down through junior high, and that made a difference, not just in graduating from high school but moving beyond.”
When Anderson left Jennings to lead Topeka Public Schools, McCoy succeeded her.
“Dr. McCoy understands that you can’t afford to just be a school,” Robinson said. “You have to leverage a continuum of community partnerships to access clothing, housing, healthcare. What we call ‘wraparound’ services, in this setting, has to be integrated in how we do school – not a referral.”
Robinson said he will “pick up the baton” on both approaches: elevating expectations with a more rigorous curriculum and integrating more community services inside the schools.
For supportive community services, he inherits from his predecessor, Superintendent Charles J. Pearson, a strong and willing partner in Beyond Housing with its 24:1 initiative, which is named for the 24 municipalities that send students to Normandy schools. Robinson already has started a conversation with Beyond Housing President and CEO Chris Krehmeyer.
“We can strengthen that partnership,” Robinson said. “We can become thought partners in how we integrate our work even better, in how our systems talk to each other. Our teachers should have the same information as their support staff. We should all be singing from the same hymnal and playing from the same playbook with a deeper integration of analytics.”
Robinson comes by this wonk-speak honestly. He is reentering school buildings as an administrator from The Opportunity Trust, which he co-founded and where he served as the group’s executive in residence. He called it a “sector-level organizer” trying to work across public and private and district divisions in education. Before that he served in education philanthropy as CEO for the Memphis Education Fund.
The very good news for Normandy students, families and staff is that their new superintendent has an intimate working knowledge in both funding public school districts and making more money pay off in better-trained staff and improved student outcomes.
First, of course, he has to get to know everyone – from a safe social distance during a pandemic.
“It will be complicated to build relationships at a distance when we really don’t know when we’ll be able to pull anyone back together,” he said. “We’ll have to do staff meetings by Zoom and invite the community into virtual town halls to present their ideas and have their voice and vision included.”
Pearson, who exited retirement to serve as superintendent, will retire again, but he will stay on board until June 30 to help support the transition.
“The door is open,” Robinson said. “We welcome any and all input. We need all hands on deck to build a movement.”
