Hoover schools superintendent finalist Wilkes touts proven leadership

Learning losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic represent the greatest student achievement crisis in this generation, and the Hoover school system needs an experienced leader to help make up lost ground, Randy Wilkes told the Hoover school board last week.

Wilkes, the superintendent for Phenix City Schools and one of five finalists to become Hoover’s next superintendent, believes he has the experience that Hoover needs because he has a track record of proven leadership.

He has been in education 32 years and done just about every job there is, from driving buses to working in a lunchroom, coaching girls and boys sports and serving as a teacher, principal, central office administrator and superintendent.

He has worked in both rural and urban school settings and worked in school systems with elected and appointed boards.

Since he took the helm in Phenix City in 2014, the school system’s state report card has gone from a D to an A — the first A the school system had ever received, he said. And in 2019 Phenix City was deemed the most improved school system in Alabama, he said. The percentage of students who were deemed ready for college or a career has increased from 24% to 90%, and the graduation rate grew from 51% to 97%, he said.

When he came to Phenix City, the district was losing students after fifth grade. He worked with others to help the district raise $1.1 million to fund technology to help teach science, technology, engineering and math in the intermediate school for grades 6 and 7, and the district added a “smart lab” in each elementary school, he said.

Enrollment in the intermediate school now has grown from 930 students to 1,150, he said.

Under his leadership, Phenix City has added numerous career tech offerings, including emergency medicine, advanced coding, sports medicine, engineering, TV production and, this coming year, mechatronics, he said.

The number of students taking Advanced Placement courses and passing AP tests has increased, and the district made electronic devices available to all students in less than five years, Wilkes said.

In 2020, one of the schools in Phenix City that has 99% of its students from low-income families was named a National Distinguished School after closing achievement gaps over two years, and three of Phenix City’s schools were in the top 25 most improved schools in Alabama over the past two years, he said.

HOOVER HAS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Hoover schools have an impressive track record in student achievement, but there is still room for improvement, and the district needs someone with experience in doing that, Wilkes said.

“The next steps we take as a school system are very important,” he said.

Summer enrichment and changes next year won’t be enough, Wilkes said. “It’s going to take two to three years to make up that difference,” he said. “You need a plan — a robust and rigorous plan of action, and please know that I have one.”

Wilkes shared two life experiences with the Hoover school board that he said had a profound impact on his beliefs regarding education.

First, in 1975, Hurricane Eloise destroyed his family’s home and all their belongings, he said. “Being homeless has brought me a better understanding of the struggles of others,” he said.

Also, when he was pursuing a master’s degree at Troy State University, he was struggling with a math theory class, and his professor told him he didn’t have a firm understanding of high school algebra, even though he was almost completely through graduate school.

“I vowed then to never let a student leave my classroom without a firm understanding of what was being taught,” he said. “I’ve taken that oath and applied it to an entire school system.”

'TRANSFORMATION LEADER'

Wilkes described himself as a “transformational leader” who thinks creatively and outside the box. He also believes it’s critical to develop good relationships in order to provide relevant and rigorous instruction for students.

“All relationships are built upon trust,” he said. “To be trusted, you’ve got to be authentic, you’ve got to be empathetic and you’ve got to be logical with all of your decisions.”

Wilkes said he also views the school board and superintendent as a team. If a school board and superintendent work well together, the school system will be successful, but if they don’t, the system won’t be successful, he said.

“If you tell me the what, it’s my job to do the how,” he said. Also, “in any relationship, communication is key. … I will, perhaps, overcommunicate.” He’d much rather have board members find out about things from him than off the street, he said.

Wilkes also said he is very familiar with what Hoover schools are facing as they try to get released from federal court supervision of desegregation issues because he dealt with those issues in Crenshaw County.

Also, Phenix City schools were released from federal supervision of desegregation issues during the tenure of the superintendent who preceded him, he said. But equity and diversity issues are important and don’t go away, even after a school system is released from a court case, he said. It’s more of a mindset than anything else, he said.

It’s very important to have a diverse group of teachers working with children, he said. Phenix City schools have the highest percentage of non-white teachers in east Alabama, with 30% of teachers being non-white, he said.

Phenix City, like Hoover, has been recruiting minority teachers, he said. The district also provides incentives for signing early to teach and allows any teacher who aspires to be an administrator to participate in a leadership academy led by him, he said.

It’s important for students to be exposed to teachers who look like them, Wilkes said. While the community of Phenix City is about 50% Black, about 60% of the students are Black, he said.

Phenix City makes sure there are no barriers that keep students from participating in extracurricular activities or gifted programs and monitors its discipline referrals for fairness, he said. The district celebrates diversity and teaches acceptance of all people, he said.

TOP PRIORITY

Wilkes said his top priority for Hoover City Schools would be to make sure the district is providing an effective and equitable education for all students. That begins with school safety, he said.

Also, the school system’s greatest potential for improvement is to help the school system prove that it’s providing an equitable education, he said. When all barriers are removed and every child has equal access to a world-class education, that will lead to great improvement in student achievement, he said.

He’s aware Hoover City Schools was recently ranked as the No. 4 school system in Alabama by niche.com, but “my desire is to be first in the state,” he said.

Also, Hoover is almost in the top 1% nationally, but he wants to get the district into that top 1% and to go on to become “national champions,” he said. “I think there’s that type of potential in this school system.”

School board President Deanna Bamman said she hopes the school board will select a superintendent by March 1 and have a new superintendent in place by April 1, if possible.

Videos of the interviews with the five finalists for superintendent are available on the Hoover City Schools website.

See summaries of the interviews with Michael Barber, Bart Reeves, Holly Sutherland and Autumm Jeter.