'There are not that many of us': Wyandanch, Hempstead schools led by Black men

One started by teaching students jump shots.

The other by giving preschoolers an academic jump start.

And now Gary Rush and Erik Wright have vaulted to positions of leadership in a field where they are underrepresented — they are both Black men in their first years as superintendents of a Long Island school district.

While in the past five years, the percentage of Black school superintendents has doubled nationwide, the total is still just 4.5% of all superintendents, according to a study by the Virginia-based School Superintendents Association. For Black men specifically, that’s 3.3%, the study found.

Rush and Wright each lead districts that have predominantly Black and Latino student populations, something that also tracks nationwide, where Black superintendents were “significantly more likely” to lead minority districts, according to the study.

Here’s how each of them made it to the top. The interviews have been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

ERIK WRIGHT

Erik Wright runs the Wyandanch Union Free School District on the western end of Suffolk County. The district has more than 2,400 students enrolled in four schools: One high school and one middle school, one grades three to five school and one pre-K through second-grade campus. An early childhood center is under construction. The district makeup is 70% Hispanic and 25% to 30% Black.

Wright, 57, grew up in Harlem. His most recent job was as associate superintendent for the Yonkers School District, which has 10 times the number of students as Wyandanch. He and his wife, Sharice, live in Patchogue. They have two children; one is an adult and the other is in college. Wright said it was the opportune time to move to Long Island to try his hand at the top post in a school district.

  

What inspired you to pursue a career in education?

My mom was a Head Start director for over 20 years. I went to her day care, her Head Start program. I ... went to Catholic high school and had to do community service, so I worked there. Afterward, after I graduated and went to college, I knew that I wanted to get into the field, and I started off working as an assistant teacher in a Head Start setting. (Not hers, but a different setting.)

  

What is it about teaching that appealed to you?

I was able to really develop plans, lesson plans, that were meeting the needs of the students. As a result, you’ve seen these early childhood babies growing socially, emotionally, growing academically. ... It was fun. It was rewarding.

How did you move into administration?

I went into [the system for the] New York City Department of Education. From there, I taught first grade, taught kindergarten, taught a couple of grades, did some middle school work, you know, after school hours, running camps and tutoring programs. I had the opportunity to be part of the New York City Aspiring Principals Program, and I was part of that first cohort under Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg.

The program was a ... 15-month program. It was a leadership program to train future leaders to become principals. Going through that program, I was blessed and fortunate enough to open a redesigned [elementary] school in the South Bronx. It was a struggling school that was closed down. I reopened it as a new school. Under its old name was a school where only 10% to 11% of the scholars were meeting grade-level standards, and within four years, in ELA [English Language Arts] we moved to 65%, and in math we moved to 75%.

  

What are the biggest challenges for your district?

We’ve been out now, out of COVID for a couple of years, but we’ve seen a lot more social-emotional needs. Kids were home. They may not have been diagnosed and provided the proper supports during those times. So, you will see that, you know, in the schools now. Speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy.

  

What are the challenges of being a Black superintendent?

Honestly, I see it as an asset. I try to look at things from an asset-based lens. Working in a Black and brown district, I’ve had similar experiences, so I can use the experiences I’ve had growing up, as well as in the different districts that I’ve worked in. I can utilize that, you know, to my advantage to be a support to the community.

  

Why is it important for students in your district to see someone who looks like them in a leadership role?

It’s important because it shows that there’s opportunity, right? That they can succeed to high levels. There’s work you have to do, like in any other case, but it is possible. You first have to dream it, and then you have to set your goals. And it’s our job to help them do those things.

  

What advice do you have for others who might want to follow your path?

It’s important to make sure the role is something that you really want. And go through the system. Take those steps: Become a principal, go to central office first, ensure that you understand the role. Because when you’re in the seat, it’s very, very different. Because it starts and ends with you.

GARY RUSH

Gary Rush runs the Hempstead Union Free School District in Nassau County’s incorporated village of Hempstead. The district has 4,800 students in eight schools: a high school, a middle school, five elementary schools and a pre-K/kindergarten center. The district makeup is about 75% Hispanic/Latino and 25% Black.

Rush, 52, grew up in South Jamaica, Queens. He has spent his entire career in the Hempstead district. He and his wife live in West Babylon. They have four children, ages 27, 24, 16 and 11.

  

What inspired you to become a teacher?

I love sports, and I wanted to be a phys-ed teacher. I like the opportunity of being able to connect academic coursework to sports. ... I used to do a lot of interdisciplinary projects with teachers regarding math and other things as well, to support what’s happening in the classroom.

  

How is being a superintendent different from being a teacher?

Within your classroom, you feel like you can only make a difference in the four walls; now you feel like you can make a systemic difference.

  

What is your district’s biggest challenge?

Declining enrollment. We used to have 8,000 in the district, but we’ve been losing a lot of students to charter schools. It takes away tax money. Per-pupil spending follows the student to the charter school. So last year, we paid about $110 million out of our budget to charter schools. 

  

What are the challenges of being a Black superintendent on Long Island?

I’ll say that the challenge is there are not that many of us. When you’re looking to share some experiences ... there are not a lot of superintendents that have the same issues that we have in Hempstead. We have 45% ELL [English Language Learners] population, we have about 16% of students with IEPs [Individualized Education Plans], which is over 50% of our district. Those are high-needs students ... you have some students who are taking a state assessment who have only been in the country for two years. It would help when you think about ideas, how you want to brainstorm and move things forward, or the road that might have been taken in their district.

Right now there’s some stress on families who have not been in the country for a long time. How has that affected your district?

It’s really draining, because we have a chronic absenteeism. Due to the climate that we’re in now, without getting political myself, it is impacting students, especially our English Language Learners and their attendance in school. They’re fearful of ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. We have a lot of exposure to ICE in the Hempstead school district, and once parents see that, they’re fearful of coming to school.

We’ve had three of our high school students who were in our play ... whose parents were separated from them last week. It was just very stressful talking to students who are going through this and expected to still operate and function the next day.

ICE has been in the community pretty heavy as of late, so we’re trying to stress to students on our end that school is the safest place once you’re here. But students are saying to us, well, the problem is we have to get there, we’re a walking district, we don’t have buses.

  

What advice do you have for students who might want to follow in your path?

The advice I have is do it for the love of the work, do it for the love of children and seeing progress made. If you’re doing it for financial reasons, you’re missing the big picture. Do it for making a difference long-term. Because at the end of the day, I think the best administrators are those that become administrators not because they’re running from the classroom but because they want to make a difference.