Featured Alumni

MELINDA J. BOONE

The Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2004
Superintendent
Worcester Public Schools, Mass.

"Change and systemic improvement in urban school districts do not happen by a single program, person or event. Change results when visions are developed collaboratively and actions are executed in an environment of mutual trust and respect. Superintendents must be catalysts for fostering trust and developing and executing visions in concert with others, while always remembering that children are the focus of the work. I look forward to serving as a collaborative leader and change agent for students in our nation’s most challenging communities."

In July 2009, Melinda Boone was appointed superintendent of Worcester Public Schools in Mass., a district serving over 23,000 students in over 40 schools. Previously, Boone served as chief academic officer for the Norfolk Public Schools, a Virginia district with more than 36,000 students and 58 schools. Before that, Boone served as executive director of elementary schools for the district, where she was responsible for general supervision along with leadership and capacity development for 18 of the district‘s 35 elementary school principals. Hailing from a family of educators, she pursued clinical speech pathology and audiology as a career focus, rather than education. However, after five years as a speech and language pathologist for the Suffolk Public Schools in Suffolk, Va., she was appointed director of special education/pupil services for Franklin City Public Schools in Virginia. After successfully serving in that position for nearly seven years, Boone returned to Suffolk Public Schools as coordinator of pupil personnel and testing, a position she held for two years until being appointed assistant superintendent for educational services with the Isle of Wight County Public Schools in Virginia. Boone has a bachelor’s degree in communication disorders with a pre-med emphasis from Hampton Institute (now University), a master’s degree in audiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a certificate of advanced studies from Old Dominion University and a doctorate in education from the College of William and Mary.  Boone is a graduate of the 2004 class of The Broad Superintendents Academy.