Back to School: The Promise of Hope

Let us move forward this year with a collective commitment to champion our students. Let us provide them with more than just a high school diploma — with choices, opportunities and, above all, hope.
LaTonya M. Goffney

Superintendent, Aldine Independent School District (Texas)

LaTonya Goffney
 The Well-Being Playbook: Hope in the Workplace

Hope isn't just a feeling. It can be practiced, developed, and passed forward, but it takes intentional leadership to make it real.

This year, we're offering a section of AASA's Well-Being Playbook designed just for you: practical tools for strengthening trust, recognition, and voice on your team.

Hope is teachable. Learn how Âܲ·AVÊÓÆµcan help you .

Hope is the belief that the actions you're taking today will create a better future. Hope isn’t simply wishing. It's an investment.

David Law

Superintendent, Minnetonka Public Schools (Minn.) and Âܲ·AVÊÓÆµPast President

David Law
Every child deserves a place to belong, a future that's theirs to shape, and adults who put them first.

That's what hope looks like in a public school: a teacher who notices, a first day that feels like coming home, a classroom where a child knows they matter.

Hope begins with the Public Education Promise, and it takes a community to carry it forward, one school, one classroom, one child at a time.

 Hope in Action: Leaders Making it Real

Every day, in districts across the country, hope shows up in big and small ways. These are stories of the leaders bringing the promise of public education to life.


"Hope isn't something we talk about once school begins. Hope is something we build every day.

I see it when a healthcare professional mentors a future nurse. I see it when a construction executive helps a student discover engineering. I see it when a banker teaches financial literacy to a young person who becomes the first in their family to manage investments or own a business."

From "Hope Has a Purpose: To Prepare Every Scholar for College, Career, and Life," by Jeremy S. Owoh, Superintendent, Jacksonville North Pulaski School District (Ark.)

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Superintendent Al Lewis and the Glassboro team in New Jersey

"Communities need engaged hope: the belief that improvement is possible and the shared commitment to build the systems, relationships, and opportunities that make improvement real."

From "The Future of a Community Is Built in Its Public Schools," by Al Lewis, Superintendent, Glassboro Public Schools (N.J.)

 

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 What Hope Sounds Like: Âܲ·AVÊÓÆµCommunity Voices

We asked district leaders a simple question: what does hope look like in your school? Here's what they told us.

 Join the Leaders Keeping the Promise

Hope doesn't sustain itself. It takes leaders willing to show up for children, for their teams, and for each other, day after day.

Âܲ·AVÊÓÆµmembership connects you with a community doing exactly that: superintendents and district leaders committed to the same promise you are.

Want to share your hope story?

Submit a video, a blog post, or share it on social media to be featured in this year's campaign!

Learn How