What one superintendent learned on a door-to-door tour of her district

'Social media has definitely changed the game in the past 30 years,' Superintendent Verletta White says.

When Verletta White became the superintendent of Roanoke City Public Schools at the height of the pandemic in 2020, she toured the community, neighborhood by neighborhood, to ask families what was—and wasn’t—working in the Virginia district.

“I wasn’t sure people would come out but they did,” says White, Virginia’s Superintendent of the Year. “One of the common pain points that I found throughout, from neighborhood to neighborhood, was this gap in our career and technical education programs. We have the majority of those programs on one side of the city and not necessarily on the other side, making access to those programs very difficult for our students.”

Roanoke City Public Schools’ new strategic plan—which teachers and the community helped administrators develop—includes an Equity in Action initiative to double CTE seat capacity in the coming 2023-24 school year. This will give all students access to CTE pathways such as culinary arts, welding, barbering, criminal justice and landscaping so they can graduate with both a diploma and a résumé, White points out.

Families in the community also told White they need more support in helping their children with homework, social-emotional skill development and mental health. White and her team responded by launching plans for a Community Empowerment Center that is set to open in 2025. The facility will be staffed with counselors and social workers and also feature a welcome center for immigrant families who need help registering children for school and navigating the system. The center will also provide parenting workshops and continuing education courses for adults who want to complete a GED.

“When you walk into the community empowerment and education center, you will be welcomed,” says White, who previously served as interim superintendent and consultant to the superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools. “We’re excited to not only provide supports that strengthen education for our students but strengthen education and support for their families, as well.”

‘Social media has changed the game’

A lot has changed—from technology to standards to the skills student need to learn—during White’s 30 years in education. One of the ways White and her educators are responding is to further personalize instruction so all students can develop 21st-century workforce skills at their own pace. “Social media has definitely changed the game in the past 30 years,” says the superintendent, who tweets regularly @VerlettaWhite. “Sometimes social media can be a blessing and a curse for school administrators, and for teachers and for students.”


Flexibility and non-negotiables

Superintendent Verletta White tells District Administration about her leadership philosophies


Social media is a powerful way to connect with and inform families but can also be a classroom distraction when “things are bubbling up between students.” “It requires us to talk about it, to be honest and open and transparent, and set boundaries and to put some guardrails around social media so students can focus, our teachers can teach and parents can stay informed.”

Roanoke City’s teachers are working to prevent those social media distractions and other disruptions by forming strong personal relationships to understand students’ strengths, weaknesses and family dynamics, among other factors. “Our teachers want to know their students—they make the effort to know what’s going on, what’s happening in their life, what they have going on that they may be able to help with,” she says.

What keeps Verletta White up at night

Like many superintendents across the country, White is concerned about the decreasing number of college students studying education. The system as a whole has to make K12 more attractive to young professionals. “No other profession would exist without educators,” White points out. “It’s making sure we are elevating the profession and showing not only the nobility but also the benefits of teaching and participating in the educational process.”


More from DA: 7 big districts land new leaders in an end-of-year hiring surge


She is working hard to retain Roanoake’s educators by conducting “stay interviews” to find out how she and her team can make teachers’ jobs more rewarding and efficient. She says is committed to giving teachers a role in district decision-making via a superintendent’s advisory council and other programs. The district also awarded teachers a 14% pay increase last year.

To help teachers strike a better work-life balance, the district is providing more mentoring and instructional leadership support in their classrooms. Roanoke’s educators are part of a regional network through which they share ideas with teachers in other districts. “There is no need for our teachers to reinvent the wheel,” she says. “We just have to make sure we are setting time and space and place for them to share ideas, and that keeps their workload down.”

Matt Zalaznick
Matt Zalaznick
Matt Zalaznick is a life-long journalist. Prior to writing for District Administration he worked in daily news all over the country, from the NYC suburbs to the Rocky Mountains, Silicon Valley and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He's also in a band.

Most Popular