Q&A with Elkhart Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Larry Huff
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Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Elkhart Community Schools Superintendent Larry Huff started his professional career in social work as a crisis counselor when he moved to Indiana with his family.
Huff received a bachelor’s in liberal studies from the University of Indianapolis, a master’s in Education from Marian University in Indianapolis, his elementary and middle school administration/principalship licensure from Lamar University and a PhD in educational Leadership and administration from Oakland City University.
He was named superintendent of Elkhart Schools in March after serving as chief academic officer of the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township in Indianapolis.
Huff spoke with Inside INdiana Business on his career so far, fostering purposeful mentorship relationships, bouncing back from rejection and his plans for the school district.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What brought you to Indiana?
When I came to Indiana, I started off in social work as a crisis counselor. One of the things that I found to be pretty interesting about that job, every child that we interacted with, regardless of whatever horrible situation they came out of, the common factor was that they didn’t like school. Part of the interview process was asking about what they did in school and their relationship with school. They all said they did not have a good experience in school. While those kids looked like me when I was in those situations in Indianapolis, demographics are a little bit different than up here in Elkhart County. So I thought, instead of having these conversations outside of the school system, what if I can make an impact inside the school system? So I went back and got my master’s in teaching from Marian University. I’ve been in education ever since 2007.
What does career progression look like in the education industry?
For me, I was blessed with outstanding mentors, formally and informally. I need to give credit to people who poured into me along my journey. This is year 18. You don’t do anything in education by yourself. I had Dr. Nate Jones, who was the previous superintendent of Pike Township when I was a teacher. Dr. Larry Young, who was my superintendent before coming here to Elkhart. Dr. Curtis Wright, a buddy of mine who helped me get through my Ph.D. David Holly, who hired me as a teacher and Dr. Shawn Smith of Lawrence Township.
Throughout my career, I’ve had real models of what excellence looked like, not just excellence in how they carried themselves, but how they interacted with each other. These are all teachers of color, they’re all black men, so it wasn’t hard for me to envision what was possible in my career. People like me don’t always have that opportunity. Pike Township has a pretty rigorous Leadership Academy, something I plan to bring here to Elkhart as well because you need to intentionally build your pipeline. You can’t promote people if there’s no people in the pipeline to promote.
That’s one of the things Dr. Jones was known for. If you wanted to be an administrator in his district, you had to go through the Leadership Academy. I didn’t look at that as extra work; I look at it as blessed work. I had people pour into me before I actually had the responsibility of a role. In that year, the Leadership Academy really changed my life.
Small fact about Nate Jones. In Indiana, do you know how many African American superintendents there are in the 351 school districts? Only nine. All of them are men that came from Dr. Jones’s tutelage. We all worked together in the same school district. I don’t think you can find that anywhere in the nation. To say he’s a legend would be an understatement.
What are your top tips for really fostering a good mentorship relationship?
I can give you three things. You must have good self discipline. You have to learn to be invested in yourself. Start to think about who you want to be and then follow through. I knew I wanted to be a principal. That was the peak for me and Dr. Jones told me I was thinking too small. I asked him what he meant and he said, “You never know what God is going to call you to do once you get there.” I was a principal and I was a pretty darn good one too, but he said, “Start thinking about the things that you want to be.” So I really try to follow that philosophy, number one.
Number two, there’s no linear path to wherever you need to be. There’s going to be trials, there’s going to be tribulation and there’s going to be some setbacks. Matter of fact, you better hope that they’re setbacks, because you want to get into those positions having learned from experience, as opposed to experiencing those things for the first time when you get those roles.
Lastly, humility. You can’t aspire and step up if you don’t realize that you have lots to learn. Even in this role here, I know I have the most to learn because although I’m the one who has the most influence. I’m also new to this position. So my listening ears are up and my humility is way up as well. I don’t know the things I don’t know. So surround yourself with people who are very wise and who demonstrate those same things.
For me, it’s pretty simple. I have a mentor construct in my mind of who I want to be like and he told me, just go right, stay straight and that’s the path to success.
What were some of your biggest trials or setbacks, and how are you able to come back from them?
In education, you’re going to be humbled quite often. I can think of one occasion at the end of my third year being a principal. I was principal of Eastbrook Elementary School in Pike Township, a very diverse school; there were 84 languages spoken inside of that school. We had just come off a year where we had the highest academic achievement in the school district. We have schools down there that have high ability programs, kind of like here, and my school did not have that and our data was better than those schools, so it was a point of pride. I felt like I finally hired all the teachers and got everybody where I was going.
Then I get a phone call from my former superintendent, Dr. Young, telling me he’s moving me to this other school. I heard about this other school, and my initial thought was, “Oh, no, please don’t, you know I’ve done a good job here.” And he said, “This is going to be a part of your story. I’m not going to force you to go to another school, but consider what type of opportunity those kids would have if they had a leader just like you at this school.”
Mentors are master manipulators, but in the best ways. So I agreed and became principal at New Augusta South Elementary School. And when I tell you, those were the best two years of my life, they really were, professionally. I had to jump into a new situation where no one knew me and had to start all over, and I wanted to figure out, “Does my brand work in a different location?” And it did. I had a great time with those teachers. Learning happened and that was also when COVID was at its peak, so leading the staff through that was also very challenging, but we stuck together. In my education career, that has probably been the biggest challenge that I have experienced and also the challenge of not getting a job that you know you’re qualified for.
Can you talk to me about that and how you were able to restrategize mentally and strategically?
I was transitioning from being a pretty successful principal and then there was a central office position that I was hoping for as director of elementary schools. Now this is under the previous superintendent that was in my previous district. I had earned my doctorate. I had literally moved to another school to turn it around. So I went through the interview process and from what I understood, I was the top candidate. For whatever reason, I didn’t get that position, so I asked for feedback. The individual said, “Well, I’m looking for someone who is…” I think she used the word knowledgeable about teaching. I didn’t say this out loud because you actually have to be respectful but I was thinking, “I have the same doctorate you have, I’ve technically been a principal longer.”
When she brought the person in, I was like, oh, okay, because sometimes it’s just not the right fit for that person. And God has a way of intervening sometimes on your behalf, but it was hard. Everybody in the district pretty much thought that was where I was going to go next. And you start believing your own hype too every once in a while. I was humbled and I confided in one person, I said, “Man, this hurts more than I thought.” And that’s how I knew that job was important to me. Not just the rejection, but knowing that you’re qualified and you’re ready to run. So I sat down with that person and said, “If I ever get in a position where I have influence to sponsor someone, not mentor, sponsor, you gotta open up doors for other people.”
Another position opened up in the district for a chief academic officer, where you’re responsible for all the academics, K-12, which is a step above. Well, there’s a big gap between that and the elementary director, and Dr. Young asked, “Is this something that you’d be interested in? Because you’re qualified, you’re knowledgeable, and you have good results.”
So rejection led to my diving deeper into myself, diving deeper into the work. And so when that opportunity came around, I was prepared. I think sometimes people, when they get rejected, they think no other opportunities are coming. No, there is a better opportunity coming, you just don’t know that yet. You don’t know how many people in the community are looking out for you or praying for you or putting things in front of you to make sure that you’re ready for your next opportunity. And you wouldn’t have been ready if you weren’t rejected from this opportunity. So that’s how I look at not getting what you think you deserve. We don’t deserve anything but to be a humble servant on this planet. Everything else is a bonus.
I think we need to teach our young folks that failure is part of growth and that how they cope with it can really determine how the rest of their life goes.
How’s it been in Elkhart so far?
Elkhart’s a very busy place. I’d never been before I went to the interview process. I did all the research and figured out it was quite different from Indianapolis. But the city’s really grown on me. I’ve met a lot of people during this short period of time. I had the blessing of starting in March instead of starting in July. So I was able to see how our school system ended the school year. I was able to engage with our teachers before they left for the summer. I was able to start to roll out what some of my priorities would be for the 2024-25 school year. But most importantly, I was able to connect with those in the community and I think I used those first 100 days pretty wisely. I got a lot of information, seeing what our district is proud of. The district has had some challenges over the years but please know that the best days are ahead of us. We’re all going to get there, together. So I’m excited to be here and every day I’m hitting the ground running.
What does the superintendent do when school is out?
Planning for the next year. For example, today I’ve spoken to all our substitute teachers. I’ve done a radio interview. I’ve worked on our budget for the next school year. I’ve approved some hires for administration. I’ve looked at our facilities plans to make sure that our buildings are ready to go for the beginning of the school year. Summertime is build time at the central office, so it is a very busy time. I think I took three days off this summer. You can only start your school year off right one time, so I want to make sure that it starts off really well.
For the upcoming school year, what are you hoping to continue from the last administration, and what are some of the new ideas you’re looking to introduce?
One of the things that I want to continue from the last administration, they started a campaign that was called Elkhart Builds Readers. That’s an initiative to promote early literacy with our elementary students. Making sure that they did not just choose text that they can read on their own but also things that were challenging, and we did that all around one book. Elkhart Builds Readers is something that I want to continue.
New additions, I want to make sure that my teachers are prepared for the new legislation that relates to science of reading. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done here. Very few teachers are fully prepared to meet those expectations from the state. But we’re up for the challenge because we have adopted a platform, LETRS. It stands for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, which will take them through the pedagogical shifts that have to do with science and reading. So in two years, all my K-8 teachers will be fully trained. It was a huge investment in our school district, over $600,000 to make sure that our teachers are receiving that training, and I look forward to seeing huge academic growth in our elementary schools based on further enhancing the knowledge of our teachers.
I also think it’s an important time to rebuild the culture and climate here as well. How you are made to feel at work is just as important as making money. I really believe that top flight organizations focus on hospitality, not just on customer service. What I walk away feeling after I meet with somebody in your organization tells me a lot about your organization. If I went to an employee and asked them are they happy there and they stutter, it tells me something. But if they beam up and say, “Oh, I love working here,” I lean into that organization and want to know more. I think we have a huge opportunity to work on some systems and some processes, but most importantly that hospitality piece, to make sure that anyone who interacts with anybody from Elkhart Community Schools walks away saying, “Hey, you know what? I felt valued and respected and I really believe my child is going to have an outstanding experience here, because I just had an outstanding experience.”
Lastly, looking at our athletics here as well. Athletics really ties the community together, so we are very excited. We have new football coaches and we have some really high hopes for our football team this year. I’m looking forward to having more athletic cohesiveness. There used to be two high schools and now there’s only one and people are still working through that process.
This will be the first graduating class that spent all four years in one school. Not at Elkhart Memorial, not at Elkhart Central, just Elkhart High School. So I’m really excited to celebrate this year with these students. That customer service and hospitality piece and focusing on literacy, particularly at the younger grades, are two of the bigger initiatives that we’re focusing on.
Do you have any programs geared towards teaching students about caring for their mental health?
Yeah, we’re looking at building a curriculum that’s representative of the student, making sure that teachers are aware of best practices related to trauma informed care. We have made sure that this year we have a social worker and a counselor at every one of our elementary schools. There’s a translator in every school too, so we’re able to meet the needs of our changing demographics as well. Elkhart has a high Spanish-speaking population, so we’re very blessed to make our families and our students feel welcome.
We are doing activities such as community circles, where kids have time to check in on not only what they are learning, but how they are feeling being inside of our school. We’re making sure that we’re intentional about hearing their voices in those places and spaces, and as the African proverb says, “How are the children doing? If the kids aren’t doing well, nobody’s doing well.”
We’re also making sure that it is systematic at all levels, not just at this school or that school. I think the most dangerous question you can ask the superintendent is, “What school should I send my child to to make sure that they have a great experience in your school district?” My answer should always be all of them, and the only way to do that is to make sure that everyone has access to good training, and that we expect the training that we provide to support teachers along the way. I’m excited for what is yet to come for Elkhart Community Schools.