Published Online: September 15, 2015
Published in Print: September 16, 2015, as Ferguson's New Schools Chief Outlines Plans
Q&A: Ferguson's New Schools Chief Shares Agenda for Change
New Ferguson Superintendent Takes On Schooling Inequities
By Denisa R. Superville
Joseph Davis grew up in rural North Carolina and was part of the first generation
in his family to attend college. On July 1, he became the superintendent of the
11,200­student Ferguson­Florissant school district, the second African­American in the district’s
history to hold that position.
A year after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an 18­year­old black man, by a white police
officer touched off protests that echoed nationwide, Davis spoke with Education Week Staff
Writer Denisa R. Superville about his still­developing plans to address inequity and bias in the
district.
A condensed version follows.
Since the Michael Brown shooting, there has been this national conversation about race,
policing, bias, inequity, and America’s unfinished work dealing with race. What role do
you see the district playing in this conversation, and what are your plans as the
superintendent to address such issues?
The school has a huge part in this national conversation about race, largely because of the
students. They will be the future.
One of the things I think is important is that students need to become self­advocates. They have
so much to say, and can really be influential to some of the students who are hard to reach. The
school’s role is to give voice to the kids.
In education, my philosophy has been around having great principals in schools. If you have
great principals, who are learners themselves, and great
teachers in the classrooms—that’s the recipe for success.
I think the gap we have in this world largely comes from
lack of education. We have some of the ills in society
because kids aren’t getting the kind of education they
need. I am able to walk in the life I live because of my
education. So how do we get more kids not just getting
a high school diploma, but getting a great education so
that they can have the ticket to the next station in life? I
see my role as superintendent [as] leading that
conversation, leading the students and the adults,
bringing them together so that they know that [they]
really do matter.
What concrete steps have you taken or what action
plans do you have to address inequities?
Joseph Davis, the new superintendent of the
Ferguson­Florissant school district, visits a social
studies class at McCluer High School in Florissant.
Davis has plans to address the educational
disparities that fed into the protests that ignited last
year after a white police officer shot and killed a
black teenager.
—Sid Hastings for Education Week
We are going to be doing an equity audit in our district. One of the things that I’m interested in
learning is the kind of education that [goes to the] kids who need it most. What kind of
education are they getting? Do they have the kinds of teachers in front of them on a daily basis
that will fill the gaps? I want to see more students of all races, and, especially, women, in
science ... [and] more diversity in our higher­level classes.
It shouldn’t be that kids who come from homes that are poor or [are] first­generation college
don’t get access to the kinds of courses that propel them to a bright future or many options.
Doing an equity audit will unfold who are the teachers in front of the students who need it most,
and how do we make sure that our kids who are underperforming or our kids who are
underachieving—because we have a lot of underachievers—are in the kinds of courses that will
give them more options when they graduate. [We are] not just looking at students, but looking
at teachers, looking at our community, [and] the kinds of resources that are available in our
community.
I’ve met some great people here, but some of these
things that are available to this side of the community
may not necessarily be available over here. The audit
will give us some of that data to be able to engage,
not just the people in the school district, but the
community at large.
Complete Series: Beyond Bias
I want to circle back to the discipline rate. Is that
something you are still reviewing?
It will be part of our equity audit. I want us to be
This yearlong series will examine efforts to
really clear about these inequities and the rate at
recognize and overcome discrimination in
which we suspend black boys especially—more than
schools. View the complete series.
any other group. It’s not that it’s bad. It’s just, why?
And how do we fix it? How do we fix the why? Maybe it’s that we train our young men
differently on some ways of acting in school. How do we give them the tools they need to be
more successful in school? Because when you look at any school district across this country, the
group that’s at the bottom is always black males.
I think we have to begin having conversations about teachers. It’s just that we have to bridge
the gap between what’s going on at home and what’s going on at school. Teachers need to
understand what kids of poverty go through, and kids in poverty need to know how to switch
codes when they come to school.
How will [your background] inform what you do here?
Growing up in rural North Carolina, it was just stark in terms of the communities. The black
community was here; the white community was here. My grandmother used to clean up people’s
houses during the day in the white community, then she worked a second­shift job at night. My
mother was a teenager when she had me.
I worked on a tobacco farm when I was younger ... for RELATED BLOG
two different farmers: One was black, one was white.
Most of the people around me had this mentality that
“this is as much as I can do, this is my life.” But my
grandmother, at a young age, she put books in my
hands, and I read about places I’d never been to
before. I wanted to do more than just read about it. I
wanted to see it.
She taught me some good lessons: That you can be
anybody you want to be. You go to school, you get the
education that you need, work hard, and things will pay off.
Visit this blog.
So for me, when I think about Michael Brown and what happened here, this is an opportunity for
me to come and show other children that look like me—or not—the world is yours.
Vol. 35, Issue 04, Page 14