SMSD’s new superintendent’s history with the district made her a unique and qualified candidate

SMSD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Michelle Hubbard will succeed Dr. Mike Fulton as the district’s new superintendent on July 1. 

As a mother of three Northwest alumni and two Northwest seniors, Hubbard has been a SMSD parent for the last 17 years and an employee in the district for the last six. Since SMSD spreads across 14 different cities, Hubbard feels her previous involvement in the district gives her a headstart in familiarizing herself with the multitude of different cultures and communities surrounding the district’s feeding patterns and schools. 

“[It’s] quite an undertaking if you’re coming in from the outside and know that each feeder pattern brings something very different,” Hubbard said. “The Lancer Day Parade looks very different [from] the Shawnee Mission South homecoming parade, so just knowing those cultures and knowing those feeder patterns, I don’t have to take time to learn that, I can hit the ground running knowing the culture.” 

Hubbard believes understanding the community and building relationships within the SMSD community is of high importance. She also believes that while academic achievement is a top priority, it cannot be accomplished without teachers and students forming meaningful relationships.  

“The heart of any school improvement is around the people,” Hubbard said. “Programs don’t save kids, programs don’t improve kids. New ideas and innovations don’t improve kids. It’s the people. There are teachers all the way back to your elementary school that you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, they made me who I am today.’” 

While the past two superintendents were hires from outside the district, the Board of Education chose to narrow this year’s superintendent search to only current SMSD employees. According to Board of Education President Heather Ousley, this provided a reliable pool of potential candidates, as superintendent positions are open across the nation due to COVID-19 and national superintendent applicants are limited. 

Additionally, this ensured future focus on the district’s 2019-2024 Strategic Plan — a plan Hubbard was a co-leader in creating that outlines objectives and goals for the district, including encouraging students to learn resilience and competence. The plan is currently on year three of five and it works to lead students to future success in college and careers. 

“[The strategic plan is] some accountability at that decision making level, at the district level,” National Education Association President and East teacher Linda Sieck said. “[It makes us ask,] ‘Hey, are we just changing for change sake or are we making this change because it’ll be more impactful or help us meet the goals that the strategic plan has laid out for us?’”

Though the SMSD Watchdogs’ Twitter account — a profile that has “kept an eye” on the district since 2016 — expressed worry that an inside hire would hinder the district’s ability to move forward with new ideas, Sieck explains that previous superintendents have implemented multiple new initiatives that created a “whiplash” of changes for teachers. Sticking to the current strategic plan provides an opportunity for a stable transition between superintendents. 

According to Sieck and Hubbard, a pressing issue that needs to be discussed and solved is the long-term effects of the pandemic on academic achievement and the social and emotional health of students. 

On March 2, the new SMSD CARES team — named after the CARES funds designated for COVID-19 relief — made up of volunteer teachers and staff that Hubbard facilitates met for the first time to discuss developing ways to support students academically, socially and emotionally using the $11 million in CARES funds the district has received from the U.S government. 

“[Dr. Hubbard] is beginning to do the work to create a three-year plan to look at [that] data and put tutoring, extra learning and support systems in place to personalize instruction for students to meet them where they’re at and to get them caught up,” Ousley said. “We do not want our students to be in a situation where they have missed out on reaching their full potential because of a global pandemic.” 

SMSD is analyzing student grades to understand which classes and subjects most students are struggling in to understand where gaps are forming in student success. For example, after analyzing the number of As and Bs and of Ds and Fs, more gaps have been found in mathematics than in English Language Arts. Data is continuing to be collected as standardized tests are scheduled, including the Kansas State Assessment which will be given some time before the end of April.

Possible forms of student support could include summer or after school programs or hiring additional teachers. The plan the CARES team creates will be presented to the Board of Education in April. 

“I don’t know what that team is going to come up with. I think it’s highly likely some stuff around credit recovery, but tutoring is just an example,” Hubbard said. “That’s why we have teachers that are in schools every day [on the CARES team] because they really are the experts and kind of the boots on the ground.”

In addition to Hubbard’s work with the CARES team, she was a member of the team that was organized to create SMSD’s online principal and support staff. Hubbard held the priority role in the creation of the district’s online learning model and produced two master schedules for secondary schools. 

According to the Shawnee Mission Post, Hubbard made inappropriate comments about the different learning models in a Snapchat video last year, Ousley assures that she feels that Hubbard wasn’t attempting to make virtual learning out as a lesser option or undermine her own work. Ousley was more so impressed and appreciative of Hubbard’s willingness to take responsibility and apologize. 

“I think that it is a rare circumstance when you can have someone in leadership who was willing to say, ‘This was not this was not what I intended, I’m going to own it and I’m going to apologize,’” Ousley said.

Ousley explained that the apology wasn’t something that was asked of Hubbard, but something she volunteered to do herself and explained that she felt it was a testament to Hubbard’s ability to handle negative attention on social media. 

“I think that Dr. Hubbard has a strength of character and an indomitable will and that if anyone can lead this district, Dr. Hubbard absolutely has a wonderful opportunity to do so,” Ousley said.