Her Systemic Focus Yields Mighty Gains

Profile: 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.

“I held 16 jobs in 25 years!” Patton says of her Dade County tenure. Her administrative colleague who discovered the opening for the top berth in nearby Collier County recommended she pursue the superintendency. Collier’s board found her expertise a strong fit.

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.

Earlier this year, she was honored as one of four finalists for National Superintendent of the Year.

She has attracted admirers along the way. The Collier County sheriff, Kevin Rambosk, is one. He points to Patton’s ability to rally people around shared desires to better serve students’ academic and non-academic needs.

“Although we have different roles, we share a similar philosophy,” Rambosk says. One measure of their shared trust is the standing invitation he carries to attend superintendent cabinet meetings, which he does regularly.

The superintendent finds teachable moments everywhere. During a recent visit to an elementary school, Patton planted a seed about a young girl’s potential. “I’m just an ordinary woman,” she told her, then added, “but ordinary women can do extraordinary things. You can do extraordinary things.”