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After Minerva Garcia-Sanchez was approved by a 7-0 vote by the DeKalb District 428 School Board on Tuesday night, the incoming superintendent said she was elated to be headed to the district.
Garcia-Sanchez currently serves as the Pilsen/Little Village chief of schools, a position she has held since 2015 and will begin her position July 1.
Garcia-Sanchez sat down with the Daily Chronicle for an interview after the vote. Below are excerpts of the interview, which has been edited for clarity and length.
Daily Chronicle: Obviously the biggest challenge of any school district right now is COVID. But what would you say the biggest non-COVID challenge is right now for the DeKalb school district?
Minerva Garcia-Sanchez: I think what’s really most important for me is to get to understand and know what the state of the district is. Understanding what the strengths are and building those up further, and what are those gaps we need to dig down deep and find the root cause to, to change it over so it becomes a strength, and to find the right people doing the work so it falls into place. And that doesn’t happen overnight. That’s really going to be the work I’m looking to go deep into.
DC: Do you think you have a handle on those challenges, like you said knowing what the trends and gaps are, yet or do you think that’s something that’s going to come in the next six months?
MGS: There are some things I noticed reading the plan about what the cultural climate is around the community. Reading that plan I got a good sense of what I think people think are strengths. So I have some sense. And I got a stronger sense on the types of questions I was asked during the interview process. Not just from the board but from the cabinet, the community and the teachers. There’s definitely something that is underlying that needs to be addressed. And of course just looking at data. ... I won’t make decisions on what that looks like until I‘ve talked to the cabinet, the leadership teams. I’m not in deep enough to say, yeah, that’s the plan. I’m just collecting information. I’m here and going to observe. ... We want to make sure we take this district to the next level of greatness.
DC: You mention the next level. What do you think that looks like for DeKalb?
MGS: It’s a couple things, actually. And again these are just ideas based off what I’m hearing, what I’m reading. But I see a lot of STEM work, talk of Facebook coming to town. And that Ferrara Candy is building a distribution center there. So people are coming and are going to want to live in the town. So making sure the connectiveness to those, what that commercial-industrial group looks like and making sure there’s a pathway for every child. Whether or not that means college, it means there’s success for them, whatever success means for them. That’s imperative and we need to know what that is. We need to ask families what that means and make sure those opportunities are there. But setting up a STEM foundation, pre-K, even before them. If we could get them as they’re leaving the hospital, I would love to get materials to the moms so they can start reading early on.
DC: What role are you going to have, if any, in the return to learn process? Are you giving input or is that mostly going to stay with (interim superintendents) Ray (Lechner) and Griff (Powell)?
MGS: Obviously I don’t have the seat until July 1. All the decisions that are being made are being made by those that are there now. If I’m asked to give an opinion, I’ll be happy to. But those two are there for a reason and I would never try to take ownership or space or anything off someone in that position.
DC: When that return date (for DeKalb the 19th of January) comes around, do you have a preference, or an inkling one way or the other which way it’s going to go?
MGS: So if I can I’m going to answer that question in regards to where I’m currently am so you can see where I’m coming from. So [in Pilsen/Little Village] we actually have our pre-K and our cluster students starting next week. They will be coming in, but it’s an option. The parent chooses whether it’s hybrid or full time. I wouldn’t want to presume to make a decision for the parents. But the opportunities need to be there for people to be able to select whether or not they want to opt-in for hybrid or keep them at home because they are successful that way. ... Nonetheless we still want to take science, what the doctors are saying, what the Centers for Disease control, all the experts, what they say we have to take into consideration. You don’t want to make a poor decision. You want to make a very factual, very researched-based decision when it comes to the lives of other people.
DC: As far as anyone can tell us in the district you are the first woman superintendent. (She is also the first Latina superintendent of the district). What does that mean to you?
MGS: I’m proud to be that person, right? To go down in history as the first not. Why not. I’ll take that. But I think what is more important to me was that I was a good fit for them. What I’m bringing to this district is what this district needs moving forward. We’re working together to build a powerful and stronger district. The fact I’m a female, and I’m sure the first Latina, is just the icing on the cake for me personally. But it doesn’t change the work and it doesn’t change my perception but it does make me feel good obviously.
DC: I think not counting the interims, you’re the third full-time superintendent in the last six years in this district. How important do you think it is to get some stability in here?
MGS: It takes anywhere from 5 to 7 years just to get a strategy down pat so it’s something that is used consistently and is sustainable. When you have a short contract, you don’t get to go deep into problem solving. It’s going to take time. It’s of the utmost importance not just for the leader but how the leader assures how the other leaders in the district are able to sustain that work so that if anybody walks away, regardless of who that person is, the work continues. ... Especially if you are talking about the district growing with new people coming in, or moving in as they have been, we want to make sure people are staying because they found the best they are looking for.
DC: Over the summer, many within the district made points about diversifying curriculum, making sure Black history isn’t just one month, it isn’t just February. That it’s artists and authors who are integrated into the curriculum. How important do you think that is and how high of a priority is that?
MGS: So more children and young people see themselves in the curriculum and the more they can connect when learning, the more engaged they will be. If they see themselves through history, if they see themselves in the future in relation to science, then they are going to make those connections. They are going to want to go to school. They are going to want to engage because they have a place inside that learning cycle. And I think it’s important for students to see that. I think it’s going to take us some time to make sure we’re doing it right and we’re learning how to teach that, not just the matter of the fact it is there, but we know how to provide instruction. ... Accepting and understanding is about more than tolerance. It’s not about tolerance. It’s about making sure they’re preparing themselves for what the diversification of this world really is. We’re not just talking about a town. We’re talking about a state, we’re talking about a country, we’re talking about the world. If we’re going to do right for the instruction of our students, that needs to be there and they need to see it.