DPS chief puts faith in God, works for children
April 22, 2007
She had them at "Hello, Detroit."
If you think Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick renewed spirits with his State of the City speech last month, you should have heard Dr. Connie Calloway, the new Detroit Public Schools superintendent, introduce herself Thursday.
After working the crowd at Fellowship Chapel with ease and without an entourage, she eventually took the stage to make two things clear: She answers only to God, and she didn't cause the district's problems.
"It was on fire when I got here, so don't blame me," the 30-year educator said. "My tenure begins on July 1, 2007."
Calloway spoke Christian-to-Christian to parents, teachers and volunteers, saying she will offer respect, clear lines of communication and a professionalism that she called "decent and in order."
She told more than 500 people at Communities in Schools-Detroit's annual celebration of parents, educators and volunteers that God led her to accept a job that she didn't want in a city where she wasn't known with problems that she didn't have in her little school district outside St. Louis. He prepared her, she said.
"I now understand all of the challenges and obstacles that I went through for such a time and place as this," she said. "As the first in my family to graduate from college ... I wondered when I was divorced and went to graduate school on $238 a month and I was very happy, very happy to get welfare, when my daughter's prescriptions cost more than my monthly income, I wondered why I had to struggle so hard. And I saw the letter from Detroit inviting me to apply for superintendent. ... I knew I was called as a servant, and my Bible says obedience is better than service."
Calloway said she will not be working for politicians.
"I am an obedient servant, and if you want to know who I fear, it is Him alone," she said. "I'm not a messiah. I'm not a media mogul. I am not a celebrity. ... I'm not a politician, and I'm not a magician. I don't have a silver bullet to fix, as the news people call it, 'the Titanic.' But what I am is a committed Christian ... and I have a 30-year commitment to educating children."
Being a superintendent, she said, is like being a poker player who uses chips with each decision.
"The challenge is to have enough chips for the next decision," she said, adding that people sent her chips when she did well.
"On bad days, when ain't nobody happy with the superintendent, I would look at my chips and play with them and say, 'I remember when they liked me.'
"Send me some chips when you think I've done the right thing for children," she said. "In five years, I expect that bowl to be running over with chips."
If she's still here in five years, she will deserve them. No Detroit superintendent has lasted longer than five years since 1989. But after hearing Calloway speak, I have a sense she will.
Contact ROCHELLE RILEY at 313-223-4473 or rriley99@freepress.com.
Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.
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