The Holdsworth Center, which prides itself on strengthening public education, selected Pilot Point ISD Superintendent Dr. Shannon Fuller to be one of 17 Texas superintendents for its Superintendent Leadership Program.
The 18-month program, which began Sept. 17, gives Fuller not only supercharged professional development, she said, but also a chance for the Pilot Point ISD board as well as the central administration team opportunities to grow in their roles as well.
“It’s all around developing your leadership skills and supporting the district so that we reach our goals and really are everything that we need to be for our community,” she said. “So it’s all about making sure that I am the best leader that I can be when I’m here, and then looking at what are the needs of Pilot Point and how can I serve those the best with my cabinet, with the leaders in the district and with the community.”
Fuller, who became familiar with the center through another of its programs her previous district, was honored to be among her cohort of fellow superintendents, each of whom were sent home with homework.
“We have homework that we have to do in between as well as reading, studying,” Fuller said.
She is excited, too, to have a chance to learn from her mentor through the program, Dr. Art Cavazos, who served in the Harlingen CISD for eight years.
“He meets with me and then he’s going to come visit this month,” Fuller said. “Actually, he’s going to spend a day in Pilot Point.”
The Holdsworth Center was started in 2017 by HE- B Chairman Charles Butt in honor of Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth, his mother who was “a former schoolteacher and lifelong advocate for justice,” according to holdsworthcenter. org.
“Inspired by his mother, Charles has directed much of his personal and corporate giving toward public education, developing initiatives such as the annual HE- B Excellence in Education Awards,” the website says. “The Holdsworth Center builds on those efforts by strengthening the leaders who serve educators and students.”
Fuller said Butt has described the center as “the gift back to public education.”
The program itself is a challenging but rewarding endeavor, Fuller said.
“The rigor and the quality of this program is like no other professional development I’ve ever been in,” she said. “It is amazing, and I’ve been to, in my 31 years, a lot of professional development.”
It’s particularly useful, she said, because it is fully geared for the superintendent role, which is not common in other professional development programs.
“There’s leadership things, but not for the nuance of this specific job,” Fuller said.
Educators have multiple programs available in addition to the Superintendent Leadership Program through the center: the Campus Leadership Program, the Aspiring Principal Program, the Aspiring Superintendent Insights, the Aspiring Superintendent Accelerator, the School Leadership Blueprint and the Texas School Board Institute.
For more information about the programs, visit holdsworthcenter.org.
For Fuller, she hopes the program will be beneficial for the district.
“I want to make sure I’m the best leader I can be and person I can be so that when I am working with people making decisions that people can trust and I build relationships and work with them so that the outcomes are the best for our community,” Fuller said. “And I think, twofold, I want Pilot Point to be on the map for being a really good, upcoming district. … I want people to know who Pilot Point is across the state, and I want them to, when they think about Pilot Point, think about excellence.”
Pilot Point ISD Superintendent Dr. Shannon Fuller is one of 17 members of the Holdsworth Center’s Superintendent Leadership Program. Abigail Bardwell/The Post-Signal
