Many Fresno Unified students start at a disadvantage. Misty Her was one of them
Long before Misty Her became superintendent of Fresno Unified, she was a kindergarten student struggling to learn how to read at Jefferson Elementary in the 1980s — about a mile from the school district’s downtown headquarters.
Born in a prisoner of war camp during the Vietnam War, Her’s family relocated to the U.S. when she was 5 years old to flee persecution. Her family settled in Fresno, where her parents found jobs at Fresno Unified as custodians.
“I was so scared. I didn’t speak English. I didn’t look like all of the other kids. I felt invisible, out of place, alone,” Her said.
Fresno Unified trustees announced Her as their pick for permanent superintendent on Wednesday, becoming the first woman superintendent in the district’s 152-year history.
Her’s directive is to turn around a school district that has long struggled with low test scores and raise the student achievement of tens of thousands of disadvantaged students, many of whom share similar modest upbringings to their new superintendent.
Her says she wouldn’t have pursued a career as an educator if it weren’t for her teachers.
It was in the very classrooms that her parents cleaned for 30 years, that she learned to read and write — and dream of pursuing a career as an educator, Her said.
In her acceptance speech Wednesday, Her recounted how a librarian in the school district helped her learn how to read by handing her a popular children’s book, “Madeline.”
She said she saw herself in the titular character and came to believe that she didn’t need to hide her differences and began to feel like she belonged.
“That is why I became a teacher. It is why I became a principal. It was why I’m standing here before you today,” Her said Wednesday night. “Because every child deserves to be seen, every child deserves to be believed in, every single child deserves a future as bright as their dreams, and this is the Fresno Unified we are building together from this day.”
Starting her educational career as a bilingual instructional aide, she worked her way up the Fresno Unified ladder as an elementary teacher, vice principal, principal, assistant superintendent, instructional superintendent and, now, the district’s permanent superintendent.
She also becomes the nation’s highest-ranking Hmong K-12 educational professional.
The historic significance of her selection is not lost on Her.
In an interview with The Bee last May, after she was appointed interim superintendent, Her recounted walking the hallways of the district’s downtown headquarters where the portraits of former superintendents hung on the walls — all of them male. It only fueled her desire for the permanent post.
“When people see me, they see a woman, they see an Asian woman,” she said. “Does that make me nervous? Not really, because all my life, I’ve had to work to prove myself just because of who I am.”
Her takes over the state’s third largest district with 70,000 students, 88% of whom live below the poverty line, and only 35% and 25% of whom meet grade-level standards in English and math, respectively. Last year, as interim superintendent, Her set a goal of making double-digit gains to close the gap to standards by 15% for every student in two years.
A year later, Her and the school board introduced four goals aimed at raising early student literacy and the percentage of graduates deemed college- and career-ready.
Her enters the job already with detractors.
One board trustee, Susan Wittrup, voted against Her’s appointment, arguing that the school board should have, instead, selected an outside candidate with prior experience turning around large, urban school districts.
The district’s teachers union, the Fresno Teachers Association, criticized Her’s tenure as interim superintendent as lackluster and said the tumultuous, 15-month superintendent search process lacked transparency.
Her vowed to lead the district as a consensus builder and said her longtime experience in the district as an educator and administrator — as well as a student — was a strength, not a liability.
“My lived experiences, the struggles, the barriers and perseverance, are not my abilities, they are my greatest leadership strengths,” she said. “They keep me grounded in our mission. They remind me that when we stay focused, when we align every effort to our shared goals, we can transform futures, and I am living proof of this.”
In an interview with The Bee on Friday, she said part of her first-day schedule on Thursday included visiting classrooms and reading stories to students. She said she felt a strong sense of responsibility when she saw the children’s bright faces.
“I thought to myself, I am not going to fail them,” she said.
The interim superintendent became the target of harassment after she declared herself as a candidate for the superintendency, Her said.
She disclosed on Wednesday that she had received racist and sexist threats in recent months, including a racist letter mailed to her home, prompting her to have what Her said was a difficult conversation with her teenage son.
“We ended up having conversations about what he would face,” she said. “He was very understanding.”
Her shared a message to Fresno Unified students after she was named the full-time superintendent.
“I stand before you today, the daughter of refugees, the student who once sat silent and scared in the classroom, and the woman who found hope in a storybook: If a little girl like me, who find her place here, imagine what is possible when we come together. Imagine what we can achieve when we stay focused, when we lead with love and we refuse to let hate win,” she said.
