He鈥檚 been on the job for a week, but he鈥檚 back in a familiar building. Prince George’s Co. public schools’ interim superintendent Shawn Joseph said his experience within the school system provides him some of the insight he needs to lead 鈥� even without a long-term commitment.
Joseph said his return to the school system came fast 鈥� he was named interim superintendent the same week he was first approached by the new county leadership.
鈥淚 just feel like the stars are aligned for us to really do some good things,鈥� said Joseph during a sit-down with WTOP. 鈥淎nd so I thought, ‘It’s now or never.’鈥�
There 鈥渨asn’t a whole lot of time to think,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t was just, 鈥楢re you gonna, or not?鈥� And, yeah, I mean, I prayed on it and felt like, ‘What do you have to lose?’鈥�
Joseph’s initial priorities include a focus on school safety, staffing, transportation, and of course, academics. In some ways, the school system itself can do things to promote those improvements. But it also involves better and more collaboration with parents, which is also one of his stated goals.
鈥淭here’s been research for over 60 years now that talks about the fact that the schools that get results do a couple (of) things,” he said. “They have a safe environment. They’re safe.”
鈥淭he principal is clear about the instructional priority, and the staff are clear about the instructional priority,” he added. “And they work toward ensuring students meet standards. They’re schools that get parents actively engaged. We shouldn’t expect parents to teach their kids how to read, but we should expect parents to be able to address their kids if they’re coming in (and) tearing the school up, if they are coming in (and) not doing their homework, if they’re not eating, or are causing problems. We should expect parents to be partners.鈥�
Knowing he鈥檚 under contract for one year, Joseph said he plans to search for some early wins to build confidence in the community.
鈥淲e’ve got to show this community that we can focus on something, and make it dramatically better and get some quick wins in the short term,鈥� he explained. 鈥淲e’re going to focus on safety. We’re going to focus on staffing. We’re going to focus on the transportation work. We’re going to focus on truancy. We’ve got to look at our academics.”
鈥淚n a year, if people feel like there are things that we can definitely say were better than they were a year ago, I define that as successful,鈥� he added. 鈥淲ill we get our bus driver (job vacancy) rate to zero, and we have every bus route covered and there’s just no problems in buses and, 鈥極h my God, for the first time, everything is perfect?鈥� Probably not. But can we measure whether it was better than last year? Yeah, that could be measured. And my goal is to just be clear about where it was last year and make sure we’re better this year.鈥�
At the same time, Joseph believes the school system hasn鈥檛 done a good job of dismantling the narrative that things are bad in the county either. In his mind, perception doesn鈥檛 meet reality.
鈥淎frican American students in Prince George’s County do better than most African American students in the nation. I mean, it’s a fact, but it’s a fact that’s a little-known fact,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’ve got thousands of kids that go off to some of America’s best universities. We’ve got thousands of kids that go into the military and do great service, or go into the police force or go into some other service job, like becoming a firefighter. But we don’t tell those stories enough.鈥�
Last week Joseph declined to say if he was a candidate for the full-time gig. He鈥檚 under contract for just one year, but if it鈥檚 hard to believe someone planning to be so aggressive on the job is also indifferent about staying here long-term, he offered more clarification on that too. He compared it to being in the “dating stage” of the job right now, before one would buy an engagement ring.
鈥淚’m definitely a suitor, well-prepared, and I’m being very intentional and strategic about the work,鈥� Joseph explained. 鈥淏ut I think by focusing on the interim superintendent job, and just locking myself in the work, it keeps me from the politics and making political decisions.鈥�
And if he feels like it鈥檚 not working out the way he hopes, or that there鈥檚 too much working against him here, he said his old job is waiting for him.
鈥淭he mission is to make sure the 130,000 children here get quality by design, and if, in doing that, it angers somebody, and playing politics, then I go back to my old job 鈥� which is there to go back to,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e try to teach children and we encourage people that you should be prepared to have multiple opportunities to live out your wildest dreams and do whatever you want to do, but you shouldn’t be all-or-nothing. And so that’s how I live my life.鈥�
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