Pouring in: How a superintendent is preparing his deputy to lead

Dr. Tory Hill knows the superintendency asks things of leaders they can’t fully see until they’re in the seat. Through Holdsworth’s Aspiring Superintendent Accelerator, he is helping Dr. Michael Houston understand those demands early — turning mentorship into a deeper, more intentional preparation for the role.

Dr. Tory Hill remembers what surprised him most when he first became a superintendent: the complexity of leading with and through a board of trustees.

“You’re dealing with seven bosses,” Hill said. “Your goal is to understand their individual interests and needs and align that around a strategic plan that will move the district forward. That was a shocker for me.”

That experience shapes how Hill thinks about developing Dr. Michael Houston, Channelview ISD’s deputy and a participant in Holdsworth’s Aspiring Superintendent Accelerator.   

For Hill, preparing Houston means giving him access to the parts of the role that are difficult to teach in theory: board relationships, community expectations, executive decision-making and the weight of districtwide responsibility.  

“Having a superintendent who is open to sharing things with you is vital to this program,” Houston said. “It allows the superintendent to really pour into someone, but also to have that person gain real experiences they would not receive any other way than being in the superintendent’s seat.”

Applications are open for the Aspiring Superintendent Accelerator

Know someone who’s ready for the superintendency? Is that someone you?  The Holdsworth Aspiring Superintendent Accelerator gives deputy and cabinet-level leaders the real-world experience, honest feedback and transformational coaching needed to lead from day one. Nominations open July 13 — superintendents nominate, aspiring superintendents apply.

Popping the hood on the superintendency

Houston entered the program with a clear-eyed view of the role’s demands and a willingness to face them head-on. Through Holdsworth, Houston says he is seeing the superintendency with greater clarity – as a set of decisions, relationships and responsibilities that must work together. 

“We’re popping the hood of the engine and seeing, hey, this car has all these functions. All I knew was the gas pedal and the steering wheel,” Houston said.

The level of expertise in the room during learning sessions at Holdsworth has set the program apart from other professional learning he’s experienced.

“The level of those coming in to present to us—their knowledge base, their ability to equip us as leaders—it’s been unmatched,” Houston said.

A formalized investment

One of the program’s most distinctive elements is the role of the sponsor superintendent. The program asks superintendents to do more than identify talent. It gives them a structure for opening up the decisions, relationships and tradeoffs that aspiring leaders cannot fully understand from the outside.

“Our conversations have more depth now,” Houston said of his sponsor superintendent, Dr. Tory Hill. “There are things that maybe he couldn’t share with me before, or I may not have understood. Whether it be community relationships, board interactions, decisions that are made in executive session—now he can share with me so we can collaborate and be innovative together.”

Houston is also putting what he’s learning into practice through an enterprise project focused on addressing Channelview ISD’s financial needs—a challenge that touches facilities, staffing and the district’s long-term sustainability.

A superintendent sees who’s ready

Hill called Houston a “phenomenal and innovative leader” with a broad range of knowledge and skills.

“There is not a project that he has led that I’ve not been extremely proud of the outcomes,” Hill said. “I knew he would be an ideal candidate for Holdsworth and, likewise, an ideal candidate for the superintendency.”

“Being a superintendent to me is all about impact,” Houston said. “The opportunity to really have an impact on our community—not just the academics, but the trajectory of the community through the success of its people, its staff, the culture, the programs offered—that’s what drives me.”

Hill believes Houston will be a great superintendent one day. When that day comes, the training Houston is receiving now will help him stay there enough to make the impact he wants to have, Hill said.

“What I really love is that the focus is not just on getting the job, but keeping the job,” Hill said. “Holdsworth has really articulated the differences between the deputy and the superintendent and the shifts that are required. What allows you to get into the seat may not allow you to keep the seat.”

His role now is to make sure Houston doesn’t face those challenges alone.

“My hope is to see him thrive,” Hill said. “My hope is to see students in his school district, when he is named superintendent, excelling and reaching their goals—and that he feels that same level of joy that I feel every single night when I lie down to go to sleep, knowing that we’re doing the right work for students.”