Leading by Listening

CMU alumnus Wayne Walters equips Pittsburgh Public Schools students to dream, discover and become who they want to be

One of Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Wayne Walters’ most memorable moments from his first year as Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent started with a simple question.

A graduating senior asked if Wayne would be his guest for Take a Father to School Day.

“I told him, ‘I’ll be there,’” Wayne says. “The student said, ‘You didn’t even check your calendar yet?’”

The 1990 College of Fine Arts graduate didn’t need to make sure he was available, because he knew he’d make it happen. The nearly 21,000 students in Pennsylvania’s second largest school district and their success are his top priority.

“I'm unapologetically student-first, working with students is my happy place,” says Wayne, who started out as a music teacher in the district after graduating from CMU at age 20 and doing his student teaching the following semester. The entirety of his 32-year career has been with PPS.

“I want our kids to know, believe and understand that their dreams can come true. Whether you're from a marginalized community, whether you're a first-generation college student, whether you're an English as a second language student, it will happen for you if you work hard, stay disciplined and invest in your education.”

First Lessons

Growing up in St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, both of Wayne’s parents were educators.

“Our home was always filled with kids coming in for help,” he says. “That was just what I knew. They never said you have to be a teacher, but I guess it was in my blood all along.”

He was a kid who “tried everything but didn’t stick with anything” except music. Playing the saxophone and the steel drums, he performed in the Rose Bowl Parade and on a cruise to Venezuela in high school. When The Drifters — the R&B group behind classics like “Under the Boardwalk” and “This Magic Moment” — came to town, he was part of their backing band and arranged compositions for his fellow musicians by listening to the group’s tapes.

As a senior, he was part of an arts program through the University of Miami. The program sent him college applications to numerous schools with excellent music programs.

“Carnegie Mellon gave me the most money, so my mom said, ‘OK, I guess that’s where you’re going,’ even though neither of my parents had ever been to the continental U.S.,” Wayne says.

Strangely enough, his sister, who was age 17 to his 16, started college the same year at nearby Duquesne University. After a whirlwind weekend of getting their children established on neighboring campuses, his parents returned to their home in the Caribbean.

“They told me to be good, make some good friends and don’t mess this up,” he says. “If you mess up this scholarship, you'll be right back at home, and we can't afford to bring you home until next summer."

So he listened.

As he figured out how to navigate his first chilly and icy winters as a teenager, he earned his bachelor’s degree in saxophone performance and K-12 teacher certification studying with Associate Teaching Professor of Clarinet Thomas Thompson and jazz musician Eric Kloss among other CMU faculty.

“It has been a joy watching Wayne’s outstanding growth as a musician, an educator and an administrator,” says Professor Emerita of Music Education Natalie Ozeas, his lifelong mentor who still checks in regularly. “His commitment to his students’ development has been inspiring to me, Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers and, I am sure, to my students at Carnegie Mellon.”

For Wayne, he believes that “CMU was probably one of the best decisions I ever made.”

“I had great teachers, and I had a great experience that felt like I was in a conservatory in a university setting,” Wayne says. “I'm just proud that somebody from the music department could become a superintendent, which is not traditional. I felt like I was well prepared from my lessons at CMU to take on that challenge. I will always thank CMU for that.”

Making the Grade

After graduation, he spent eight years as a music teacher at Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary. While there, his principal and mentor, Patricia A. Fisher, encouraged him to earn his master’s degree in music education and technology at night and later his principal’s certification.

Over the decades, he served as an assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent for 6-12 schools, assistant superintendent of professional development and special programming, and interim superintendent before being named superintendent in August 2022. Along the way, he received his Ed.D. in educational leadership from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“It was the first time in 30 years that the district had picked someone internally for superintendent,” he says. “The staff, families and students know me by name, and many have my number. They know they can reach me.”

At the helm of the district, he’s leading in a way that’s true to himself and his core beliefs as a listening leader, a thinker, an artist and a collaborator.

“I do have high expectations for my kids because I have experienced the transformational power of education,” he says. “That’s who I am. I tell students, no excuses, no wasting time and always give me your personal best. We will get through all of this.”

He’s also intimately aware of the challenges faced by the district and public schools in general, which were only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic taught us that school is now like a television channel, and they will turn the channel on you when instruction is not engaging,” he says. “You have to step up your game and do things a little bit differently.”

“We can't survive as a district, if our district is not one of excellence. Regardless of your ZIP code, your gender, your gender identity, your socioeconomic status and your race, you are entitled to a quality, robust education.”

For Wayne and the district’s more than 4,100 employees, that means thinking beyond test scores. His team focuses on “the full educational package” including STEM, the arts, career preparation, wellness and physical education.

“I've never heard parents say, ‘I'm sending my student to a school to get a test score,’” Wayne says. “They send their children to school for an educational experience. My work is to deliver on a high-quality, equitable experience that propels students for whatever future decisions they make.

“We can't all be a doctor, but we can certainly provide the education that allows them to dream, to discover and to become who they want to be.”

For that recent 2023 graduate that meant a scholarship to West Virginia University. He’ll study engineering and play football — and possibly wear one of the two bowties that Wayne gave him as a gift on Take A Father to School Day when he dresses up for an away game.

And if he’s not sure how to tie it? He’s got Wayne’s personal cell phone number, just in case.

“Our children are ours,” Wayne says. “Whatever we do with them, however we treat them, however we receive them, however we support them, will frame what our future looks like as a society.”