La Joya ISD leadership is Harvard-bound

Harvard University selected La Joya ISD to attend a prestigious summer program that helps district leaders improve public school management.

The district’s executive cabinet will attend the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP) in Boston, where faculty members from Harvard Business School, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Kennedy School of Government will help them strengthen their leadership capabilities. The LJISD staff headed to Boston includes Superintendent Dr. Marcey Sorensen, Chief of Staff Joseph Niedziela, Chief of Human Capital & Talent Development Jaime Miller, Chief of Business, Finance & Administrative Services Mirgitt Crespo and Executive Directors of School Leadership Nidia Ortiz and Jodie Adair. Two principals will also attend the PELP Summer Institute, but the district has not specified which principals.

PELP focuses on executive education for large urban school districts. During the five-day Summer Institute in July, La Joya ISD will learn from world-renowned educators, researchers and award-winning authors alongside 11 other districts from across the country. They will participate in team sessions to collaborate and problem-solve, and conduct interdistrict sharing to learn from one another.

The chief of staff expressed his excitement for the upcoming program.

“This selection is a powerful affirmation of the leadership, vision and commitment that define La Joya ISD,” Niedziela said. “We are proud to see our executive cabinet recognized on the national stage, and look forward to the insights and strategies that we’ll bring back to our community.”

According to the PELP website, Harvard founded the program on the belief that “student performance improves when a school district has strong leaders, a collaborative ethos and a dedication to accountability” — the latter is specifically an area where La Joya ISD needs further development. Last month’s financial audit findings showed that the district lacked a culture of accountability, which created a series of trickle-down issues that stemmed from leadership.

During the May 7 presentation, the third-party auditors reported that they uncovered at least two years of financial issues, such as overpaying vendors, insufficient payroll documentation and poor policy outlines.

“Overall, the district has policies, which is great. We just think that some of them need procedures for execution and the controls to be called out. Overall, what this will create is more accountability,” the auditor from Alvarez and Marsal said. “We’ve noticed that, pretty much through the review of processes and control, without those escalation processes, without those extra approval processes, there’s no accountability, especially when things go awry.”

At the PELP Summer Institute, La Joya ISD’s staff will learn unique management concepts and best practices to help the district create and sustain a culture of accountability, enhancing their leadership skills to effectively manage the district.

The fee for all eight LJISD participants to attend the conference is $37,000, which includes meals and lodging but does not include travel. Public Relations and Communications Director Blanca Cantu said the district already had the expense built into the budget, as it aligns with the district’s commitment to developing leadership excellence.

The superintendent said she is thrilled Harvard selected La Joya to participate in the program.

“This, for me, just affirms our commitment to the strategic plan as leadership excellence is where we are committed in our strategic plan,” Sorensen said. “Each one of us had to select a problem of practice, and so we will be digging into leadership and how to continue to strengthen our campus leaders as we work with Harvard Business and Harvard Graduate School, so that we can continue to pour into our principals.”