Erasing the Woes From His Legal Pads

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WHEN KHALID MUMIN interviewed for the superintendent job in Reading, Pa., in 2014, he came away with two legal pad pages full of issues the district was facing. Reading’s schools had recently been designated “financially distressed” by the Department of Education and “highly dysfunctional” by the auditor general and were heading toward a potential state takeover. Despite mounting challenges, he accepted the offer. “When I took on this job, I had five predecessors in four years, but I looked in the mirror and said, ‘You know what? Those five weren’t one of me!’” says Mumin, who was honored as one of four finalists for 2021 National Superintendent of the Year. 

The two legal pad pages from his interview turned into a strategic plan with five main points focusing on safe schools, academics, fiscal responsibility, communication and community engagement, and partnerships. Mumin says he began by keeping the kids in mind and pushing staff members to have empathy for all students in the district, where 99 percent qualify as underserved.

“It’s all about inspiration and having that humanistic ability to be able to meet your staff where they are and move them forward,” Mumin says. “You can’t just talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk … filled with nothing but your head and heart in alignment for the kids that you’re serving.”

Six years later, the nearly 18,000-student district, located about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is in a much better position.

“Our now-former Pennsylvania auditor general said this is the most miraculous turnaround he’s ever seen in his career — that means a lot,” Mumin says. “Now that can be seen as an accolade for a superintendent, but do you know what that statement did for my team, my community? They weren’t the ‘bad news bears’ anymore! They are a district that models things nationally. I’m very proud of that.”

The dramatic performance turnaround and subsequent boost in esteem are some of the things that helped Reading’s assistant superintendent, Jennifer Murray, when she was a principal in the district. She says Mumin even inspired her to advance to district leadership.

“We’re making lots of progress in different directions, we’re becoming well-known in the county, as well as across the state and even in the nation,” says Murray. “He definitely talked me into [coming to the central office] at first, but it’s a leap I’m very glad I did with him especially.”

Encouraging his students and staff to take leaps and then essentially getting out of their way so they can do so is a hallmark of Mumin’s leadership. When the Reading communications director came to him with a new idea for the 2020-21 opening day staff video in which Mumin only appeared for about 30 seconds rather than the usual five minutes or so, he happily stepped aside for 9-year-old Jermaine, the “kid superintendent,” to give Reading’s teachers a pep talk. The video went viral with more than four million views from around the world.

“It shows, from a leadership standpoint, having a title is simply a title. You have to be open to rich ideas, you have to be willing to take risk to get to that end result,” Mumin says. “Jermaine was the player that needed to be in the game and right now, we’re winning off his influence. Selfishly, hopefully that inspires kids to want to become a superintendent one day.”