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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.
Superintendent Nyah D. Hamlett, Ed.D., is a powerful and attuned communicator. She understands the need for unequivocal and authentic communication as a primary aspect of leadership, and she models that commitment throughout the district. One of her favorite mantras is, “Being visible matters. You can’t lead from behind a desk.”
As a woman of color, she manifests a responsibility to inspire and motivate other women in leadership; she is dedicated to building strong networks of support and influence. Within that mission, she has formulated nuggets of wisdom and guidance, especially pointed toward those who might be facing significant challenges in their communities or broader society. She believes that “authenticity begins with vulnerability,” and she communicates openly about her own struggles. She espouses a commitment to continuous unflinching growth, in her colleagues and herself.
During her first two years as superintendent, Dr. Hamlett led the development of a new Strategic Plan, an Equity and Engagement framework, and Profile of a Graduate, among other initiatives. More recently (years three and four), she has steered the district to embrace a transition to “4 by 4” block scheduling in high schools, to implement clear and consistent rules for students’ cell phone use in school, and to educate the community about a $300 million bond referendum on this November’s ballot.
In her work, she reflects the precision and instincts of a natural “wordsmith” as she builds her messaging around language most likely to resonate with CHCCS stakeholders. In collaboration with the Board of Education, she developed five Core Values for the Strategic Plan; those values, especially Wellness and Joy, were fundamental for providing guideposts and reassurance emerging from the pandemic. Although “student-centered” might verge on the obvious in a K-12 setting, she demonstrates that unwavering focus in all of her work. She happily shares photos and videos from classroom walk-throughs or other school visits, when she fistbumps, shoots baskets, shares fashion observations, or reads with students, as her “favorite part of the job.”
Dr. Hamlett prioritizes outreach and districtwide messaging during times of local, national, or global concerns, sometimes woven into her Friday Community Updates, but often sent as standalone emails. A recent initiative has been the development of the CHCCS Protocol for Responding to Racial Slurs and Hate Speech in Schools, as a statement of unwavering support for ALL of our students and staff.
Under her leadership, CHCCS has shifted the focus from “achievement gaps” to “opportunity gaps,” which target growth to proficiency within student groups, rather than comparing student group proficiency rates. As superintendent of a renowned “pressure cooker” of a school district, Dr. Hamlett is a firm proponent in addressing the social-emotional learning needs of students, in addition to their academic achievements, even as she celebrates and highlights all of the talents and gifts of students K-12.
One of the most innovative and important programs implemented by Dr. Hamlett is the Equity and Empathy Ambassadors, a group of 35-40 students from across the three traditional high schools, as well as the alternative school, Phoenix Academy; they meet quarterly to discuss and problem-solve essential challenges in their respective settings. Perhaps not immediately identifiable as a “communication program,” the Ambassadors serve many messaging functions, in addition to underscoring one of Dr. Hamlett’s primary goals for CHCCS—to “amplify student voices.”
As Ambassadors communicate within the program during their daylong sessions, they come to understand how their triumphs, anxieties, and hopes both differ and converge from school to school. In that understanding and sharing, they are charged with communicating ideas and solutions back in their own schools, from their peers, to teachers, to administrative teams.
Dr. Hamlett proactively seeks advice from the Ambassadors in order to understand a diverse array of students’ perspectives. She encourages them to speak as openly and fearlessly as they’re willing and rewards them by the many ways she holds up their work and repeats their messages and counsel. With her encouragement, a group of Ambassadors developed a presentation for the Board of Education on changing the Class Rank system, and the Board listened and responded as best they could.
In one of her 2023 Friday Updates, Dr. Hamlett wrote of the Ambassadors’ meetings, “In our sessions, they remind me and others what it means to amplify student voice—and why that’s so important in our district to meet the goals of our Strategic Plan, but more importantly to genuinely and authentically connect with and listen to our students.”
As one recent graduate of the Ambassadors said, “It’s really important work, and I’m just glad to have the opportunity to share my voice as a student, because usually school systems don’t ask for students’ opinions.”
In sharing and promoting the Ambassadors’ work, Dr. Hamlett has taken a small group to a national conference to explain their particular style of amplifying student voice. There have also been videos, feature articles, and many social media posts to encourage the community to become acquainted with the important work those students achieve!
Dr. Hamlett has prioritized strong communications from the beginning of her tenure at CHCCS. She promoted and guided the integration of communication goals and strategies across the district’s strategic plan as it was created in 2022.
In Strategic Plan 2027, Goal 1 of the Community Priority is “CHCCS will design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programs and students’ programs. The community and school staff will communicate in numerous ways, both formally and informally.” The existing weekly Superintendent’s Community Updates became much more extensive and inspirational messages that regularly evoked expressions of gratitude from parents and staff. Dr. Hamlett oversaw the creation of News and Notes, a streamlined, user-friendly news update each Tuesday; that platform for disseminating information has regularly elicited high praise, notably from parents who are themselves in the communications field.
Goal 3 of the Operations Priority, “CHCCS will provide timely, accurate, and transparent communication of Financial Information to the members of our community,” is front of mind for Dr. Hamlett and her team. During recent periods of financial challenges, messages to staff and families have been frequent across the platforms; Dr. Hamlett has spoken to the local radio station, as well as in many informal community settings, in order to clarify issues around the financial health of the district. Most recently, she has insisted on frequent and transparent communications regarding an upcoming bond measure.
Especially during the year following the release of the Strategic Plan, Dr. Hamlett was uncompromising in her efforts to amplify the Core Values, as well as the central slogan to “Think (and Act) Differently.” Her bright smile and infectious laugh have symbolized Joy during her tenure!
Dr. Hamlett has enthusiastically built a strong community presence since her first days as superintendent in early 2021. In the midst of COVID-19 limitations and uncertainties, she began her superintendency hobbled by an inability to host in-person meet-and-greets. So she hosted virtual Open Houses, with specific sessions for staff, parents, and students. In that way, she was able to introduce herself, her vision as an educator, and her hopes for the path toward growth and stability for CHCCS.
She began sending Friday Community Updates each week, including a mix of public health and virtual learning information with anecdotes and observations that helped her build a portrait of her background, her prominent concerns, and moments from conversations she held in the community.
Another messaging and community engagement event created by Dr. Hamlett was the neighborhood “Walk and Talk.” These after-school gatherings served as “boots on the ground” opportunities for her to visit with parents and students in housing developments, playgrounds, and community centers. With the awareness that many parents are unable or unwilling to attend school and district-wide events, the Walk and Talks offered an informal and unpressured way for them to air their concerns, ask questions, and enjoy unstructured time with their superintendent, within their own comfort zones.
By September 2023, the Friday messages transitioned to video format, with a new weekly FOCUSED Feature. Each Friday, a brief email was sent to staff and parents with a link to the week’s video, ranging from a conversation with a veteran Pre-K teacher to a walk-through with the CHCCS Safety Team.
Dr. Hamlett reminds the audience of her desire to hold up joy and engagement, as evidenced in the HEARTcoming bus tour!
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.