A Connection to Students at Her Core

Profile

NOT BEING ABLE to visit students in school buildings on especially difficult days counts as one of the significant hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic for Christy Perry. “It’s really how I’m intrinsically driven,” she says. “That’s what makes me want to get up and do a really hard job every day.”

As the seventh-year superintendent of the Salem-Keizer Public School District in Salem, Ore., Perry places student-centered decisions at the top of her priority list, and that means giving meaningful voice to those she and the rest of the district’s staff are serving.

Her goals include closing achievement and opportunity gaps and rectifying disproportionate student discipline. With students of color comprising 52 percent of the district’s enrollment of 42,000, Perry says it’s especially important for her to think about students in historically marginalized groups.

“We’re in this time of historic reckoning that we have this political tension of people who don’t want the system to change because the system is good for them and they’re successful in the system,” says Perry, who was one of four finalists for AASA’s 2021 National Superintendent of the Year award. “It’s become a much more tenuous situation. We have to do what’s right regardless of the consequences.”

Last fall, Salem-Keizer created a student-led task force that discussed future deployment of school resource officers in schools. Leanette Mabinton, who graduates this month from Douglas McKay High School, says the superintendent ensured students took the lead on the task force.

“She was really just there to listen. And she was very good at when stuff got challenging, when we were stressed,” Mabinton says, noting Perry gave students advice when the task force was receiving negative attention in the community. “She was a great leader.”

As a student, Mabinton, 17, noticed Perry’s commitment to building equity and diversity in the district. “She understands what it is to educate herself about students of color,” she adds.

With this position of power I have immense responsibility, and as long as I’m showing up in the right way for our kids, I feel really proud of that.

Perry says she is excited about Salem-Keizer’s social justice stance and proud to stand up for students. She leads staff meetings that prioritize equity discussions, giving attention to the Black Lives Matter movement and Native American Heritage Month.

“With this position of power I have immense responsibility, and as long as I’m showing up in the right way for our kids, I feel really proud of that,” Perry says.

The superintendent’s impact stems in large part from her relationship-oriented leadership style. Mabinton, who is African American, says she was able to get to know Perry well over her four years in high school and felt like she could talk to her district’s top official about both school-related and personal topics.

“It makes you feel very important,” Mabinton adds. “There’s times where there’s so much going on with the media with her or the school board and she’d still take the time to be like, ‘Hey let me check on Leanette and see how she’s doing.’ ”

At the end of the day, Perry knows she must set the tone for how she wants her schools to focus on students’ needs and how they have grown, especially during the pandemic.

“When we’re in our highest-functioning team times, we show up in our best way for kids,” Perry says, adding that her recent national recognition more rightly honors the work of educators across the district. “I can’t do it by myself.”