From Proximity to Pathways of Promise

For generations, Glassboro Public Schools and Rowan University have shared a hometown. Our campuses are separated by a single street, and our histories have long been intertwined. Rowan students have learned in our schools, our graduates have attended Rowan, Rowan graduates fill our employee rosters, and educators from both institutions have collaborated in countless ways to benefit our community.

I am the proud product of Rowan University’s College of Education. When the Board of Education selected me as superintendent, strengthening the relationship between the district and Rowan was part of the opportunity we saw together. We set out to build a bridge between our institutions and imagine something that could impact our shared community for generations.

On September 15, we welcomed New Jersey Commissioner of Education Dr. Lily Laux to showcase our growing PK-16 partnership. She visited new preschool classrooms housed within Rowan’s James Hall, learned about our commitment to inclusive early childhood education, and explored the other end of the continuum: jointly developed academies and college-credit opportunities allowing Glassboro High School students to experience Rowan before graduating.

Preschool and college may seem worlds apart. For us, they are becoming parts of the same story.

We call it Pathways of Promise.

A Partnership Built Around Possibility

Rowan President Dr. Ali Houshmand and I met regularly to redefine our partnership beyond individual initiatives and create an ecosystem of institution-wide collaboration. Our guiding principle was that families who choose Glassboro should experience unique opportunities made possible when both institutions work in harmony.

Pathways of Promise creates a continuum from preschool through high school, higher education, and careers. It includes expanded preschool opportunities, inclusive early childhood education, teacher preparation, professional learning, research, demonstration classrooms, shared academies, college-credit opportunities, and academic pathways connected to students’ interests.

Glassboro High School students can walk across the street and sit in college classes on Rowan’s campus. For eligible students, the partnership also creates a clearer pathway to Rowan through direct admission and financial support.

We want children growing up in Glassboro to see a hopeful vision of what comes next and know both institutions will help them get there.

Moving Beyond Transactions

Meaningful partnerships cannot be transactional. It would have been easy to approach Rowan with a list of things we wanted and ask, What can you provide?

Sustainable partnerships begin by identifying where missions intersect.

Glassboro Public Schools wants to strengthen teaching and learning, develop outstanding educators, expand opportunities, and prepare young people for successful lives. Rowan wants to prepare future professionals, provide authentic learning experiences, advance research and innovation, attract talented students, and positively impact its hometown.

Those are not competing missions. The strongest partnerships create value for everyone while creating something even greater for students.

Before We Could Build, We Had to Rebuild

Pathways of Promise did not begin with a new program or formal agreement. It began by repairing a relationship.

That part is personal for me.

More than two decades ago, I came to Glassboro as a Rowan student. Rowan helped prepare me to become a teacher and, eventually, a superintendent. When I returned to lead Glassboro Public Schools, I believed the relationship between the district and university should be one of our community’s greatest strengths.

But relationships between institutions, like relationships between people, require attention. Ours had become strained over time. Before we could talk seriously about new programs, we needed to rebuild trust.

That meant showing up, listening, and having conversations without arriving with a list of requests. We needed to understand what mattered to Rowan, where our priorities aligned, and what we could build that served both institutions and, most importantly, our children.

We quickly moved from rebuilding a relationship to imagining possibilities. Less than a year later, we unveiled a ten-year partnership designed to remove barriers to higher education and strengthen the fabric of our beautifully diverse community.

Not every district has a university growing alongside it. But every superintendent leads a community with assets and children who need a champion.

The lesson I would offer other superintendents is simple: sometimes the greatest opportunity in your community is not something new you need to create. It is a relationship worth rebuilding.

Look at What’s Already Around You

Not every district has a university growing alongside it. But every superintendent leads a community with assets and children who need a champion.

Perhaps it is a community college, hospital, municipality, nonprofit, business, trade association, cultural institution, or major employer. Instead of beginning only with What does our district need?, ask:

What resources and expertise already exist here? Where do our missions intersect? What can our schools contribute? And what could we create together that neither organization could create alone?

From Proximity to Promise

During Commissioner Laux’s visit, I was proud of what she saw: inclusive classrooms, students earning college credits, and university, district, civic, and Board leadership united around growing a community in the heart of South Jersey.

I am equally hopeful about what she could not see yet, because we are still building it.

Pathways of Promise is not a finished product. It is a commitment to keep opening doors for children.

In my previous blog, I reflected on hope in leadership. This work has reinforced something I have come to believe:

The most powerful form of hope we can give a young person is a pathway to their future.

A pathway into an inclusive classroom. A pathway to discover a career, earn college credit, or become the first in a family to attend college. And perhaps someday, a pathway back into our schools as a teacher, leader, or community partner.

Because when we give children a pathway toward their limitless future, we breathe hope into the communities we serve.