LaVonne Sheffield believes every step in her career path has paved the way to the place she wants to create her legacy. She worked in Detroit and Philadelphia. She led the Recovery School District in Louisiana, created to turn around failing schools. But she wants to be remembered for Rockford.

“The greatest legacy I could leave is to improve a school district and show it can be done in an urban area,” the superintendent says. “Make a public school system a system of choice — people choose to come, and you don’t have to opt to go to private or parochial. Public school is the option.”

AMY J. CORRENTI | ROCKFORDWOMAN.COM
LaVonne Sheffield: New superintedent wants to "change the image" of schools.

That sounds like a lofty goal — she’s heard that before — but it’s hers.

“It is doable, but it’s going to take time. I did not come here to aspire to another position.”

During her first public visit to Rockford in March, every group asked the same question: “Will she stay?”

Her contract is four years, and she wanted it that way. “At my age, I wouldn’t be making an investment in a house if I didn’t plan to stay. I’m not interested in going anywhere else, anyway.”

One thing Sheffield brought north is her system in Louisiana for holding everyone accountable.

It was a challenge, to say the least.

“I fought with these people up and down the state,” she said of the parents in the district she managed for a year. “But having said that, they (did) not want me to leave.”

Personal challenges — growing up biracial, losing loved ones, overcoming breast cancer — have helped build her strength to overcome professional challenges. Overall, the 57-year-old Detroit native has had a good life, despite — or maybe because of — her “tough trials.”

Sheffield doesn’t complain, even when things get bad. She believes everything happens for a reason. And now, nearly two months into her new role leading Rockford’s 29,000-student district, she’s beginning her legacy.
 

AMY J. CORRENTI | ROCKFORDWOMAN.COM
LaVonne Sheffield attends her first school board meeting
July 14 as superintendent of Rockford Schools.

Why she went into administration
Sheffield’s decision to lead a district came in the mid-1970s. She was a young teacher in a gentrifying district in the Detroit Public School system. Her students were a mix, from poverty-stricken to doctors’ children.

Sheffield still can see the face of the 12-year-old girl whose alcoholic mother would sell her to a taxi driver for sex, earning the mother money to feed her addiction.

When Sheffield learned how “the prettiest, smartest little girl” was abused, she immediately went to an administrator who, she hoped, would put an end to the horror.

“We gotta do something,” she remembers telling him. “I don’t care what you do. We’ve got to do something.”

The response was infuriating. “He told me that sometimes you had to make choices and that it was better to leave a child in the home than take them out of the home. And I said, ‘No, it’s not. It’s not OK to leave a 12-year-old in a home that’s raped.’ ”

That line of thinking changed her career path: “I put my resignation in shortly thereafter.”

She went back to school to become an administrator. She wanted the responsibility and ability to make tough choices and take action.

Since then, Sheffield has climbed the leadership ladder, gaining more authority with each position.

She still thinks of that little girl — she’d be in her 40s by now — but Sheffield hasn’t been able to find her.

“It’s just never left me.”

LaVonne Sheffield with her sister, Kathryn R. Sheffield, and
brother, Horace L. Sheffield III, on her 50th birthday in Detroit.

Growing up 'normal'
Sheffield is of mixed race; her white mother and black father married in 1950. They were public servants and activists who “went through an awful lot” in the civil rights movement.

Mary Kathryn Sheffield was a nurse who ran a program for disadvantaged children with diabetes. She also served on the Detroit School Board. Horace L. Sheffield Jr. was a United Automobile Workers executive and served as the administrative assistant to three UAW presidents.

They raised their children — Sheffield has a brother and a sister — in multiracial, multicultural neighborhoods in Michigan. Sheffield’s father made sure the children were enrolled in integrated schools. He sent the kids to a Lutheran school to integrate it.

Because of that philosophy, Sheffield didn’t have racial identity issues — “the community embraced us and protected us,” she says.

“As I reflect on my childhood, I can now see how my parents provided valuable life experiences but shielded us from the bigotry in society.” She remembers sitting with her father while he and his friends talked about how to solve major issues in the town or state; meanwhile, the women were in another room.

“I never understood it until I was older, but ... you knew something important was happening. It was a way of life for us.”

Her father often traveled south to register voters, and he carried a gun to protect himself — which scared Sheffield into thinking that one day he might not come home.

When he was home, the entire day would be dedicated to family. She never thought her childhood was different from anyone else’s.

“Maybe that’s why I am who I am today, because of those experiences.”

Education philosophy

Sheffield is inspired by children.

When she feels down, she’ll stop by a school on the way to the office to “focus on my reason for being.”

During school tours this year, she greeted teachers, shook students’ hands and, without hesitation, walked into classrooms.

Education is uniquely different from any other profession, she said.

Worked for a city taught Sheffield that there are consequences to everything. If you don’t turn on the water in the building, if the police don’t come, if the snow isn’t removed — there are consequences.

But education is not as cut-and-dried. Adults aren’t held accountable, like students are.

Sheffield plans to change that. Adults will be held accountable through education data, test scores and improvement plans. It’ll be school by school, class by class, to determine whether the problem is the curriculum or the teachers.

“If we’re failing students in certain areas, that has to be a systems problem,” she says. “At some point, it’s not a child problem, ... it’s an adult problem.”

A comprehensive summary of school data presented in an easy-to-digest manner will be readily available for parents, the media and taxpayers. Then as a community, Rockford can determine where it wants to go and how, she says.

LaVonne M. Sheffield with her husband, William D. Hudson,
in February 2008.

Life-changing experiences
The little things don’t worry Sheffield. She’s faced bigger personal challenges, which she talks about briefly:

1. She’s a breast cancer survivor; it’ll be five years in February. The cancer was caught quickly, despite the fact that she has no family history of cancer. “I’m as good as new,” she says.

2. Her mother died of a heart attack at age 41. Sheffield was pledging a sorority in her first year of college, her brother was at boarding school, and her sister was in college. “From that moment, I had to grow up. I assumed responsibility for my family from that point.”

Her father died in 1995.

3. She’s a widow. She got married again, to William D. Hudson, a retired deputy police chief she initially fell for decades ago. And by the way: He looks forward to life in Rockford, volunteering and his honey-do list.

Sheffield’s not one of those people who wishes she’d had more knowledge or wisdom long ago.

“If you had it, you wouldn’t know what to do with it,” she says.

So how has she changed as a leader? “I trust myself more, and I have more faith in myself” and values and cultivates relationships more than she used to.

LaVonne Sheffield’s baby picture,
taken when she was a year old.

'It's LaVonne'
Despite her degrees and resume, discussing her achievements can make her uncomfortable.

Some folks are particular about calling her “Dr. Sheffield.” She has earned that educational title but doesn’t like the way it separates her from others.

“People who haven’t had similar experiences think you’re beyond them,” she says, and could be hesitant to open up to her.

The solution: Call her LaVonne.

“I don’t want that division. I want people to engage people where they are, and I want them to engage me because you can learn from everybody.”

And that is part of the richness of life.

Some people have advised against such commonality. But it’s not about titles for Sheffield, it’s about the respect people give.

“I don’t judge you by what you have, I judge you by what kind of person you are and your character. I don’t think I’m the end-all, be-all anything.”

Friends say Sheffield’s persona is the same in and out of the public eye: She is quick to make a joke or lighten the mood to help people relax.

As familiar as she may act, she’s still a private person. She insists on keeping her stepchildren, family or friends out of the spotlight.

Being a public figure doesn’t come easy. She says she works at it, scrutiny and all. “I keep it in perspective. I don’t let the politics distract from my primary mission — to serve the children.”

Letting go of the past
Sheffield knows about Rockford’s troubles, past (the pain and financial aftermath of the desegregation lawsuit) and present (truancy, low graduation rates and poor test scores). It’s just not that bad, she says.

“Part of my job is to change the image, and I’m going to do that.” She’s even more interested in moving the district forward and delivering a vision.

“We live too much in the past,” she says. “In my meetings with the staff, I said, ‘Don’t tell me how it used to be’ and all that. Let’s talk about where we’re going to go.”

She compares Rockford loosely with Louisiana and the Recovery district, saying Rockford uses the desegregation lawsuit as an excuse much like Recovery used Hurricane Katrina as an excuse.

“That was a moment in time,” she says.

History will provide context for future plans, but it won’t guide her.

“Rockford does not have a bad school district. Do we have challenges? Yes. Do I think they’re doable? I really, really do. So first of all, we need to stop talking (badly) about ourselves. I know some bad school systems, and Rockford’s not one of them.”

Her sense of the “community will” to move forward excites her. The challenge is bringing the community together and getting work done.

Under her plan, people will be out and about talking about education. She wants to be there, too.

“I plan to be in every segment of the community,” she says. “Invite me to your home, bring your friends. I want to talk about how you see the system. We have things we need to fix.”

LaVonne Sheffield (left) tours the new Parent Resource Room with
Principal Ann Rundall at Haskell Academy July 27 in Rockford.
Sheffield says she’ll stop by a school to “focus on my reason for being.”

'I am tough'
The pressure’s on Sheffield. She’s heard that she needs to walk on water before people will be satisfied with the new superintendent.

And of course, there’s having the proper paperwork to do the job; she just got her certification.

But she doesn’t feel that pressure. In May, she said she’s more worried about getting settled and organized in Rockford. After a rough day, she’ll unwind by cooking Cajun, then relax and enjoy the meal with her husband.

“People may think I’m tough, and I am tough. But I’m not mean or anything like that. If you ask people who work with me and for me, they’ll tell you, ‘You do your job, you don’t have a problem. She expects you to do your job.’”

Tidbits
*   On coming from Baton Rouge, La., to Rockford: She’s excited to be back in the Midwest. One thing she’ll miss: her book club. “I told them I was flying back home. That’s just how wonderful that is.”

*   On her height: She’s almost 6 feet and usually wears heels, which just adds to her stature. But she didn’t always like her height. Learning to dance in school was embarrassing. She was called an Amazon. “Every little short kid in the world asks you to dance. ... Now that I’m older, I can eat more than short people.”

*   Brushes with history:

1. Her grandfather was the first black foreman in the foundry at Ford Motor Co. Her father was friends with Henry Ford II.

2. Her parents marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during a trial march in Detroit for the March on Washington. The family counts Coretta Scott King’s family as friends.

*   Famous people she’s met: Include Ossie Davis, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Phil Hart, Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson, Carl and Lou Stokes.

*   She’d still like to meet: President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.

What former co-workers say ...
‘People around her want to work hard’
Caesar Mickens, director of staff development for the Recovery School District, has seen LaVonne Sheffield work and grow as a leader. He first worked with her in Detroit when she was the chief of staff and he was the executive director for professional development. He was her deputy superintendent in Louisiana, too, after she recruited him to be the staff development director.

Sheffield made a big difference in the Recovery district, he said, and put several processes and systems in place.

She came to Louisiana, where several hesitant leaders didn’t think the state should be overseeing the district. Within a few months, she broke the ice and pulled everyone onto the same page with a mantra that they’re not here to hurt the children, but to help.

She was the leader who drove the point home, and she is the same in the public eye as she is on a personal level. “Her passion for children is absolutely phenomenal.”

The children are her focus, and he repeated her mantra: The adults around the children should be held accountable.

To skeptics, Mickens says first, turning Rockford around is going to be a team effort, something Sheffield has made clear already. Not only education officials, but community leaders should get involved.

“No one person can do anything. If they’re skeptical, they should join the fight.”

He describes Sheffield as straightforward and having a powerful work ethic. The staff appreciated that work, and not micromanaging the staff.

She’s big on accountability — she began that in Detroit and brought it to Louisiana. It’s been part of her plan in Rockford, too. “She’s an extremely hard worker, and it’s infectious. People around her want to work hard.”
Sheffield was replaced in Louisiana with two people — that says a lot, he said.

‘She is fair’
Jane Ciarleglio, deputy commissioner for the Department of Higher Education in Connecticut, agrees with Sheffield’s self-description: tough but fair.

Ciarleglio worked in New Haven in 1991; Sheffield came there the next year.

She described Sheffield as one of the smartest women she’s worked with, then quickly corrected herself: “smartest people.”

Sheffield is a “quick study” and decisive, a trait that doesn’t differ much from Sheffield’s business-to-personal life.

It sounds cliché, but Sheffield understands education, that it’s about giving students a fair chance at learning and planning their future. And she has always wanted to be a superintendent.

“People expect great things from her, and honestly, they’re rarely disappointed.”

Ciarleglio and Sheffield share a mentality that sometimes people will be angry with them as leaders. But if their actions upset the status quo or rock the boat, “they must be doing something right,” especially when it comes to a child’s future.

“That’s not the worst thing, as long as the results are positive.”

Professional experience
1973-77: Teacher, Detroit Public Schools

1979-81: Administrative assistant to Councilman Herbert F. McFadden Jr., Detroit City Council

1983-84: Special assistant to the provost, Metropolitan Campus, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland

1984-86: Dean, community education services at Cuyahoga Community College

1986-87: Program assistant, Ford National Development and Training Center for United Auto Workers, Dearborn, Mich.

1987: Project coordinator, Pontiac (Mich.) NOW

1987-88: Assistant director, department of community development, Pontiac

1990: Fellow, National Forum of Black Public Administrators, Executive Leadership Institute

1990-91: Director of education, youth and arts for New Detroit Inc.

1992-93: Chief administrative officer, office of the mayor, New Haven, Conn.

1993-2000: Chief of staff to Mayor Michael White, Cleveland

1995: Completed the Program for Senior Executives in Local and State Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

1997-98 and 2000: Director, Department of Port Control, Cleveland

2000-02: Chief of staff, Detroit Public Schools

2002: Fellow, Broad Urban Superintendents Academy

2002-03: Chief academic officer, Detroit Public Schools

2003-04: Independent consultant, Detroit

2004-08: Chief accountability officer, School District of Philadelphia

2008-09: Superintendent, Recovery School District, Baton Rouge, La.