Tahira DuPree Chase is superintendent of Westbury Union Free School District In New York and a member of the Institute for Education Innovation.
Rising through the ranks to a school leadership role can be an arduous journey for even the most qualified female educators. And once we reach our final destination, we’re not always welcomed. We often face challenges our male counterparts never experience.
Only 30% of superintendents in the U.S. are female, and less than 1.5% are Black women. Across the country, female school leaders are targeted by unwarranted criticism, experience significant gender pay gaps, and receive less coaching and support than their male colleagues. We’re also a powerful force to be reckoned with — fierce, committed and experienced — and when united, we are reshaping education to better fit our students’ diverse needs.
To break down barriers, female leaders must find their own tribe of like-minded women who sit in a similar seat, both in the education field and outside of it. There are formal and informal, national, regional, and local support systems composed of incredible individuals who understand one another’s struggles. In these groups, we talk about our experiences, share ideas and uplift our fellow women.
Here in Long Island’s Westbury Union Free School District, that collective commitment on a local level is powering our schools forward.
Westbury is an anomaly in K-12 education, with women in 93% of administrative roles. Under the leadership of “The Women of Westbury,” otherwise known as “WOW,” the district’s graduation rate has skyrocketed to 90% in a district where nearly 70% of children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. We have implemented top-tier security measures to better protect our students, improved facilities and operations, and done it all while successfully managing our schools’ finances.
Building this team of professionals and helping them thrive hasn’t been without its challenges, but by aligning our recruitment and retention strategies with three critical guidelines, we’ve reached this incredible time in Westbury’s history.
Hire with an open mind
At Westbury, we knew we needed to diversify our leadership, but the goal did not dictate our hiring process. We followed a traditional interview path, and it just so happened that female applicants rose to the top. The individuals we’ve hired are credentialed, well-versed and highly qualified. These aren’t so-called “DEI hires”; they are common-sense hires.
As a Black female leader in education, I’ve had my credentials questioned due to unconscious — and sometimes blatant — bias. I’m required to hold multiple advanced degrees and jump through endless hoops to be on the same playing field as many of my male counterparts in the hiring process. Based on my own experiences, I find it no surprise that female candidates often self-select from applying for management roles, because they believe men have an advantage or assume they lack the experience to meet every vague qualification listed in the job announcement.
It has been disheartening to watch other women struggle with similar challenges and become disenchanted with the entire education system. That’s why Westbury has strived to create a more equitable space where all individuals are encouraged to take the next step in their careers.
Encourage leaders to embrace their vulnerability
Superintendents are expected to shoulder a heavy load in their role, but for female leaders, the stress can feel overwhelming. Ninety-five percent of female administrators said they struggled to find a healthy work-life balance and were forced to make personal and professional sacrifices their male colleagues did not.
At Westbury, we stress the importance of self-care for all educators and administrators in the district by hosting wellness fairs and offering a mental health day focused solely on our team’s well-being. A board-certified psychotherapist is on staff to provide social-emotional support on both a group and individual level. In addition, we help school leaders develop their own professional support system that includes not just their fellow women, but male allies who have their best interests at heart.
We have found that when we provide educators the space to find that self-care sweet spot, they better maintain their focus, think more clearly, and allow ideas to flow. In turn, our schools become centers of innovation where we are improving our students' academic experience.
Help lift up the women behind you
As female school leaders, we have an obligation to empower the next generation of women. Becoming a mentor to future leaders and watching them thrive is one of the greatest honors we can experience in our leadership roles. When someone trusts me to be their sounding board and values my insights, it fuels me to keep moving forward.
All leaders in the district are automatically assigned a mentor to help guide them in their administrative path. I’ve also extended myself to be a secondary mentor if a leader requests extra support. Furthermore, Westbury encourages our leaders to consider roles with professional organizations, like the Institute for Education Innovation and AASA, to offer their expertise to female colleagues nationwide.
This professional community is incredibly powerful. Research has found that women who have a close inner circle of female colleagues are more likely to secure leadership positions, have higher pay and greater authority. In comparison, there is no link for men’s success in terms of the gender composition of their networks.
Over the years, the “Women of Westbury” have encountered their fair share of detours, roadblocks and bumps to get to a place where their talents and expertise are celebrated. Today, we’re not just a support system for each other, we are paving the way for the women coming up behind us to receive the roles they rightly deserve.
We recognized that diversifying our administration is one of the best things we can do for students, ensuring they see themselves reflected in their leaders and understand there is no limit to what they can achieve in their future careers.
