INTERVIEW: Spotsylvania School Superintendent Clint Mitchell

Growing up on the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia, Clint Mitchell gained an appreciation for education too few Americans understand. He brings that vision and compassion to Spotsylvania.

By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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New Spotsylvania County Schools Superintendent Clint Mitchell. Photo provided by subject.

Ready to Roll

Shortly after the Spotsylvania County School Board hired Clint Mitchell, Facebook pages and private discussions seemed to come back to the same question. Is a person with limited superintendent experience from one of the smallest school systems in Virginia ready to take on one of its largest districts?

According to Matt Hurt, who leads the Comprehensive Instructional Program — a highly successful initiative that has realized extraordinary academic gains in some of Virginia’s toughest districts — the data provides a good indicator that Mitchell is ready.

“During the 2023-2024 school year,” Hurt told the Advance, “Colonial Beach Public Schools realized greater improvement in student outcomes than any other division in the CIP consortium.”

The consortium is composed of 65 school divisions in Virginia. Hurt says that overall these divisions “posted a two-point improvement in 2024 over the previous year.” Colonial Beach was the district that busted the curve.

Its “overall pass rate improved by nearly ten points,” Hurt said. “To put that in perspective, the division (Greensville County) that realized the greatest gains in the state in 2023 posted a nine-point improvement. 

Final state results won’t be published by the Virginia Department of Education until September. “At that time,” Hurt continued, “we'll understand more fully the significance of this improvement.”

As dramatic as this improvement is, however, it’s far from the first time in Mitchell’s career that he’s been part of such an eye-catching turn-around.

His experiences in two of the commonwealth’s largest districts – Prince William and Fairfax – are part of the reason that State Superintendent Dr. Lisa Coons selected Mitchell to represent Spotsylvania County Public Schools on two task forces. The first, based on Senate Bill 283, deals with implementing universal school meals in Virginia. The second, based on House Bill 830 and Senate Bill 314, is the Virginia farm to schools Task Force, which aims to bring more locally grown fruits and vegetables to school nutrition programs.

FXBG Advance sat down with Mitchell recently to discuss his background, his vision for the school system, his plans for his first 90 days, and his approach to working with students, faculty, administration, and the School Board.

The Interview

FXBG Advance: Welcome to Spotsylvania! Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Clint Mitchell: I grew up on a small Caribbean Island, St. Lucia.

My mother had me young. My grandparents sent her to Canada when she got married, and eventually to the United States.  I was raised by my grandfather and grandmother from about three months until I was 14 years old.

I came to the U.S. on November 12, 1989 — I’m never going to forget that day. New York City. Middle of winter. Cold. Looking at trees with no leaves on it. That was foreign to me.

When I left, my grandfather told me two things: First — Stay in school. Second — Listen to your mother. Little did I know, 30-plus years later, I’m still in school.

I attended Samual J. Tildon High School in NYC. I was one of those students who comes from a foreign country, so they put me one year behind. I should have been a sophomore, but they made me a freshman. But it was good for me.

At that time, Mayor David Dinkins had a program for inner-city youth kids that allowed me to attend a summer program at Choate-Rosemary Hall in Connecticut.

FXBG Advance: The shift of New York City public schools to one of the most-exclusive prep schools in the country must have been a real shock. How did it affect you?

CM: It was there I really started to see what the possibilities could be for a young kid from the Caribbean. It opened my eyes to what I could do if I stayed in school.

I finished my high school studies and went to Brooklyn College, where I majored in political science and philosophy. I also completed my first master’s degree in urban policy and public administration. I was headed for law school. Then I met a professor who said to me, try teaching at a public school.

I got a job at PS 275, Brownsville Middle School in New York. It was there I found my love for teaching. I taught U.S. history for 7th and 8th grade. After 3 years, I moved to Virginia in 2001 and took a job as a civics and economics teacher in Prince William County.

Our test scores were abysmal at that time, so I launched a Saturday academy. Thought I’d get 20 students to attend, I ended up with over 100.

I taught history to these students with my wife and another teacher. I wrote the lesson plans, and we made some magic. Test scores went from the 40s to the mid-70s. I met the supervisor of Social Studies for the district shortly thereafter who made me his assistant principal. Three years later, he retired, and I became the principal. I was young — 31 — and it was baptism by fire.

Attending Choate-Rosemary Hall opened my eyes to what I could do if I stayed in school.

I stayed in Prince William about 10 years as a principal. I was very successful because of the people around me. Not because of what I did, but because of the teachers I hired and the assistant principals around me. Our achievements led to several awards. Most notably in 2013 when I won the Washington Post’s Distinguished Leadership Award.

Then, in 2016, I went to Fairfax.

FXBG Advance: With so much success in Prince William, did you land a higher-performing school in Fairfax?

CM: No. I took over the lowest-performing school in the district at that time. It was the only school that wasn’t accredited. The superintendent said, “We want to know your plan for changing this school.” We spoke for two hours.

The state gave us conditional accreditation based on my performance with a similar type of school. Within a year, we were fully accredited. And we stayed fully accredited for the five-and-a-half years I was there.

Finally, in 2021, I became superintendent of Colonial Beach Public Schools.

FXBG Advance: That’s an extraordinary trajectory. In the U.S., the value of education is being questioned. Why do you think that is? And what are people not seeing?

CM: Education in the U.S. is essentially free, where in many parts of the world it is not free.

In other parts of the world, some of the wealthiest individuals have access to it. Had I stayed in the Caribbean, I wouldn’t be sitting here. If you weren’t in the Top Five of your class, you did not go to college.

When my grandfather said, ‘Stay in school,’ I knew the importance because it wasn’t readily available to everyone.

A lot of our students in this country, particularly our minority students, haven’t had the right role models to push them to understand that the way to better yourself as a person and in terms of wealth is school. It’s really all about education.

In order to motivate and inspire all kids, we have to make a major effort to build trusting relationships with kids. They have to find someone in the building who gives them hope, someone who holds them accountable, challenges them, and listens to their stories about what’s going on outside the walls of school that affects what’s going on in school.

Part of my job is to find ways to motivate and build an infectious culture in the schools that motivates people to help the children that they’re working with.

That requires thinking outside the box sometimes. For example, you have to give teachers the opportunity and the freedom to do what they’re trained to do, rather than stifle them with the mundane things we have to do. When you allow people to grow in a work setting, you get the best out of them.

We also have to put an effort into providing opportunities beyond the school day through mentorships, business partnerships, bringing in successful black and brown individuals in our community that students can identify with, and then provide the opportunity to see things beyond the district. Take kids on college visits; see different civic events outside the city.

We have to expand their minds.

FXBG Advance: You certainly have a compelling personal story about the power of education to expand minds and alter the direction of a life.

CM: When I talk to kids, I try and tell them about my background, my experience, and my why; why I got into education.

Besides the motivation from my grandfather, who was my life’s hero, I was inspired by a young lady, Giselle.

She was a student who from Pre-K to 7th grade had an IEP because she was mute. But she was brilliant. Knew sign language, could answer questions, could write things down.

One day, out of the blue, she spoke. From Pre-K to 7th grade, she never spoke to anyone. Then all of a sudden, she spoke. All of the students in the classroom were stunned.

You have to understand the trauma kids go through. I built a relationship with her that allowed her to trust me. Kids were allowed to be vulnerable in my classroom, and we talked about the things that affected them before we even got to the lesson.

You have to understand her trauma. Her father was paralyzed and a paraplegic. From a young age, she was caring for her father with her younger brothers. When she came to school, she held it in.

When she finally spoke to me, it changed our relationship. She went on to high school and graduated.

Last summer, she invited me to her wedding.

Those are the stories that teachers can bring and do in the classroom. If you build the right relationship, and get to know kids, you can have a major influence.

FXBG Advance: Building that kind of trusting relationship takes lot of work. Perhaps those who’ve never taught really can’t appreciate what it takes to build the type of classroom environment that you describe.

CM: I always say, you have to show up, and show out.

When I became a principal, I took the same mindset about building culture. And it is my intention to do that as a superintendent. I want to build an infectious culture in our buildings where people feel that they want to be there.

People need to go the extra mile, even when they’re a little bit tired. The right culture is what makes that possible.

FXBG Advance: It is no secret that the School Board in Spotsylvania has been chaotic. One of the greatest challenges you’re going to face early on is navigating a Board that is fragmented in two factions that do not get along. How do you move forward with this fractured group?

CM: I told the Board—and by that, I mean all seven members—that if I take this position, we are going to start from ground zero.

We have to start with board governance. We have to go to training, so we know how to lead and the best practices of being a School Board member. That means having ongoing training through VSBA or outside consultants. How do you govern? How do you put systems and processes and protocols in place that we’re all going to agree with and abide by?

And then we have to do ongoing retreats where we get away from the division so we can focus on how we put our vision and mission forward because if you don’t have that at the top, everything falls apart.

So, we have to start with governance and conduct ourselves in a professional way at all times in School Board meetings. Part of that is we have to prepare for it. We need a clear role in agenda setting, so when we get to topic, it’s not the first time we are discussing it.

We do this collaboratively. That’s where we start. If we can have a clear vision, and a clear sense of people seeing us working together, then it sets the stage for us to have success as a division

That’s how the work gets done.

The School Board is the face of the division. And because of that, all the things that come out are magnified because there’s not a sense of unity. I need to work my tail off to change things as a whole. If we can do that, it’s going to make the big-picture decisions for the district a little bit easier.

FXBG Advance: And all seven members are committed to that?

That’s the commitment I asked of them. And I’m going to do my darndest to bring them together.

FXBG Advance: Given the significant challenges before you, do you have a plan in place to hit the ground running?

CM: On August 1, I will be introducing my 90-day plan to the division.

We’re going to spend a lot of time talking about our “Core 3 over 3.” That’s about getting every employee to focus on doing three things that are best for kids around our strategic plan and do it well over the course of three years.

There will be three phases in the 90-day plan.

Engagement Phase: We’re going to do a listening tour in each district. We’re also going to put out surveys, because I really want to know what people are thinking.

Exploration Phase: Looking at the different components in the district, different departments, and really examine what we need to do moving forward.

Evaluation Phase. I’ll be doing a Superintendent entry plan with an outside consultant to get a general idea of where we are as a district.

We’ll use this entry-plan audit, as well as the listening sessions data, to spring-board a new strategic plan for the next five years.

FXBG Advance: School begins next week. What one thought, or idea, would you leave with students and children as they prepare for the year ahead.

CM: The most important piece is that they have to find a trusting adult in the schoolhouse that their child can connect with, and they can connect with as a family, to help them navigate the tough and difficult situations they may face during the course of the year. Nothing is unsolvable if we can find trusting adults to help us navigate that. I would like every child to find that trusting adult at school.

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