Caught in the Crosshairs with Allan Mucerino: Superintendents in the Political Spotlight

An Imperfect Leader

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INTRO: Hello, Imperfect Leaders! On October 24, 2020, Missouri’s Joint Committee on Education, a committee of state senators and representatives held a committee hearing next door to my office to discuss COVID-19. I thought it was highly unusual since committee hearings were typically conducted at the Capitol Building in Jefferson City. In this case, with my community’s proximity to the Capital, and with access to multiple media outlets, the more than five-hour hearing was held a little over a mile from my home.

On her website describing the hearing, the senator, a self-described champion for charter schools, said, “It is important for state leaders, school officials, parents and students to come together and have their voices heard on this important issue.” In what could only be described as a public execution of public education, I was instructed to sit in the front row while preselected parents and children gave public testimony on the difficulties they were having with virtual learning.

After each testimonial, participants were asked whether they would accept a voucher, if it were made available to them. Many responded they would. At some point in the hearing, my Board President, another Board of Education member, and I were invited to make a statement and answer questions. When one of the senators, in defiance of the local health department’s mask mandate, said he had a question for me, I quickly jumped in and said, “Senator, if it is to ask me if I would accept a voucher, I would not.” I do regret succumbing to impulsivity in making the joke, but the senator did laugh (as did many in the room). The ridiculousness of it all was so incredibly frustrating.

My guest today speaks to this phenomenon for superintendents, that the job has gotten even more political. His article, CAUGHT IN THE CROSSHAIRS, he writes how “as the narrative arc of division rises, superintendents can play the critical role of influencer to bend the arc toward inclusion, compassion, and peace.”

Dr. Allan Mucerino is my guest. It’s a great episode. Thanks for tuning in.

BIO: Today on an Imperfect Leader, Dr. Allan Mucerino is my guest. Dr. Mucerino is the Superintendent, the Chief Administrative Officer, and Chief Equity Officer of the Alvord Unified School District, a PK-12 school district with ~17,500 ADA, ~2,500 employees in the western portion of the City of Riverside, the eastern portion of the City of Corona, and segments of unincorporated communities of Riverside County.

Dr. Mucerino has served as a high school and middle school principal, an assistant superintendent, and superintendent for the past twenty-nine years. Allan considers himself a research-practitioner, and has been a member of the California State University, Fullerton Department of Education faculty for the past fourteen years as a Superintendent in Residence, teaching doctoral level courses, supervising dissertations in practice, and serving on the Executive Committee for doctoral studies.

Thanks for tuning in!

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An Imperfect Leader: The Superintendents and Leadership Podcast is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at www.human-centeredleaders.com.

Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

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My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available on Amazon.com. If there is no hyperlink to follow, please go to Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com. You can order it there.