Kamela Patton
Kamela Patton has built her reputation as a highly regarded superintendent by aiming high and exceeding expectations.
She’s made her distinguished mark as superintendent in Florida’s Collier County Public Schools for the past 11 years, pushing the 48,000-student system to make important advances against steep hurdles. When she joined the district, which is based in Naples, she was the sixth superintendent in little more than a decade.
Foremost among the challenges was becoming a meaningful presence in the lives of educators and students. At 2,300 square miles, her district covers geography bigger than the state of Delaware. The K-12 population carries wide diversity in socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity and language, and the county is home to the state’s largest concentration of migrant students.
Patton approached the task with a systemic lens, knowing progress in lifting children’s lives is much too slow when it happens one school at a time. She promoted collaboration at the district level, cultivating relationships with health-care groups, businesses and law enforcement.
She has prompted districtwide change by growing a culture of continuous improvement. Patton says she tackles complex problems and hones her planning and problem-solving skills by following Stephen Covey’s advice to “begin with the end in mind.”
Her distinctive communication style bears memorable advice. She once told a reporter that a leader’s success depended on two things: detailed planning and focus. “When you have a road map, you can get somewhere,” she says. “When every day you walk in putting out fires, you’re not making progress.”
Ironically, Patton might never have become a superintendent without a chance conversation with a senior district administrator in the Miami-Dade County Schools. By age 49, she had forged a deep commitment to Miami-Dade, the nation’s 4th largest district with 330,000 students.
Her 35-year career in public education started with a teaching job in Dade County, then successive stints as assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent of academics and special projects and finally assistant superintendent of operations. Competitive by nature, Patton enjoyed testing her abilities in many arenas and visualized remaining with the district until retirement because she thrived in central-office roles where she could grow her knowledge and skills. Her leadership on equity for all students attracted notice.
The results, though not immediate, have been steady and noteworthy. During Patton’s tenure, the graduation rate for English language learners jumped from 49.8 percent to 86.8 percent. Among Black students, the increase moved from 64 percent to 93 percent. The district now carries Florida’s top tier rating, an A.
In 2022, Patton was honored as one of four finalists for AASA National Superintendent of the Year.
