Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.

In 10 years, you see a lot.

You see students enter kindergarten and grow into young adults ready to step into the world. You see educators develop their craft, take on new challenges and at times struggle under growing demands. You see communities change — economically, culturally, emotionally. And if you are paying attention, you begin to understand something fundamental about leadership: Nothing stays the same, and neither can it.

This month, I mark 10 years as Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, supporting and coordinating services for 80 school districts and operating county-run schools and programs that serve some of the region’s most vulnerable students. In a profession where the average tenure is just over five years, that kind of continuity is uncommon. And while stability matters, I have come to believe that stability alone is not the goal.

Stability only has value if it creates the space to adapt, adjust and evolve.

Over the past decade, I have seen what long-term leadership can make possible, but I have also learned how important it is to recognize when change is needed. Longevity, by itself, does not guarantee progress. In fact, without reflection, it can just as easily lead to complacency.

This year, more than ever, I have spent time asking difficult questions: Where were we? Where are we now? And most importantly, where do we need to go? Those questions do not always have easy answers, but they are necessary. They force an honest look at both progress and shortcomings.

That reflection makes one thing clear: Stability cannot mean maintaining the status quo. It must mean having the time, courage and commitment to rethink how our schools operate and improve the results they produce.

Because students today are not the same as they were 10 years ago. Over the past decade, schools and communities have also weathered extraordinary disruptions—from the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged school closures to devastating wildfires and the ongoing effects of economic instability. Each of these moments tested not only our systems, but our ability to respond, recover and rethink how we serve students. Educators are working in a different environment with new pressures and new tools. Communities are navigating economic uncertainty, changing demographics and evolving needs.

If the way we serve students does not evolve alongside those changes, it will fall behind.

In 2019, I helped launch the Community Schools Initiative, an effort to connect schools with health services, family support and community resources. It began as a response to urgent needs, but it was also an acknowledgment that schools cannot meet every challenge on their own. Over time, the initiative has grown to reach hundreds of thousands of students and families. 

Today, that work directly supports 23 schools across 15 districts through hands-on implementation assistance. Los Angeles County also plays a broader regional role through the Transformational Assistance Center, which supports more than 500 community school grantees across California. 

That growth did not happen because a single plan was put in place and left untouched. It required listening to communities, learning from early missteps, adjusting the approach and staying committed even when progress felt slow. There were moments when it would have been easier to maintain what already existed. Instead, the work required ongoing change.

The same has been true for early learning efforts, specialized programs and expanded support for students’ mental and physical health. That work includes building stronger workforce pipelines, increasing access to services, and adapting programs to better meet student needs. These are not static efforts. They require constant attention, refinement and, at times, difficult choices about where to invest time and resources.

That is the harder truth about stability: It is not easy, and it is not passive. It is not about holding things in place. Real stability means staying long enough to take on complex challenges, to confront what is not working, to build what does not yet exist and to guide institutions through change.

That kind of work depends on trust. It depends on relationships built over time with educators, with families and with communities. It also depends on resilience, because meaningful change rarely happens in a straight line.

Today’s superintendents are navigating extraordinary challenges, from pandemic recovery to political pressure to economic uncertainty. Each of these forces can disrupt progress. Together, they create an environment where leadership is more demanding than ever.

In that context, frequent leadership turnover does more than interrupt momentum; it can make sustained progress difficult to achieve at all. New leaders often inherit systems mid-transition, with limited time to understand what is working and what is not before expectations for results begin.

At the same time, simply staying in a role is not enough. Time alone does not lead to improvement. What matters is how that time is used.

Leadership should not be about preserving what already exists, but about improving what needs to change. It requires a willingness to question past decisions, to acknowledge when something is not working and to make adjustments even when those changes are difficult.

As I reflect on this decade of service, I think about the students who have grown up during this time, those who entered school 10 years ago and are now preparing for what comes next. Their experiences are a reminder that the work of education is always moving forward, whether systems keep pace or not.

I also think about the systems built to support them, some strengthened, some still evolving and some that will need to change further in the years ahead.

Because the work does not end. It cannot.

I am proud of the progress made over the past 10 years. But pride alone is not enough to carry the work forward.

The focus must remain on what comes next.

Because students deserve more than consistency. They deserve progress. And that means continuing to evolve.

Debra Duardo is the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, overseeing 80 K-12 school districts that serve 1.3 million students across the country’s most populous and diverse county.