NORTHAMPTON – Bridge Street Elementary School Principal Beth Choquette and John F. Kennedy Middle School Principal Desmond Caldwell were nominated by Northampton Superintendent John Provost to participate in the statewide Influence 100 Pilot Program.  

Within this program, Choquette and Caldwell join 59 other fellows in an initiative designed to help prepare 100 diverse educational leaders for the superintendency, create more culturally responsive districts and leaders, and promote better outcomes for students.  

The program began in 2019 and now includes 21 districts in the commonwealth, after six more joined a couple of weeks ago. Influence 100 is a four-year initiative that focuses on two components: a fellowship program for qualified educators looking to become superintendents in the next five years, and support for school districts to become more culturally responsive and diversify their workforce. The fellows who are in the program participate in a two-year leadership development program that addresses the nuances of becoming a superintendent, with a focus on what it takes to lead a district to be more culturally responsive.

“It’s a huge honor, mainly because I’m so passionate about my work around social justice leadership,” said Choquette. “Having the opportunity to work with Desmond on something that’s so important; it’s a real sense of pride for me.”

Choquette has been principal of Bridge Street since 2012, and Caldwell became the JFK principal in the summer of 2020. Caldwell has his superintendent license in several different states and said that he wants to continue to develop in that area. Choquette also said that she shares a similar passion and aspires to become a superintendent one day.  

“He really understands my passion for cultural responsiveness,” said Caldwell, when speaking about Provost. “He’s been pushing me to really continue to develop in that area and get back to thinking about making an impact from the superintendent seat.”

Oftentimes, Choquette and Caldwell do not have the opportunity to work with one another within the district, so they both believe that this program is the perfect opportunity for that to occur. “The other big part of this is networking,” said Choquette. “It’s always nice to be able to network with folks across the state on issues that we’re all facing. We do need to diversify the field…not just superintendents, but principals, teachers, because our kids need to see people in front of them that represent them.”

According to Caldwell, the concept of being culturally responsive can be different depending on where you are. “It’s understanding the community you serve, the people within that community, figuring out what that community needs, and helping to provide that thing for your community in a way that your community can access it and absorb it,” said Caldwell. “For me, being culturally responsive means that we are bringing everyone to the table and having this discussion and figuring out what the needs are and supporting those needs.”

Choquette added that it really comes down to getting to know the students and the families. “I think everything we talk about in education ties back to relationships,” said Choquette. “How well do we know our students; how well do we know our families; how well do we know our community, and how do we embed everything that’s so wonderful about them into the curriculum so that students and families feel that their culture and perspective is part of education.”

The fellows across the state meet monthly to talk about specific projects within each district. Both said there is still a lot to learn though since, as of press time, they have only been in two meetings so far. According to Caldwell, there will be a project that involves specifically looking into their own district and locating any problems when it comes to diversity. “Right now, we’re having discussions around unconscious bias within schools,” said Caldwell. “It’s anchored in a text that’s intended to really push us as thinkers and leaders.”

While the program is still in its early stages, both principals said that it will be important to look at certain aspects of the district from a central offices’ perspective. They also will both work on finding any inequities that may be present within the Northampton district.  

“We’re a very white staff, but I have a very diverse student population,” said Choquette, when speaking on her school. “I know the benefits and the outcomes that can happen around academics and social/emotional learning when students see people in front of them that look like them.”

For the JFK School, Caldwell said that the most diverse group of professionals are their education support professionals. “It’s important to have all levels of our structure representative of our student body at bare minimum,” said Caldwell. “It’s important that those lived experiences are on the table, as well.”  

According to the state website, the goal is to have 100 racially ethnically diverse school leaders engaged in the program. The state hopes to increase the amount of superintendents of color in Massachusetts from 4 percent now to 14 percent in 10 years.  

“So much of this is so urgent, that we can’t wait and see,” said Caldwell. “We need to act, especially when you have groups who are underserved and almost forgotten about.”