Bringing world experiences to South Fayette: Kenneth Lockette
Kenneth Lockette, 51, begins as South Fayette School District Superintendent today (Jan. 3), replacing Bille Rondinelli, who served as superintendent since 2009.
Lockette has been an educator for more than 25 years and most recently served as the assistant superintendent for the Avonworth School District. Prior to that, he was Avonworth High School’s principal, a middle school principal in Baltimore, Md., and a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan.
Where are you from, and how did you get started in education?
I’m originally from Missouri. I was born in St. Louis, but I grew up for the most part just south of Kansas City in a rural community. I went to high school in Butler, Mo., a very small, one-stoplight town at the time.
I went to college at the University of Missouri and got a degree in theater, and soon after graduating, I moved to Chicago to be the next great American playwright and be in the city of arts. I was always interested in teaching, but I wasn’t ready to do it right out of the chute.
I then got my master’s in curriculum development from DePaul University in Chicago and started my teaching career. My first job was actually in Springfield, Ill. At that time, when I was applying for jobs I also applied for the Peace Corps. After a year of teaching, I got an envelope that said I was accepted to the Peace Corps to go to Kazakhstan. I couldn’t pass up that opportunity, so I entered the Peace Corps in 1993.
What was being a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan like?
I taught English at a college in Kazakhstan. I worked with both students and teachers to teach English as a second language. It was a really wonderful experience. It really opened my eyes, living in a culture so different from the one I grew up in.
After that, I stayed in teaching and went to Baltimore County Public Schools and taught as a director of theater programs in a public school. I did that for two years, and then I had an opportunity to go back to Kazakhstan, not through the Peace Corps, but working at the international school, which was in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the capital at the time. So I went back and ended up staying for four years. It was a wonderful experience. We worked with students in our school from 23 different nationalities.
What did you do after you came back to the United States?
I went back to Baltimore County. I got started on my administrative papers, and I had started taking on leadership roles throughout my career. I became an assistant principal in Baltimore County for almost five years at a very urban middle school. I then had an opportunity to come to Pittsburgh to Avonworth High School in 2006 and have been at Avonworth ever since, nine years as the high school principal and the last two and a half years as the assistant superintendent.
You’ve been in many different parts of the world. What has your travel taught you about being an educator and a leader?
I’m a product of a rural community. I’ve had the opportunity to be in many different places. In Baltimore, I was in a very urban setting for a good portion of my time there. Now I’m in a suburban school district in Pittsburgh at Avonworth. Everyone’s experiences affect and help you become who you and help form the vision you have of the world, having the opportunity to travel and live in different places and experience different things.
At the same time, I think our country is going through that in becoming more globally connected. I think when I arrived in Pittsburgh having all of these experiences, global and cultural diversity was part of who I was.
Tell me about your family. What do they mean to you?
Growing up I had two brothers, including a twin brother, and he lives in Hawaii. We’re always making jokes when we’re together, because we’re identical twins, but I’m in Pittsburgh and pasty and he’s buff and tan from Hawaii.
I have three kids. One who just started college at Point Park – Noah, he’s 18, studying cinema production. I have a 16-year-old, Olivia, who’s a sophomore, and then I have a seventh-grader, Ava. I live in Mars and my son graduated from Mars and my other two kids are in the Mars School District. They’re the loves of my life. They’re all wonderful people. Two of them are very much of the arts and one is into science, so it’s kind of fun to be able to experience different things with the three of them.
You have mentioned you’re passionate about the arts. What role should the arts play in education?
I think the arts are incredibly important. I use as much from my theater training as I do from my leadership courses, because I think it gives an opportunity to work creatively and problem solve and think critically. I think it’s brought a sense of aesthetics and how things work together. I’m very proud of being able to create programs and opportunities for students and teachers throughout my career to immerse themselves in the arts, to discover things through the arts. The arts can be integrated into every subject one way or another.
Why did you apply at South Fayette?
I’ve known about South Fayette for quite a bit because South Fayette and Avonworth were in Digital Promise. I’m very familiar with the work that Dr. Rondinelli has done there. I think philosophically, the school districts are somewhat similar, looking at innovation and changing from traditional education not for the sake of doing so, but because we have to truly prepare students for this changing world. Over the years, we have done things together, and I’ve always been impressed that South Fayette is known for, like computational thinking and coding.
When the opportunity came up, it seemed to be a really good fit both for the district and for myself. I’m extremely excited. It’s a great community, beautiful facilities and I’m eager to start getting into the buildings. There’s a lot of energy in the district. It’s a great place, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.
What are your hobbies?
I’m a big comic book geek. I love comic books and superheroes. I love graphic novels. I’ve loved binge-watching those superhero shows, and that’s something my kids share as well. We enjoy going to a lot of the superhero moves, and we love comic books and we go to comic book conventions. I’m also a huge music fan. I love blues, jazz and roots music. I try to support local music. I don’t go to a lot of big venue stadium shows. I’m more interested in small venue artists. I also do some writing, and I’d like to get back to some creative writing that I used to do.