DSAG scholar Henry Romero becomes change agent after life-changing event

When EdD student Henry Romero faces a tough challenge, he doesn’t panic. The assistant principal at Serrano Middle School in the Ontario-Montclair School District says it’s because he knows all of his mentors are right there with him.

“Behind me is Dr. Maria Ott, next to me are Dr. Rudy Castruita and Dr. Pedro Garcia,” he said of the Rossier faculty members from his dissertation committee. “I realize there’s really not a situation I can’t handle because I know these professors have prepared me well.”

In January, Romero was one of three EdD students to be honored with a scholarship at the annual Awards Dinner of the Dean’s Superintendents Advisory Group. In 2013, DSAG established the DSAG Endowed Scholarship Fund, which supports annual scholarship awards for EdD students aspiring to become superintendents.

“I am a product of the remarkable mentors who have invested their time and energy into grooming me for greater leadership challenges,” he said that evening. “Whenever I encounter a challenge, I know I can turn to mentors for advice. And it is the gift of mentorship that I hope to pass on through DSAG for years to come.”

One of Romero’s earliest challenges came in the form of a pink slip at the end of his third year of teaching. Momentarily discouraged, Romero didn’t let his supposed lack of experience keep him from demonstrating his leadership abilities when he landed a new job as an English teacher at Giano Intermediate School in the Rowland Unified School District.

Romero had already developed the habit of wearing a tie every day, which set him apart from other male teachers at his school. He also took his classroom displays seriously, rotating the work of his students as much as possible.

One of his early mentors, Robert Meteau Jr., EdD, from the Banning Unified School District, had told him to always give 120 percent, no matter what, because people are always watching.

Romero’s small habits had a way of making big impressions, and his work ethic became infectious. Other male teachers began wearing ties, and his principal took notice.

“Usually you hear of change agents as people in high positions of leadership,” he said now, “but my principal back then sold me on the idea of being a change-agent teacher.”

Romero then started taking the steps that set him on the course to a traditional path of leadership. He would eventually achieve his goal of heading the middle school English department and was soon the district program specialist for ELL, GATE and special projects at Rowland. Then came the assistant principal position at Serrano Middle School in 2013, around the same time he started his EdD at USC Rossier.

What can an EdD program do for someone who already seems to be a born leader?

“I had the skills, I knew how to manage and I knew how to communicate,” he said, reflecting on how things have come together for him. “But the EdD program has taken me to the next level, not just to be a leader but to be a dynamic leader that not only can transform my own school site but the district, county and even the state.”

As he moves into his last year at Rossier in 2015–16, Romero will complete a dissertation on a comparison of the strategies employed by superintendents from small, mid-sized, and large school districts to improve academic achievement for English language learners.

“Henry, we’re giving you this training,” Romero said, channeling the collective voices of Maria Ott, Rudy Castruita and Pedro Garcia. “We’re giving you these tools because we think you are someone who is actually going to use the tools to change the system.”

Annual gifts can be made to the DSAG Endowed Scholarship Fund to support future EdD students aspiring to become superintendents. Every gift counts toward the Campaign for the USC Rossier School of Education and helps grow the endowment.

To make a gift, visit rossier.usc.edu/giving.