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The Superintendents to Watch award recognizes up to 25 school district leaders each year who have fewer than five years of experience as a superintendent and who demonstrate dynamic, fast-paced leadership with strong communication at its core.
Dr. Carol D. Birks demonstrates dynamic, fast-paced leadership as the Superintendent/Chief Executive Officer of the Allentown School District. When she arrived in Allentown in 2023, Dr. Birks immediately identified communications as a priority and developed initiatives to promote school programs and strengthen community connections. She created the Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Council and the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, meeting regularly with both groups and involving their members in committees and public events. Through these groups, she has cultivated trusted advisors and advocates who provide her with positive and constructive feedback.
Dr. Birks often emphasizes that at heart, she will always be a Middle School Language Arts teacher. This mindset, along with her attention to detail, drives her to create tailored correspondences for specific audiences while ensuring that all District communications to the diverse Allentown community are translated into Spanish and Arabic.
Equitable, inclusive, and culturally responsive two-way communication is a cornerstone of Dr. Birks’ leadership. She immediately established published goals for the Superintendent’s Office and the Allentown School District to enhance communications and engage effectively with staff, the Board of School Directors, and the community. These goals and priorities address both local and broader issues affecting the District, building support for initiatives, programs, and short- and long-term plans.
Dr. Birks spearheaded the creation of Lighting the Way – A Blueprint for Innovation and Excellence 2030, a strategic plan to guide the District through the next decade. A 100-plus-member Strategic Plan Steering Committee—comprising District leadership, business leaders, community members, and families—prioritized the development of a strategic communications plan to outline how the District informs and engages its stakeholders.
Through her leadership, Dr. Birks ensured that equity was a focal point of the strategic planning process. The Howard Group Inc. conducted an equity audit within the Allentown learning community, promoting active reflection, honest conversations, and strategic decisions to address opportunity and learning gaps. The District remains committed to fostering a learning environment free from barriers and ensuring each student graduates prepared for college, career, and life.
To implement the equity audit’s findings, Dr. Birks collaborated with community partners. A partnership between the District and the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley’s Marcon Equity Innovation and Impact Lab created the Allentown School District Equity Fellows program, equipping select teachers to develop initiatives that promote equity and cultural responsiveness in schools.
Dr. Birks’ commitment to equity also led to the creation of theme-based schools within the District. In 2024-2025, the Central Elementary STREAM Academy and Sonia Sotomayor Dual Language Immersion Academy opened under her leadership.
Her efforts have resulted in national recognition for the Allentown School District, including its designation as an AASA Demonstration District 2025 and membership in the League of Innovative Schools and Leading Now.
Within her first year of full-time leadership, Dr. Birks led a comprehensive community engagement process to create a strategic plan that reflects the District’s priorities and goals. The process began by identifying key stakeholders and community voices, ensuring broad representation. Community partners, political leaders, school officials, and faith-based organizations were invited to join the development process or recommend participants. This effort resulted in a 100-plus-member Steering Committee that reflected the diversity of Pennsylvania’s sixth-largest school district.
The Steering Committee’s work began with a Kick-Off event that celebrated its members and emphasized their critical role in the community. The event was publicized through a video, press release, and the District website. The Committee held multiple work sessions, which were also promoted via videos, press releases, website postings, and flipbooks.
Throughout the process, Dr. Birks leveraged AI tools to create unique content tailored to the District’s needs. She also led initiatives to gather community input through surveys, achieving a record response rate for the Community Survey. Focus groups reviewed the Steering Committee’s work to align with the community’s vision, and Advisory Committees added final touches and provided guidance for implementation.
The strategic planning process was thoroughly documented via videos, press releases, flipbooks, and a dedicated District website page.
Open communication is central to Dr. Birks’ leadership. She established Network News, a monthly newsletter for principals that highlights accomplishments and updates within the District’s Networked Improvement Communities of Schools.
Dr. Birks also prioritizes internal communications through programs such as “Breakfast with Birks,” where Central Administration staff discuss how their work impacts schools and communities. She meets with faculty and staff during school visits and provides opportunities for one-on-one conversations through “Real Talk with Dr. Birks.”
Dr. Birks embodies her role as the face of the Allentown School District. She personally responds to media requests, creates video messages to highlight events, and seeks opportunities to represent the District in the press and at local events.
She hosts monthly You Are The Light celebrations, where community members are recognized as Trendsetters, Classroom/Community Catalysts, or Quiet Heroes. Dr. Birks’ visibility at school and community events is frequently highlighted on social media, strengthening connections with students and families.
Her leadership has brought regional and national recognition to the District, including partnerships with Google, Hazel Health, and the Da Vinci Science Center. She initiated the Allentown School Internship Corps, placing over 200 students in work assignments, including five Communications Department interns who helped plan and staff events such as the Back to School Bash.
Dr. Birks’ efforts in equity and innovation ensure that the Allentown School District remains a leader in public education.
B.A. - Mississippi State University; MPA - University of Georgia
I believe school PR/communications is what I was born to do! One of the biggest decisions a parent can make is where to send their child to school, and it’s an honor to share with our parents the engaging work that their children are doing under the guidance of world-class teachers and leaders. On any given day, in any given school, there are many stories to be told and I take that charge seriously. As school communicators played a key role in COVID-19 communications, storytelling was more important than ever – not only did I share information with parents about our protocols, but I also made over 80 visits to schools last year and told a variety of stories about how students were thriving with both in-person and distance learning options. I also worked with principals to determine best mitigation practices and helped make those pervasive, because positive action must be the foundation of what we are ultimately communicating. School public relations is incredibly complex and I love that each day brings a new challenge.
My greatest school PR success was completing 11 nationally-innovative school communication audits using a process of research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. I am now in phase two of this project and am attending school council meetings to garner feedback from parents about school-level communication and how I can better support the work of their schools. One of the most significant findings is that as students take more ownership of their learning, they also take more ownership in parent communication. Therefore, next steps are to better prepare parents for this transition and to also determine best practices from exemplar teachers and coaches at the secondary level so we can strike the right balance with parents feeling informed and fostering student independence.
My greatest school PR challenge is overcoming rigidity. Like many PR professionals, I am detail-oriented and a self-described perfectionist. It’s a blessing and a curse to see when something is one pixel off, but the greatest challenge I have faced in my 13 years in this field is to learn to be more flexible. I might have an aversion to Comic Sans or Curlz, but it’s not the end of the world if those are a font favorite elsewhere. What’s more important is the bigger picture – staff and parents feeling well-informed and students growing and learning in positive school cultures. Instead of telling someone their website isn’t formatted properly, I now make a 2-3 minute screencast if I think there’s a quick tutorial I can offer to provide ongoing professional learning. By being much more flexible, I have deepened relationships and become better at supporting the most important job that occurs in our school system: teaching.
My favorite part of my job is the relationships. I often say that there is no substitute for showing up, and that’s why I make so many school visits each year. From getting to hold a gorgeous monarch butterfly to watching a vibrant student musical to seeing 3-D printing in action from engineering students, I have witnessed countless unique opportunities, and these experiences are just a small piece of what our students get to take part in each and every day. If I didn’t take the time to form relationships, I wouldn’t know that what students value is knowing that the photos I take may show up in their yearbooks. I wouldn’t know the myriad of annual activities that teachers do across our schools because I wouldn’t have witnessed them firsthand. I wouldn’t know about the families of our principals or what they believe makes their school unique. All of that is invaluable because at the end of the day and at the end of this career, relationships are what will remain – both professionally and personally.
The communication tool I use the most is Canva! I would be a brand ambassador if they asked! I am not very mathematically-minded and it can be challenging for someone with an eye for good design – but not an eye for rulers and gridlines – to be a graphic designer. However, Canva has made it possible and I am able to create aesthetically-pleasing graphics with short turn-around times. I have trained communication ambassadors at our schools how to use it as well. Right after Canva, the tool I most use is iMovie. I am completely self-taught in videography and using iMovie and Canva together has made me someone who can add “videographer” to their list of expertise.