DSUSD superintendent honored for national women leadership award
The District Administration Leadership Institute recently announced that Kelly May-Vollmar, superintendent of Desert Sands Unified School District, as a recipient of its Women of Distinction award. She has been distinguished as one of five women in the United States for advancing student achievements, boosting graduation rates and expanding educational opportunities.
May-Vollmar said that across the country, she’s noted a gap between the number of female and male superintendents. “Highlighting the work that has been done and continuing to honor the work that is done certainly elevates — and hopefully closes — that gap and inspires more women to go into leadership roles,” she said.
The institute’s summit on Wednesday, Dec. 13 brought together leaders in education for an exchange of insights and best practices to “inspire, train and empower leaders to do the ever-changing work that is public education,” she said. The event featured the awards ceremony alongside its proceedings, where her predecessor, Scott Bailey, presented her with the award.
“When you’re sitting in a room of your peers who are highly accomplished people from the nation, it’s an incredibly humbling experience,” she said. “It filled me with a great sense of pride knowing that Desert Sands has the employees that they do that really make my work easy.”
May-Vollmar views her leadership as deeply collaborative with a keen ability to invite a myriad of diverse voices to make the best decisions on behalf of students and the community.
“I can’t do the work that I do (by myself ),” she said. “I can’t sing the praises of our staff in Desert Sands highly enough. They are exceptional individuals who are passionate about ensuring that our students have the best opportunity.”
Her advice to aspiring students aiming high is to find success by tapping into the combined strength and knowledge of others.
“I’ve always found great success in strength and surrounding myself with a group of people that I can learn from that I can aspire to be like,” she said, adding the value of mentorship. “We learn so much from one another. Find people to be inspired by so that they want to continue to learn and grow.”
Through her involvement with other professional organizations, like California IT in Education and the Consortium of School Networking, she has served as a mentor for “up-and-coming technology leaders in the state and across the nation,” she said. “I think it’s important for us to give back.
Before assuming her role as the school district’s superintendent in July 2022, she was the assistant superintendent of educational and technology services.
Jennifer Cortez covers education in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.