Education Week - April 29, 2020 - 5

Remembering Flint's First
Black Superintendent
Nathel Burtley, 79, died from coronavirus
By Denisa R. Superville
When Nathel Burtley led the Flint
Community Schools in Michigan in
the late 1980s and early 1990s, students would call his home to find
out whether he would cancel school
for snow. Parents called to talk about
whatever was on their minds.
"He would literally tell people, 'I'm
the only Burtley in the book,' " Burtley's son, Christopher Burtley, said.
That accessibility to students, educators, and community members ran
through the course of Burtley's life
and career.
Burtley, who in 1988 became the
first African American to lead the
Flint school system, died April 6 from
COVID-19, the disease caused by the
new coronavirus, one among more
than 100 K-12 educators nationwide
who have succumbed to the disease
in recent weeks. He was 79.
"They used the word approachable
all the time," Burtley's wife, Kathy
Burtley, a former special education
teacher in the district, said in describing her husband.
"The community loved my husband, and my husband loved the Flint
Community Schools," she said.
Christopher Burtley said his father
becoming the system's first black superintendent in 1988 was "very symbolically important."
"It was also very substantively important," he said. "It was rare in the
county at that time-it still is, quite
honestly. He took it very seriously. He
didn't want to mess up. That was his
identity. People treated him like that.
They saw him as a leader, someone
they could identify with in a role that
they thought was significant."

Devoted to Flint
When the elder Burtley came to
Flint in 1981, as a deputy superintendent under then-superintendent Joseph Pollack, Flint was still an industrial powerhouse, largely because of
General Motors. The district was seen
as a model for the community schools
movement-where schools were not
just places where students were educated during the school day, but where
they stayed open for after-school programs and where parents took adult
education classes in the evenings.
When Pollack left and Burtley became superintendent, it was a significant step for a district with rapidly
changing student demographics. But
as a key part of Pollack's leadership
team, the community knew Burtley.
"He wasn't someone who was
dropped into an organization and had
to learn from the ground up," Christopher Burtley said. "People wanted
him to be successful."
James E. Ray, who worked with
Burtley in Flint and then succeeded
him as superintendent, said Burtley

was a model for administrators like
him who did not often see African
Americans in those positions.
"At the central office level, Nat provided an array of hope that people like
myself and others could aspire to be
leaders in school districts period, not
just urban centers," Ray said.
Burtley's tenure coincided with
major shifts in the state and city.
The population dropped as residents
moved to the suburbs and jobs at General Motors declined. Schools had to
be closed because of smaller enrollments and budgetary constraints.
Burtley relied on his communication skills to convey those challenges,
Ray said. He went to churches, parent
meetings, community gatherings,
and schools and spent time with local
leaders to explain decisions, Ray said.
Burtley was guided by the mantra
"what's best for students," and filtered every decision through that lens,
Ray said.
And he sought to include parents as
part of the process.
"Parents had to be an integral role
in their own child's education," Ray
said. "He spent a lot of time trying to
communicate and help parents understand what their increased role would
be. Making sure their voices were
heard was important to Nat."

"He did not want me to just do everything he did, but to decide what's
working, build on those things, but
also look to bring in strategies and
resources that would help grow and
build and sustain the district going
forward," Ray said.
But retirement didn't suit Burtley,
and he got bored, Christopher Burtley
said. So, after working as an assistant
athletic director and for a school management group, he took a job-his
last one-as principal at Northridge
Academy, a K-8 public charter school
in Flint.
"People think it's crazy for someone

Nathel Burtley was the first black superintendent in the Flint, Mich., school
district, from 1987-1994, then briefly retired. Four years ago, he became
principal of Northridge Academy, a charter school in Flint.

who was a superintendent, but that's
what he wanted-to be with kids," his
son said.
In addition to Kathy Burtley and
Christopher Burtley, he is also survived by his son, Michael Burtley of
Colorado, and his daughter, Michelle
Burtley of Detroit. The family plans to
create a scholarship in his name.

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Never Too Late
Christopher Burtley said his father's
core belief was that every child could
succeed.
"It didn't matter how poor you
were," Christopher Burtley said. "It
didn't matter if you were in trouble. It
didn't matter where your family came
from. He truly felt that every student
that walked through that door, that
they should have a chance."
That view was largely based on his
own experience as the son of a single
mother who relied on government assistance and the help of others to raise
her children.
In an op-ed published in a local
paper the year he became superintendent, Burtley prepared the community for the tough road ahead: union
negotiations, financial challenges,
school closings. But he also laid out
his vision for the district and parents
and community.
"My vision for this school system is
to be able to give every youngster the
encouragement to go out and become
all that he or she can be," he wrote.
Ray said that Burtley was guided
by equity and ensured that special
education programs received targeted
funds and that schools were funded
equitably regardless of where they
were located.
When Burtley was ready to retire,
he convinced Ray to leave Indianapolis, where Ray had relocated for a deputy superintendent job. He wanted
him back in Flint to take his place.

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Education Week - April 29, 2020

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