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IN THE HOT SEAT
New superintendent wants to implement change,
as search begins for her possible replacement
(Published January 26, 2004)

By KATHRYN SINZINGER
Staff Writer

An air of assertiveness attaches to her words as Elfreda W. Massie talks about her plans for improving teaching and learning in the District’s public schools.

She says she’s tired of the continual rehashing of the same old problems that get studied to death but never seem to get resolved.

"We have not implemented well," she says of the voluminous recommendations for improvement that seem to simply gather dust on shelves. "How do we roll it out so that ultimately we see the change?"

In the short time since she was thrust into the hot seat vacated by former superintendent Paul L. Vance last November, Massie says she has been working to make change happen. And she’s not talking about incremental change.

"We need to see ourselves as a learning institution, as a teaching institution," Massie says of the public school system. "Our students are no different than high-performing students in other districts."

Getting that high performance from D.C. students, who perennially fall near the bottom of national academic rankings, "requires a cultural change – even in the minds of parents," says Massie, who sees parental involvement in the schools as critical to implementing change.

While raising the academic bar – and finding a way to do it quickly, especially for high schools students – is important at the District’s worst-performing schools, Massie says even the District’s best schools need to be made better.

"Even at successful schools, you need to continue to raise the bar – you have to be your best," she says. "And we should see the evidence of change in increased enrollment."

While Massie stepped into the school system’s top job relatively unknown to the public and to local officeholders, her tough talk about transforming the District’s public education system has started to register on the radar screen.

"I hope she lives up to her strong statements," Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, said after recently meeting with Massie. "She seems to want to change the culture of mediocrity and follow models of excellence throughout the school system. Let’s hope she will achieve this for the children of DCPS since we have no more time to waste."

During a brief appearance Jan. 22 at a community-sponsored forum on school reform, Massie also won some fans with her assertive statements. But others, like attorney Ron Drake, tempered enthusiasm with a dash of reality and criticism after Massie, school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz and school board member Carrie Thornhill all spoke briefly, apologized for having schedule conflicts and left.

"They said they came to listen, and they left," Drake noted during a question-and-answer period.

Massie came to D.C. Public Schools last summer as chief of staff to then-superintendent Vance, bringing more than 30 years of experience as a teacher, curriculum specialist and administrator. A native of Pittsburgh, Massie earned her bachelor of science degree in elementary education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 and began her career as an elementary school teacher in Baltimore County, Md. She later earned a master of education degree, with a concentration in guidance and counseling, from John Hopkins University and a doctorate in education policy, planning and administration from the University of Maryland.

In addition to teaching, Massie has been a guidance counselor and was personnel director in Baltimore County when she left in 1991 to become associate superintendent for personnel services for Montgomery County schools. She returned to Baltimore County in 1996 as deputy superintendent and, four years later, became vice president for professional development at Harcourt Supplemental Publishers in Illinois, where she focused on improvements in teaching and learning until coming to the District last summer.

Massie emphasizes "transparency" in running the schools and readily acknowledges that her husband, a longtime Baltimore County principal, accepted his current position as principal of LaSalle Elementary School when she became the school system’s chief of staff.

"He reports to the divisional superintendent," Massie says of the potential for conflict. "I basically recuse myself from decisions that affect him personally."

Having moved into the District and into their new jobs within the last year, change is something that Massie and her husband know intimately. But how does she feel about her bosses on the D.C. Board of Education awarding her a one-year contract for $175,000 at their December meeting and then deciding this month to begin a national search for her potential replacement?

"I am a child advocate," Massie says. "It doesn’t matter what position I’m in – it isn’t going to change how I operate. I spend 12 to 15 hours a day doing what I believe in."