A Clear Vision, A Unified Community: Leading With Purpose at Scale | Transformational Educators Ep. 16

What if transforming a struggling school system starts with reconnecting people to purpose?

In this episode of Transformational Educators, host Dr. Matthew Flippen sits down with Dr. LaTonya Goffney, Superintendent of Aldine ISD in Houston, Texas, to unpack what it takes to lead large-scale school transformation. From her childhood shaped by poverty and powerful teachers, to leading 67,000 students in a 100% Title I district, Dr. Goffney shares how vision, belief, and courageous leadership can move a system from despair to momentum.

This is a masterclass in servant leadership, culture transformation, and raising expectations without losing compassion.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• “If you could read, you can go anywhere.”
• “I recognize I am living my ancestors dreams and it was education that made it possible.”
• “I know the power of people.”
• “Without a vision, the people perish.”
• “The opposite of hope is despair.”
• “The thing that I had to do was connect them to more than just a job in the paycheck, but the opportunity to make a difference.”
• “Where are we?”
• “We need some proof points.”
• “I would rather have one impactful, high performing principal and 30 mediocre teachers.”
• “How they come to us is no excuse for how they lead us.”

00:00:00 - Coming up...
00:01:09 - How education changed Dr. Goffney’s life trajectory
00:03:58 - Becoming a first time principal in an unacceptable rated campus
00:06:05 - Unifying staff around vision and belief
00:08:36 - Leading at scale in Aldine ISD
00:10:48 - Why hope is essential in school leadership
00:16:13 - Creating proof points through demonstration schools
00:18:01 - The power of one exceptional principal
00:22:33 - Leading as a mother of a child with special needs
00:26:32 - National leadership and what is next

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Transcript

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The thing that I had to do was connect them to more than just a job in the paycheck, but the opportunity to make a difference. That is Dr. LaTonya Gorski, superintendent of Aldine Estey in Houston, Texas, and one of the most respected voices in public education today. She believes that real transformation begins when people are connected to purpose, not positions. You can set up based on where are we today? This is what we are. Because you can't lead. We wouldn't think. And you can't lead with how you feel. Where are we? By naming where the system truly is. She creates alignment, trust and a foundation people can rally around at scale. We need at some point we've got to demonstrate what's possible gap of work by honest and inspiring so people are able to see that our kids can do that. Her leadership shows how visible proof turns belief into momentum and how demonstrating success changes what entire communities think is possible. By the end of this conversation, you'll learn how to communicate a clear vision, unify stakeholders across a large system, and turn purpose into sustained action that drives results. I'm Dr. Matthew Flippen. And this is transformational educators. This idea about communicating a unifying vision, leading with purpose and inspiring others to believe what they can accomplish. I know that links back to your own personal story, and I've love for you to just touch on that just for a second about what difference that made for you as a young teenager. You know, education changed your whole trajectory of my life. I was born into poverty. My mom was 18 years old when she gave birth to me. And I never knew my father. I ended up being saved from a life of lots of abuse and every kind of abuse that you can imagine. And fifth grade, I do what my grandmother and my grandmother, we talk. I call her big mama as she worked as a housekeeper for a local white family and my grandpa he mo lots and collected cans and dumpster diving. When I moved to my grandparents. So it actually changed my life because when I went to school I had to focus on school and I was very blessed with the best teachers. And I was raised in the country called Spring, Texas population. I was 697. And while I may have been poor, I had access to the best teachers and they saw something in me that I didn't even recognize, because in my family, there's lots of poverty. There weren't a lot of hopes, dreams and aspirations for anything different. My grandmother had a fifth grade education. My grandpa had a third grade education, and my grandpa was a tiny. If you could read, you can go anywhere. And that stuck with me. So when I went to school, I put my past behind me and all of the challenges and even my present behind me as far as having limitations, as far as poverty. And I went to school like my life depended on it because my uncle said, and you can read, you can go anywhere. And I stated earlier it was teachers that truly saw something in me and changed the whole trajectory of my life. And that is a gift that I don't take for granted. I'm truly thankful to God for giving me great teachers and giving me opportunities to be able to live the life which, again, my parents and my grandparents didn't know how to put it into words, how strange going to aspirations. But I recognize I am living my ancestors dreams. And it was education that made it possible. So beautiful. Such a beautiful story. And I can only imagine as the children in the district you serve now and in others that you've been in that have similar backgrounds and hearts that are facing you are an example of when you put your energy in the right place in education, and you've got mentors and educators around you supporting you and cheering for you. Your past doesn't define you. That's absolutely true. And I think that statement is not only true about individual children, but it's also true about school systems and communities that as well. So let's fast forward to your first principal ship. Tell us a little bit about what were the expectations like when you arrived and then what was the vision that you cast to move that? I look back in my hometown and I get emotional because it was sweet in so many ways. Everybody got along. We were helpers, one to another, and it was just a sweet, sweet community. And so I remember again, being a first generation college student, I was getting to live my dream, to be a teacher or a professional. And so that was really exciting for me. And then to get the opportunity to be a principal, I never even imagined that it was at all my vision board. But when I got the opportunity, what I realized is to whom much is given, much is required. My grandmother would always emphasize, and so I recognized that it that my expectations were much bigger than the classroom and which I had had positive impact. It was grateful for that success and I remember interviewing with the superintendent, assuring him that I was going to work hard. I didn't know what that work was look like because, you know, you you actually walk with my faith. And so long story short, and I'll be honest and transparent, I'd only taught for three years that only did AP for two years. And I just had opportunity because I was at a small town and had a huge opportunity. And so long story short, when I went into to the intermediate campus, I'll never forget there was no book that really told you what to do when you start teaching. You had break down tools for teaching. You have Harry Walls, but there's no book for your first principal ship. And, you know, we have taught with Oprah and others that have done some amazing work in your work as well. But back then that wasn't a book. But I knew that with the accountability of the campus, it was rated unacceptable. That had been rated unacceptable for a couple years and had lost 22 staff members out of 34. It was a snap that was full of possibility, but lacked the hope and the belief that things could be any different because of the historical underperformance and so long story short, like I said, I didn't have a book to read, but the one thing I've always been blessed with is I know the power of people and what you began with. My grandmother was say that what was going to be their strength. And so I had to unify the people who were remaining around the fact that things could be better and that we could provide a better learning experience for our students. And so I just remember meeting with the team leaders at the time and they talked about how the morale was low. They talked about how discipline was up. They talked about all these different things that were challenges back then. And I remember how we talked about how we were going to change it, you know, so casting a vision of what's possible. And again, I use a lot of quotes from my grandmother and I'll probably resonate with you. But, you know, without a vision, the people perish. We have to have a vision and a collective vision that we can work towards. And I also remember because, you know, I'm not all of this for this, but I established it at the beginning. We were trying to come up with some common language, a common framework for how we're going to engage and work with people. And I was so excited that my first principal step was also during a time when our district adopted capturing kids hearts. The idea of your father. Long story short, we had our social contract on the wall. We had all of these different things we'd all gone through to training, and it was trying to truly change how I saw myself as a leader and how we engage people and provide different tools and resources. Why addressing behavior that may be off spending the summer, spending the time, getting people trained up, building trust, casting a vision for our parents, for our teachers. And it's day one. So it's so gap and so bad. And I'll never forget we had every while scrub had removed dirty carpet had the teacher's lounge shining. Like when the kids walk in, we make sure it felt different from anything that they had experienced for the last couple of years. So the teachers felt that the students felt it, and then we were able to work towards manifesting that vision of a better educational experience for the kids, which are outstanding. So fast forward, I know you were there two, three years, is that right? Yes, literally we were improving academic outcomes, but more important, improving the belief that our kids could do the work and perform the way we wanted them to perform. And so you saw the results of that in a relatively short period of time. Yes, we did. So now let's talk about how that applies to all the. Right. I can't remember the exact what Aldine was going through when you were the superintendent, but were there some parallels between those two experiences? Think that I say all the time is that leadership matters. I share with my mentees and others that your leadership as a campus principal like leadership, is a transferable skill. There were absolute some of the same things I remember in 2018 when I arrived and all of you going through the interview process and looked at the data. And of course there was some challenges when we look at the community that I get to serve, that's nearly 100% black, brown and students of poverty 100%. Title one Schools were located in the North Side of Houston in our city, and so there were lots of challenges. When I was coming in, we saw the data, the literacy data and all of the academic data, but also going through some financial challenges. So in addition to academic challenges, there was a deficit budget and had released like 300 employees and we opening six campuses. So I had some challenges because of the announcement about leaders leaving. There was low morale that was fractured trust. And you could just tell that this district that used to be a shining example of what was possible for black, brown and students of poverty had gone awry. That's like you're experiencing cold spring but amped up maybe 100 fold. AU amped up 100. So you know, again because it was 400 and more student came here to a 67,000 students and so it was a huge aha but a leadership is a transferable skill. You know, low performance can become part of your identity. You don't even realize that you've set low expectations for yourself. For those around you, because it's just the way it is. So I can imagine, as you're face of those challenges, when you first arrive in Aldine and you're thinking, wow, we've got to raise expectations, but we've got a lot of things that we've got to address. Walk me through kind of how you gathered stakeholders to capture this vision that I know you had. You walk in there with a vision as you get everyone else on board. Oh, gosh, it did not happen in one meeting. But the one thing I know for sure is you have to lead with hope. And I have heard colleagues and it's probably been written as a quote, that hope is not strategy. But what I can tell you, as someone who lived with that hope in growing up in poverty, the opposite of hope is despair. When you have despair, you have low expectations. You don't even know what's even possible, and you don't even know that you're living in this deficit kind of mindset. Long story short, it became about we have to connect our employees. When you think about the district where I serve now 100% Title one, as I stated, our employees, our teachers, they were working really hard. And most of them, nearly 100% of our employees, especially our teachers, drop in to all. So they go to their their personal children, go to school in the suburbs, and then our zero employees, about 50% of them live. But the majority of our 9000 employees don't live in building. The thing that I had to do was connect them to more than just a job in the paycheck. But the opportunity to make a difference. So literally, I asked them about their hopes and dreams and aspirations for their own children. So what are your hopes, dreams and aspirations for your own children? Because their children don't go to school for the most part. And so when they thought about what they wanted for their own children and then connected that to what, 67,000 black brown us in poverty in our district deserve, don't they deserve exactly what you want for your own children? So if you wouldn't accept this for your own children, we're not going to accept it for the children that we're getting paid to, to serve and so we have to have a belief, not in lip service, that all kids can learn. We got to believe that they can absolutely learn and that we have the power that we have the ability to ensure that they are learning. And so that took a huge push and a mind shift with principals who had to understand and know their data. When I went into Spring Intermediate, my first principal shop, I had to set a baseline and that's the same thing I did here in all the each and every campus that observed in between our district officer, you can set a baseline Where are we today? This is what we are that you can't lead with. Wouldn't think what you may have heard and you can't lead with how you feel. Where are we? And then you've got to think about what? Where should we be? What would you want us to be if it were your kids? Then how do we get that? Those kinds of plans always face resistance. So going back to Cold Spring Intermediate, where did the biggest source of resistance come from and how did you win that over? You know, I believe initially the biggest resistance came from teachers who thought that it was too hard or too much or our kids couldn't do it and just totally impacted by their belief that our kids just can't do this. I remember having a conversation with a teacher and she was like these kids and that wasn't a conversation that went well until spring. The demographics were totally different, but because we were in rural Cold Spring, Texas, as I stated earlier, a population of 697, these are big city kids. That was everybody has their own context, but that was a limitation based off the fact that these are just good country kids and they can't do this. I remember we switched math programs and it was a pretty rigorous math program. And this is too hard. That was a tough one. But I'm telling you, the the challenge and you have your own kids as well. The one way that I've always been able to get people to think differently or see differently is a share. Well, what would you want for your own child? And typically that gets them to thinking, well, I want my own child to have access to this rigorous instruction, so prepare them to have success in life, to push it. So we are able to kind of get through some of that by just asking what would you want for your own child? And how can we make sure that this child gets the education that they deserve? We got to push with that. I know there's some deficits, but we got to push in support. We got to have those high expectations and support as so true. One of the quotes my father said to me probably daily the whole time I was Girl, which is if you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And you know, that's such an important message because we do get to choose. And of course, there's lots of research that talks about self-fulfilling prophecy and expectations and all that. So apply that to them when you go from Cold Springs Intermediate to Aldine, I would imagine there was that also saying it was absolutely the same. And so that the kids get hurt. That hurts me so much when somebody says these things. I'm like, First of all, they're our kids. Listen. And one thing that's great, they won with the leadership team and teachers and everyone. We talk about what we believe in all day. And I did it when I was I became superintendent in Cold Spring. I became superintendent in Lufkin before getting to all Aldine. And so between everything that I learned as a first time, first year principal in and cold spring to put in an all day there's probably about 15 years. Some things never change. And I think that people you have to have some proof points for belief. And so when you're surrounded by mediocrity or surrounded where nobody is doing it and the ones who are doing it at the choice schools now, that's because now those kids can do it, but these kids can't. And so we needed some proof points. And so while I'm passing the vision with the whole staff and all the new superintendent, so I'm casting a vision and you have to lead a little differently when you have a complex system. I need more proof points. At that point, we didn't have a single A-rated elementary school and most of our A and B schools were all the choice schools that people choice into education choices. And that means you would probably have some parents with high expectations or you have you're just your go getter anyway. And then you you have permission to do innovation. I would build that evidence. Yes. And that's what I want. I think it is right. We're going to raise expectations. Right? Exactly. And so I told the team, I and Chelsea, we've got to demonstrate what's possible again for black brown of students of poverty. We need some proof points quick. We did turn around campuses and guess what? The number one killer that we had in our turnaround plan, and I believe in it, is an exceptional principal. It got to be an exceptional principal. I'll never forget I was interviewing for a superintendent here in Aldine, and I actually said it too when I interviewed in Lufkin. It's sort of members are listening. They'll remember as part of my response, I asked, Would you rather have one amazing principal and a half of one in principal and 30 ineffective teachers? Or would you rather have one ineffective principal and 30 have performance teachers? And we started some conversations around that. And it's my belief and again, your audience may not believe you might not even support what I'm about to say, but I would rather have one impactful, high performing principal and 30 mediocre teachers. Because what I know for sure is that one high impact top performing principal is going to raise the level of their teaching. But if you have an ineffective principal, your high performing teacher is potentially their motivation could be diminished. You know, when they do the exit surveys about why people are leaving education, then they talk about culture as their number one. Well, who sets culture? The campus leader, we really should say campus leadership is the number one reason that teachers leave. And so I 100% support one effective leader. First of all, if he's effective, those teachers aren't going to stay mediocre for long. Not they're not. And they're going to be. I remember, be inspired and they're going to you know, and we have a leadership definition in Albany that we said we launched our strategic plan and we went and also lost the leadership definition and talked about in every single leader. We want to make sure that we're connecting and we want to make sure that we're inspiring. And of course we want to have impact. And so part of that connecting is building those relationships. You've got to be visible and literally you've got to do the hard work. If you're not a people person, you've got to love people, you know, because education is a business. If you want to do more, they're willing to do more for people who appreciate their work, who they have a relationship with, who they feel a deep connection with. And so those are the kind of principles that we look for, for transformation. Oh, true. I mean, I don't even like calling administration administration. I think that it boldly sets the wrong expectation because that because we're leading people so that you are looking for some proof points, you needed some early and you found the leader. We found the leaders. And so we took two campuses and they came what was called a demonstration schools, and we call it demonstrating what's possible. And within a year they were out. These were the lowest performing schools and the district, the lowest elementary, not, I guess, in a district of what some of the lowest performing in the state of Texas. And so we lodged what's called accelerated campus excellence. And one of the pillars is the campus leadership. And of course, we get high performing teachers as well, and we extend the school day and did some other things. And so those campuses and be campuses, so people were able to see that our kids can do that. They can see what's fast. And you did that without firing all the children with that. Fine. Now the children you know, I have a superintendent. He said that's just a true sometimes, you know, people think that our peers are saying to us, you know, that you're setting that they're sitting at the very best that they have as the children. So by the children to think as kids. But we were able to be strategic about and the principal and it's people on the campus. Well I've had the opportunity to visit with probably ten or 15 of your campus principals just on the last couple of years. And first of all, they love you and I've also noticed that they have a similar profile in that they really deeply care about people and they have high expectations. There's also a little bit, I would say, of a freedom to innovate, that they know where the guardrails are and they're enthusiastic about what's possible. I know that comes straight from you. You've got so much confidence it's spilling over, filling up their go. We know what I think is just sharing the fact that we can't have any excuses about what's past. We can't to your point earlier, we can't blame the kids for so many schools, districts, even maybe even policy makers. We blame the kids or we blame the demographics or we blame I mean, we have some kids who are born into you know, they're not anywhere in the ballpark, nowhere near third base, second base, first base. And, you know, I was one of those kids as well. So I take it I say this with absolute understanding of some of the challenges smart kids come to school with. However, how they come to us is no excuse for how they lead us. And so we've got to have the belief in the fact that every kid deserves a great education and that great education includes pushing them to achieve at higher levels. And so that's one thing that we talk about. And you alluded to the fact that we can't have excuses for the kids that we serve, the people I teach in all day. And if you're going to lead in all things, then you have to have that type of mentality and that belief in what's possible. What a great education. Yes, I know for you that also extends to children with special challenges. I think I've even seen a video of you dancing on stage at a graduation with a young man. Yes, that was hard because my firstborn son was born with chromosome deletion y p 36. And so in every district that I served in, he was perhaps the lowest performing kid in the district for sure. When I was in Cold Spring and we had 1700 kids, he was the lowest performing something a special needs can, couldn't sit up, couldn't use the restroom, couldn't do anything nonverbal, all the things. He was profoundly disabled, but I went to let in 8600 kids. Same thing. He was perhaps the the lowest performing kid. And even when we came to all in, I thought we would see more kids who look like him. And there were only a few. And but he was still perhaps one of the lowest performing kids. So what I love about education and love about leaders, whether it was my special needs child or my child, they both got great educations. And so I thought about losing my son. In 2019, he died from some respiratory complications. The best part of remembering him was remembering the fact that he had great educators his entire career and that even though I was serving in his very visible role as superintendent, I was able to see firsthand the quality of education for some of our most neediest children that we serve in public education. So I have a great deal of respect and admiration for special education, special educators all across our state and country and what you saw, my son didn't get to graduate because, again, he was scheduled to graduate in 2019. He could speak in my child with nonverbal. And so joy. And he was an honorary superintendent, ambassador. Anytime I visit Eisenhower High School, he would greet me and he said he was a little bit more verbal and he wanted to come take a picture at the integration. And his mom asked if he could come on stage. I brought him back on stage again and he just started playing the dirty dancing. I've had the time of my life, but I've never felt this way before. I remember that the name of the song. But long story short, I'm in tears and we're dancing and he will dance it. And I remember my son and he doesn't know it. But my point and thank you for allowing me a moment to kind of capture this that I've never talked about. But that's the beauty of public school. That's the beauty of what's possible when you have great leaders who have great teachers is that you can take a child with most needs who are profoundly disabled all the way up to the most gifted children that we have. Some of our kids with autism, some of our kids who are just amazingly gifted. And as educators, we get an opportunity to make sure they get the best education they deserve so they can graduate and just have choices and opportunities in life. Yes, so true. It is one of these beautiful gifts that education, the teachers and schools have to serve families that a lot of times are struggling because of challenges that children face and challenges your children face can be a huge spectrum. But, you know, there is this idea that my child is known and loved and encouraged to be the best version of themselves that allow someone to feel valued and supported and encouraged. You know, when we're together on a journey, it doesn't seem as hard, but we've had a great time talking about vision and, you know, and this concept of casting a vision, having expectations, having a strategic plan to find those points, to celebrate and prove proof points, I think, is what you call them really is a great example. And I think not only can we do that district level, but at the campus level and just continue to say, hey, no excuses, let's work on this together, are all children what you want for your own children? You should want for all children. Sir, those are just an incredible. I'd love for people to continue to follow you. I know you are now have now been named the president of the American soldiers, school administrators. And the fact that I got an hour with you today, so I'm president elect now. I'll be president in July. So I have a lot more. Okay. Well, six months to warm up. Yeah, that's it as well. And I love that because your example of leadership is one that I hope people really do follow along. I mean, it's such a gift to be an administrator in your campus because they get to see you up close and personal. I know it takes a lot of energy for you to go outside the district and speak and all the things you're involved with. But I just continue to pray that God gives you the strength to continue to persevere. I know it's not all great, and I'm sure you've still got some adversaries, you know, trying to criticize the wonderful work that you and your team are doing. So if our listeners want to follow along with you, what's the best way to do that? Well, I love ICS, so I'm on XDR golf knee. And so that's perhaps the best way I'm on the other social media outlets. But X and LinkedIn, I'm doing a little bit more LinkedIn trying to migrate over from LinkedIn because it's a lot more opportunities to engage in thought leadership excuse to have a lot more, you know, that's how I started. I love following my, you know, your dad and other great thought leaders and then they change the algorithm. And so that's not what I see as I'm migrating to LinkedIn. So that's the long I have about that. And I love learning from those who are doing the work and is excited about leadership in this moment in time. Is this natural? And I know at some point I hope that you will write more than one book about your journey, because I know it would be an encouragement as well. So if you found today's episode valuable, which I sure did, please share it with a colleague who would benefit. Follow the podcast so you never miss an episode and until next time keep leading with purpose and transforming schools into places where everyone thrives. If today's conversation gave you fresh insight or inspired you to lead with purpose, please follow the show and tell a friend it helps us reach more educators who want to make a difference for more stories, resources and tools to support your leadership journey, visit Graceland. Edu Until next time, keep leading with courage and care.