Lake Ridge New Tech Schools Superintendent Dr. Sharon Johnson Shirley was proud to co-chair the inaugural Administrators of Color Preparing for the Future Conference held September 8th-9th in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Sponsored by the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents, the goal of the conference was to improve the accessibility of administrators of color to the ranks of Superintendent and Central Office Administration.
Dr. Shirley said the state's numbers show the need for more administrators of color to be a part of the equation in public schools. "Indiana currently has 290 public school districts and yet there are only eight or ten Superintendents of color in the state. This was our initial conference and it was very successful. I think our goals were accomplished in the avenue of awareness. People heard our voices, they understand why we had this conference."
Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents Executive Director Robert Taylor agreed with Shirley on the success of the conference and its need. "This was the first conference supporting educational leaders of color but this will not be the last, we have started something here and we are going to achieve its purpose."