But at night, there is a lot keeping her up. 

鈥淚t feels like perilous times,鈥� she told 蜜桃影视.

The philanthropic backing for the work to build up pipelines for more educators of color 鈥� which saw unprecedented support in the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 killing 鈥� is dwindling. And a generation of young people are being challenged to see education as a viable career, amid poor wages and political restrictions, said Semaan. 

鈥淎 number of funds that were set aside specifically for diverse leaders and educators, those things are being sunset now,鈥� said Semaan, who founded the Surge Institute in 2014 to provide leadership development opportunities for educators of color in several American cities. 

鈥淭he wild enthusiasm that we saw for elevating and amplifying leaders of color and having them be thought leaders, those tones are becoming more muted.鈥�

After nearly a decade supporting Latino, Asian, Native and Black leaders like herself thrive in higher level positions in districts nationwide, Semaan has witnessed ebbs and flows in public opinion, success and philanthropic priorities when it comes to diversifying the workforce. 

In conversation with 蜜桃影视, she reflected on the biggest challenges to bringing in more leaders of color, her personal experiences being discouraged from the field, and what鈥檚 at stake for the next generation without systemic change in recruitment and retention. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell me about what you鈥檝e been seeing, hearing, thinking. What is the state of diversifying teacher and leader pipelines right now?

It feels like perilous times. 

In 2020, because of the combination of the pandemic and the racial reckoning post George Floyd, there was a lot of attention being paid, or at least lip service being given, to education equity. Regarding the need for not only creating pathways, but for retaining teachers and leaders of color. At the time, when people asked me a very similar question to the way you’re asking now, I would say I was cautiously optimistic. 

The reason I was cautious is because I think that this work has to be movement work. And it felt like people were responding to a moment with all the right words. But if there’s not true belief that is grounding those words and activities, then when the next thing comes, it is very easy to pivot away from that. 

I鈥檓 thinking about 鈥� the role that pay disparity and politics play, and how that weaves into the ability of teachers to do their job. Burnout from the past two and a half years is particularly impacting teachers of color. I think that those things should give us all pause, and cause us all to question whether that bump of interest and commitment and urgency post George Floyd, if that somehow lost its luster. 

People have felt that they’ve checked some boxes and are now moving on, whether it be book banning or school boards and fighting for seats. 

Could we spend a moment thinking through the barriers to your work right now. What do you see as the largest challenges to diversifying the workforce? How have they changed since you founded Surge in 2014? 

A lot of the challenges that are facing us in education, from teacher pay to student loan debt to politics that are making it really divisive and unsustainable, are all things that aren鈥檛 helping us in getting a new generation of leaders interested in seeing education as a viable professional opportunity. That is something that does make me lose sleep 鈥� I think about the number of people, especially first generation college goers, that are being told in their communities, by their families, and sometimes even in their schools, that if they want to be successful, have a living wage and a sense of freedom, that education isn’t the pathway for them. 

Education is also policy, education is philanthropy. Education is curriculum writing. Education is graphic design, and using creative measures to contribute to student learning. We haven’t always done a great job of helping young people see how they can use all of their brilliance and abilities, because we’ve created such a narrow definition of what it means to be an educator. And I think that is something that becomes increasingly perilous with Gen Z, who are not the folks that are trying to be in one job for 30 years.

I also have a micro level concern. I’m just going to be honest with you as a CEO of an organization that does invest unapologetically in Black, brown, and AAPI leaders. We experienced some of the largest investments in our work that we’ve ever had post George Floyd, as people were really doubling down on this effort to invest in education, equity. But those things are waning, not just for Surge, but as I talk to peers within this work.

A number of funds that were set aside specifically for diverse leaders and educators, those things are being sunset now. The wild enthusiasm that we saw for elevating and amplifying leaders of color and having them be thought leaders, those tones are becoming more muted. 

Why do you think that enthusiasm has gone away? Why do you think you鈥檙e seeing the availability of funders dwindle?

I think some [factors] are just externalities. Think about all the tech funding that supports education, philanthropy 鈥� tech has taken a big hit over the past 18 months. People have seen their actual balance sheets impacted. The reality is, a lot of folks have had to make tough calls about where we make cuts. 

In some cases, while there may be this commitment to educational equity, it was often tacked on as a nice thing to do versus being integrated in the fabric of strategic priorities. It’s not surprising to me that issues of equity and diversity have been some of the first things cut when there鈥檚 a need to tighten purse strings. It never was really integrated in the thinking about the things that are really good at driving systemic change. 

I also think that as human beings, we follow the shiny objects. As national discourse has changed, there’s been some natural shifting of attention. 鈥極h, yes, we now see many more organizations that are centered around leaders of color. We see a lot more people who are visible in leadership positions, so we can check that box and move on to the next.鈥� I don’t think that comes from a necessarily malicious place. 

We’re nearing the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board, which as you know resulted in a generation of Black leaders being purged from schools. Could you reflect on that impact? How might students be impacted by these kinds of disparities, if they continue as they have for the next seven decades?

I’m going to make this really personal. I’m 46, so I’m kind of squarely in the middle of that. The adults in my life when I was younger were those who lived through Jim Crow. I was very explicitly discouraged from taking on a role in education. 

I was studying chemical engineering, and I had this epiphany. I had a scholarship, I’m doing really well. And I called my mom my junior year of college and said, I’m going to get this chemical engineering degree, but I know that I’m called to do something different with my life. I was talking in my 21-year-old wisdom about eradicating poverty, revitalizing urban neighborhoods and all this stuff. I grew up well below the poverty line, lived in projects and was homeless at some point in my childhood. My mom said, no, you’ve got to continue what you’re doing, you鈥檝e got to get a good job as an engineer. 鈥楾he best thing you can do for poor people is never be one of them again,鈥� was her wisdom to me at that time, which you can imagine, I thought was the worst thing in the world to say. 

She was doing her best to prepare her child to live and thrive and live a life that offered opportunities that she couldn’t have imagined. That was 25 years ago, and those conversations are happening with young people now and are even intensified because of things that we’ve talked about earlier. You’re going to not be treated well, and you’re going to burn out, because you’re going to be expected to do all these other things. You’re not going to be treated as a professional. There’s going to be all of these politics that limit your ability to actually do what you think is really necessary for those that you serve.

When I think about what we are living in, it is disheartening. But what gives me hope is there are so many amazing organizations that are out there investing in our young people, our families, who have been underserved or overlooked. their organization like ours, and others that are investing in the current generation of leaders and senior leaders, to actually keep people in these positions, and keep the profession, you know, vibrant and thriving, and a place for innovation and ingenuity that doesn’t become stale, that actually welcomes people to bring the fullness of who they are their experiences, in ways that are going to improve and drive systemic change 鈥� those things are happening.

I just think there’s got to be even greater support of the types of work that we are doing to combat all of these other negative externalities that are really haunting me when I think about this next generation of young people entering the workforce. 

And in this new phase, if you were to imagine a school system that was working toward a movement, as opposed to just responding to a moment, how would it look? Can you point to places that you know are more systematically changing the way they bring folks into the classroom and leadership?

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out Sharif El-Mekki in Philadelphia, who leads the Center for Black Educator Development. His work 鈥� aligns with this idea of a movement. Key is starting with young people and saying, Okay, if we want to recruit and retain folks, there has to be a multi-prong approach. Getting more young people and people from communities seeing roles in education as viable professional pathways is one part of that work. 

How do you actually retain people in these roles, and create the conditions necessary for them to really thrive in these positions? A couple of things that immediately come to mind are first recognizing the different responsibilities that are often held by teachers, administrators and other leaders of color in education, that are frankly just different from their peers. 

A number of folks we have in the Surge Network are Black male educators, who talk about no matter what their role is, they are often pulled into disciplinary experiences. People say, oh, you have good interactions with the students, so we want you to now take on this responsibility for the social and emotional welfare for young people, potentially young Black men. Which is fine. But if there’s not an acknowledgement that you are actually asking people to do a lot more than the one job that they are hired for, that leads to burnout and turnover. You’re asking people to shoulder, in addition to the intellectual aspects of their roles as educators, the emotional and mental burden of students and families because of their proximity to them.

When you have folks wearing all of these different hats, like the multilingual teacher who also has to translate for lots of other people in the school. These are often those unspoken responsibilities that our educators carry, without additional compensation 鈥� But what we heard and continue to hear is they also need the space for rejuvenation, real healing, rest and storytelling, to feel like 鈥業’m not alone,鈥� which is something I think is invaluable and too often overlooked as a necessary component in creating greater sustainability in these roles.

If I were in a position at a system level, I would really be thinking about what are the things that are contributing to these roles feeling unsustainable for educators and leaders of color, and then getting to the heart of those matters. 

At Surge, you’re mentoring, coaching, creating community. Why is that kind of nurturing so important for leaders of color? And what are some approaches system leaders could consider in trying to get at those parts that aren’t necessarily a training workshop, for example?

We talk about our work at Surge as head, heart and spirit work. It’s why I sort of cringe when people say, 鈥極h, yes, you do leadership development, for educators of color.鈥� Yes, there is absolutely a part of that 鈥� we can’t say that we aspire for people to achieve and sustain themselves in senior and executive level roles without providing access to skills and knowledge that we know is required in order to thrive. But what’s been transformational in the experience of our fellows and alums that we hear time and time again, is this heart and spirit component.

There鈥檚 this myth that our people don’t want to lead a certain level, or that there is this hesitation. Those things are simply untrue 鈥� We start from a place of knowing who our people are, having a real asset- and strengths-based approach. We don’t minimize that heart and spirit work, we don’t see it as an add on, we see it as a necessary precursor to thriving in these roles. 

We are often fighting a lot of other things, including systems that have told us that we have to be less of ourselves. Leave those things that actually make you richly and deeply connected and proximate to your students and their families. When I say it that plainly, it makes it pretty obvious how we could, you know, be creating situations that make people feel that they’re unsustainable, because they are having to operate in a place that doesn’t see them for who they are, and therefore can’t bring the best of themselves into spaces.

We believe that that community is necessary in order for people to sustain in this work in the long run. I’m a comic nerd. We dispel this individual superhero myth, and we recognize that it’s Justice League work. And in order to build real connection with other leaders, that can’t be about the transactional stuff, that’s got to be about who we are, what are the challenges that are unique to us. 

Disclosure: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative provides financial support to the and 蜜桃影视.

Perhaps, he thought, young people had lost some maturing time in pandemic isolation, since the behavior was more typical of younger students. Or maybe, like him, they were . 

The mental health positions he鈥檇 posted stayed vacant for a fifth month. He and his principal colleagues in the Meridian School District were now logging upwards of 60 hours a week, taking on responsibilities of counselors, nurses, subbing as teachers, and food service workers. All while being verbally attacked at local school board meetings over curricula and mask guidelines. 

鈥淢y students aren’t learning the way I want them to, they’re dealing with their own mental health issues that I can’t help them with, my staff are struggling with those same things. And more and more stuff just continues to pile on,鈥� he said. 

For the first time in his 22-year education career, a depleted Forbes has thought about leaving the job he loves, to pursue district leadership. 

鈥淚 always thought that I would always stay in education, and I have no doubt that I will continue鈥� But, I thought about what else might be out there. And I never thought I would do that,鈥� he said.

His experience is hardly rare. Across the country, many principals are preparing to leave the field altogether. 

A of more than 500 this fall by the National Association of Secondary School Principals has found nearly four in ten expect to leave their post within the next three years. More than a third will leave education as soon as they can find a higher-paying job. 

Dubbed a looming 鈥渕ass exodus鈥� by NASSP, numbers were even higher for principals with four years or less on the job: 62 percent of early-career principals said they will leave within the next six years. Many others are .

The crisis has hit principals of color, women and those leading schools with higher proportions of lower-income students and students of color particularly hard. They are more likely than their peers to experience job-related stress during the pandemic, a new study found. 

According to NASSP鈥檚 fall survey, 91 percent of principals were very or extremely concerned about student wellness, more than any other challenge (in comparison, mask mandates had about 51 percent very or extremely concerned). More than a third said there鈥檚 not adequate student services staff, like nurses and counselors.

鈥�…For people to start saying, 鈥楳an, you know, I’m not ready to die. I’m not dying yet but this thing is killing me,鈥� really scares me,鈥� said NASSP CEO Ronn Nozoe. 鈥淏ecause people, especially our members, don’t say that stuff. And they don’t say it lightly and they sure as heck don’t say it publicly.鈥�

The surveys and widespread stories of principals鈥� well-being plummeting point to the need for mental health support, mentorship and leadership development programs for principals, said Nozoe. 

Principals told 蜜桃影视 the exodus may begin as early as the end of this school year. Some may want to leave mid-year but, understanding the stress it would cause for their schools, are waiting until summer break. 

Nozoe has seen red flags for the profession throughout the pandemic: Fewer candidates are entering training, higher education and . Superintendents are also experiencing burnout and reaching retirement, so some principals will go on to district roles.

But the biggest flag, he said, is that teachers across the country have expressed the same care and concern that they express for students, now for their supervisors. 

鈥淚t’s the first time I’ve really seen it – our teachers saying, 鈥榃e’re struggling, but man, I’m really worried about our principal,鈥欌�� said Nozoe.

鈥溾�楬e or she is getting beat up, and he doesn鈥檛 look good or she doesn’t look good. They’re all stressed out and I don’t want to lose her or him.鈥欌��

Strategizing on how to better support students and staff mental health has had a ripple effect. Principals are now pointing the spotlight on themselves, taking stock of their own well-being.

鈥淚 have sought out and have been seeing a therapist, because I think it’s important 鈥� not just for me as a principal to talk to my kids about [their] mental health 鈥� it’s also important for me to walk that walk,鈥� said Michael Brown, president-elect of NASSP鈥檚 Maryland chapter and principal at Winter Mills High School. 

Brown said the 鈥渉ighly politicized nature of education鈥� has taken its toll on the state鈥檚 educators, many of whom never fully clock-out, making evening calls and communications about the latest pandemic guidance to families. 鈥淵ou struggle to have positive days, positive thoughts.鈥�

鈥業 had to choose myself鈥�

Nadia Lopez, former principal of the Mott Hall Bridges Academy, a middle school in Brooklyn鈥檚 Brownsville neighborhood, criticized the lack of support for principals of color during the pandemic and constant race-based violence.

While trying to keep students on track academically, their schools were disproportionately taxed by racism, police brutality, COVID-19 deaths and pandemic job loss. 

鈥淣ot once was there a convening of leaders to say 鈥榳e recognize that there’s an issue that’s happening across our nation, and you all are having to shoulder a lot of this,鈥欌�� said Lopez.

Now a leadership coach, she continually sees the impact of unsupportive superintendents and disproportionately concentrated student needs. On New Year鈥檚 Eve, she got a call from one distraught New York assistant principal of color, who regularly subbed for teachers on top of her usual duties. She was finally signing her resignation papers, accepting another offer. Another in California left her post mid-year to become a consultant. 

They and dozens of others have recounted their health issues, insomnia and depression to Lopez, their mentor who鈥檇 the Brooklyn middle school she founded and led for a decade. She resigned in June 2020 after developing a crippling kidney disease from the professional stress.

鈥淚 had to choose myself and say, this no longer aligns with who I am as a person. It doesn’t represent who I am as a parent. It doesn’t represent the leader that I’ve been to my scholars and telling them that education is a form of liberation,鈥� Lopez told the 74. 鈥淚t perpetuates the idea that you accept abuse when you shouldn’t have to.鈥�

My experience as a school principal right now鈥�

鈥� Greg Moffitt (@Greg_Moffitt)

Clear across the country, educators in Wyoming are tapping out, too. 

This school year alone, Principal Brian Cox has hired seven new teachers; at least two 鈥渓eft the field of education altogether, mid-year.鈥� His workday starts at 2:30am to address daily staffing challenges. 

鈥淪ome principals feel like the job is becoming untenable. Like there is no way to win,鈥� said Cox, who heads up Cheyenne鈥檚 only predominantly low-income middle school. 

With media and public officials disrespecting their expertise, those in the profession feel, 鈥渓ike your boss had it out for you, the community hated you for the job you do,鈥� he said. The fallout will create a 鈥�massive void 鈥� of interventions, of instructional and behavioral frameworks.鈥�

Strengthening the pipeline

Top of mind for all principals 蜜桃影视 interviewed is creating more balanced workloads, to change the reality that they cannot succeed without sacrificing their own health. 

States must also back ways to recruit and the next generation of teachers and administrators, Brown said. Investing funds in teacher retention alone will not have the domino effect it once had. 

鈥淭hey think it’s just going to be a natural pipeline. But if you see somebody leave鈥� it’s going to give people hesitation鈥︹�業’m not exactly sure now, because this person, I really looked up to them鈥nd they weren’t able to handle it. How am I going to be able to handle it?鈥欌�� Brown said. 

Principals on the brink are also looking for more support from states to match students鈥� growing wellness needs, to provide services that go beyond what schools can offer, such as partnerships with licensed mental health providers or clinics. 

Having district leaders act as thought partners, who can help them manage shortages or partner with universities to rebuild educator pipelines, has become a priority for principals debating their futures, said Lopez. 

鈥淲e need to have good programs to teach them. We need to have good mentoring programs to support them. We need to have great support systems in the districts to do it,鈥� said Nozoe. 鈥淭hat all has its infrastructure, and you can’t just snap your fingers and build it.鈥�

He was using census data, he explained, to determine the extent of the need at each of the district鈥檚 90-plus schools, some of which have families with incomes as low as $8,000 a year.

鈥淚 made a map,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou should come see it.鈥�

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When Martinez introduced himself a few weeks later in a tiny conference room at district headquarters, he was carrying a rolled-up paper map. On it were lines, drawn in marker, that identified each block 鈥� and, by extension, its neighborhood school 鈥� by poverty level. With this tool, he intended to engineer an , breaking up concentrations of the lowest levels of poverty via a novel socioeconomic integration plan that offered students in destitute neighborhoods access to new and sought-after schools. In addition to making enrollment more equitable, he believed, the plan would stanch an exodus of families from district schools and attract wealthy students from neighboring communities.

Education reporters are used to watching K-12 administrators use grand PowerPoint presentations that communicate very little. Who the heck was this guy, carting a homemade map around to Rotary Club meetings and coffee klatches and hoping to get buy-in on resolving some of education鈥檚 most intractable problems?

I tried to answer that question in a 74 Interview with the superintendent, part of a wide-ranging 2018 series, 78207: America’s Most Radical School Integration Experiment. After those stories appeared, the district was declared the fastest-improving in Texas, moving from a C to a B on state report cards in a single year, and drawing national attention to Martinez鈥檚 work.

Now, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has named Martinez the next superintendent of the third-largest school system in the nation. It represents a homecoming of sorts for Martinez, who came to the United States from Mexico at age 5, graduated from Chicago Public Schools and became the first in his family to earn a college degree, which he eventually parlayed into a stint as the district’s chief financial officer, followed by local and state leadership positions in Nevada and finally a move to Texas.

You can read more about Martinez and his San Antonio experiment here. Click below to watch our full interview: