Leadership Matters Summer 2015

As superintendent of schools in Oakland, (CA), new Illinois State Superintendent Dr. Tony Smith focused on improving educational opportunities and closing achievement gaps among all students.

New State Superintendent wants to open doors of opportunity for all students

By Michael Chamness IASA Director of Communications

too well the challenges facing many kids in Illinois, where more than half of the students qualify for the free or reduced lunch program that marks the poverty line. “I really believe that every kid is unique and has so much to offer, that the potential of our young people is not being fully maximized or touched and activated,” Smith said during a recent interview in his Springfield office. “Our kids are situated either close to or further from opportunity and our public schools have the ability to create opportunities and change life outcomes. There are very few other places like that. “Some kids are born where there are amazing opportunities all around them. They’re on an maximized or touched and activated. Our kids are situated either close to or further from opportunity and our public schools have the ability to create opportunities and change life outcomes. There are very few other places like that.” “I really believe that every kid is unique and has so much to offer, that the potential of our young people is not being fully

When new Illinois State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Tony Smith talks about providing educational opportunities for children on the lower end of the silver spoon spectrum, the passion in his voice belies his calm exterior. One gets the feeling that much like he used to blast open holes for running backs as an offensive guard for the University of California Golden Bears, Smith would like nothing better than to bulldoze some longstanding obstacles. In a story for the Cal Alumni Association magazine in 2013, Vicki Haddock wrote: Tony Smith sports the physique of Buzz Lightyear yet speaks the vernacular of a psychotherapist. Throughout life, his exterior has simultaneously reflected and contradicted his interior self – the result being that people tend to typecast him, and then get taken by surprise. Underestimate Smith at your own risk. Born to 17- year-old parents who split up, Smith bounced among relatives and friends in northern California, attending as many as 10 different schools. He even lived on his own for a while as a fifth-grader. Yet he went on to become captain of the football team at the University of California, where he also attained his Master’s and Doctorate Degrees to complement the street smarts he had acquired out of necessity. He understands all

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