He was such a troublemaker, he was known as “demon seed.” He even repeated the ninth grade.
Now, he’s a school district superintendent, who was named the 2021 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.
Dr. Khalid Mumin speaks to Sto-Rox staff as Jr./Sr. High School Principal, Dr. Kim Price, looks on.
Dr. Khalid Mumin was the keynote speaker for Sto-Rox School District teachers and administrators as they returned to school Thursday for an in-service day. His message was humanizing, uplifting, and at the outset, simple:
“If you’re not excited to be where you are, you may be in the wrong place,” he told the staff at the start of his speech.
Dr. Mumin leads Lower Merion School District in Montgomery County, northwest of Philadelphia. A Philadelphia native, he went from skipping class to teaching class, attaining degrees at Shippensburg University, Penn State, and Penn, where he secured his doctorate. His journey, though, was anything but straightforward.
“Non-traditional families are not “dysfunctional,” Dr. Mumin explained. “I had love and discipline on 8th Street, and I had love and discipline on 12th Street,” referring to the separate homes where his parents lived. Building on that, he said teachers, administrators, and even coaches are - whether it’s through necessity or opportunity - part of a student’s family.
“I was in a high school with over 3,000 (students). I had five adults that influenced me in that big old school. And I was an anomaly,” said the Olney High School alum. “If I had to fast-forward to today, that student should be surrounded by at least 100 educators that have their back.”
Dr. Mumin excelled at basketball, playing in all-star games with the likes of future Philadelphia 76er and Temple University head coach Aaron McKie. After reaching a low point - he skipped school for several months and almost landed in juvenile detention - he made his way to Northeastern Christian Junior College. He landed a full academic scholarship - the first African-American at that school to do so - and went to Shippensburg. He still had a lot to learn, though.
“I couldn’t understand why teachers would give up on kids,” he said, looking back on his entrance into the education field. But he also pointed out that he was very, very green.
“I was always the youngest and first,” Dr. Mumin said. One example: He volunteered - alone - to be a model classroom (at the Scotland School For Veterans’ Children) toured by then-Governor Tom Ridge as his administration worked to establish statewide educational standards.
In Dr. Mumin’s estimation, “The goal is for educators to want to step up and have that intrinsic motivation and say, ‘Hey, it’s me! It’s me! I want to be the one that you follow.’”
The missing element, he believes, is the voice of students.
“We’ve got to learn from that. We’ve got to slow things down, at times, and listen to where they’re coming from, and their perspectives,” he said. “We have children that are truly living carpe diem. They’re living day by day. We’ve got to find out what they believe their future is all about.”
Dr. Khalid Mumin, Superintendent of Lower Merion School District.
For instance, a nationwide student walkout was planned in response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018. Dr. Mumin was superintendent of Reading (Pennsylvania) School District at the time. Punishing the students who walked out was not his first instinct.
“Build the day around them,” he said. After listening to students and staff, the walkout was held, and More than half the students returned to class.
“These (schools) are safe havens for us to do this work,” he explained. “Because it helps children when they go out into the communities, and they make different decisions - perhaps. Because they’ll say, ‘I don’t want to disappoint Mr. Smith. He invested a lot of time into me. He always tells me how good I am.’ You’ve got to be able to be confident in that influence and power.”
Enhancing those skills, said Dr. Mumin, depends on treating students as equals, and not manipulating them into achieving goals.
“The most important thing you can provide is hope. When you push and push and push, they’re going to come back,” he said. Ultimately, he believes teachers’ efforts can keep students positively involved and engaged in the community, even after they have graduated.
“We’re all in this as a committed army of educators that have the responsibility of educating our students in the Commonwealth to make an everlasting impact in an ever changing society,” said Dr. Mumin, “from the inside-out, and from the bottom-up.”
Change comes from within, starting with teachers, administrators, and coaches - giving students the ability to transform themselves and discover brighter futures.
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Dr. Mumin’s speech kicked off two days of presentations by district administrators and special guests. They include presentations by Dr. Jamilia Blake, who is leading a training program for teachers in classroom management; the Just Discipline Project, which will lead a program focused on restorative practices in the classroom, and other district initiatives. Stay tuned as we tell you more about the new elements being featured in Sto-Rox classrooms!