UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY Utah Valley University Library George Sutherland Archives & Special Collections Oral History Program

Utah Women’s Walk Oral Histories Directed by Michele Welch

Interview with Lucille Stoddard by Kimberly Williamson December 5, 2011

Utah Women’s Walk

TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET

Interviewee: Patti Harrington

Interviewer: Kristy Tyson

Place of Interview: George Sutherland Archives, UVU, Orem, Utah

Date of Interview: 12 November 2012

Recordist: Michele Welch

Recording Equipment: Zoom Recorder H4n

Panasonic HD Video Camera AG-HM C709

Transcription Equipment: Express Scribe

Transcribed by: Brenna McFarland

Audio Transcription Edit: Lisa McMullin

Reference: PH = Patti Harrington (Interviewee)

KH = Kristy Tyson (Interviewer)

MW = Michele Welch (Director, Utah Women’s Walk)

Brief Description of Contents:

Patti Harrington was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and shares her experiences living in Denver, Colorado, where she was influenced by her parents in both education and business. She discusses her education at Brigham Young University where she received a BA in journalism, a teaching certificate for English/journalism and special education, and a master’s in education administration. She received her Ed.D. in education administration from the University of Utah. She speaks about events she encountered serving as the principal of Provo High School, superintendent for Provo School District, Utah state superintendent, and in her current role as Executive Director of the Utah School Superintendents Association. She shares the impact of family in her life, family traditions, the influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and her future aspirations.

NOTE: Interjections during pauses or transitions in dialogue such as uh and false starts and starts and stops in conversations are not included in this transcript. Changes by interviewee are incorporated in text. All additions to transcript are noted with brackets. Clarifications and additional information are footnoted. Audio Transcription [01:37] Beginning of interview

KT: Good morning, my name is Kristy Tyson. This is Monday, November 12, 2012, and I am at the Utah Valley University George Sutherland Archives in Orem, Utah, interviewing Dr. Patti Harrington for the purposes of the Utah Women’s Walk. Today we are going to be talking about Patti’s life and her contributions to life in the state of Utah.

So, Patti, we’re so grateful you’re here today, thanks for taking some time to come on down to Utah Valley. We’re going to just go ahead and ask some questions and feel free to respond as you want, and we look forward to it. The first question I have for you is just background information. Would you tell us where you were born, where you attended school? Just a little bit about your background?

PH: I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Both my parents were graduates of the University of Utah. They grew up in Salt Lake in what I consider the halcyon days of Salt Lake where they knew everyone, and everyone knew which high school they went to, so there was a lot of familiarity in my family with Utah. My dad took a transfer to Denver when I was five years old, and I actually grew up in Denver; that’s my heart home—still is. And we grew up in the southwest part of Denver along a creek bed—Bear Creek—and lived an outdoor life, and that’s a great childhood.

We attended wonderful schools. Sabin Elementary School was where I went in my early elementary years. I was really happy there. Interestingly enough, I remember my principal in those days, which is kind of unusual. Usually you remember your teachers but not so much your principals. And then we were part of the forced school integration of Denver in the 1950s and 1960s. And although I had a five-minute walk to school, we were actually bussed across town for thirty-five minutes to University Park Elementary, also a fabulous school, and finished up sixth grade there. I started junior high, and then Dad took a transfer down to Los Angeles, selling steel for U.S. Steel.

At the time that we moved to California, Mother became a fourth-grade teacher, and so I have both a business side and an education side in my background. I graduated from high school in southern California—Ganesha High School. I went to Brigham Young University in 1971—loved BYU—graduated in ’75, went back immediately to get a teaching certificate in English/journalism and special education and then, again,]about five years later to get my master’s. I was thinking I might be able to teach English and journalism at the secondary level, but at the time I was putting myself through my last few months of school, I began to substitute and became an aide in a special education

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 2 class, and I got hooked on teaching special-ed kids. And so, I worked to earn a certificate to teach special ed. I don’t want to get teary, just sweet memories. So I picked up my degree in special education.

MW: We cry every interview. It’s just wonderful when people show emotion; don’t worry about that. We love it when you cry and we’ll cry with you.

PH: While I was working in the special-ed classroom, I got hooked on working with kids with disabilities and picked up my special-ed degree, and of course in those days, English teachers were a dime a dozen and special-ed teachers, just as they are now, were hard to find. So I was hired to teach students that had intellectual handicaps and learning disabilities, and that’s where I spent my teaching career—in special education. I loved it, great fun, great joy. I spent seven years in the classroom. My eighth year, I became what they called a facilitator in Provo. I was assisting the principal, learning the principal’s job and then became the principal at Sunset View Elementary in 1985 in Provo School District.

What I didn’t mention is all the while I was going through college, I was trying to work my way through, and before I was placed in a classroom to be a para-educator, I was actually a bus driver for Provo School District. So, I would take a bus run in the morning and take kids on field trips, primarily field trips, and then work my day at the school. That’s how I made my final years of college work financially.

After five years at Sunset View I went to an overnight appointment at Provo High School as principal. The circumstances were unusual. Provo High had a football coach sleeping with a senior girl, and the school was two hundred thousand dollars in debt. District leaders wanted someone that understood enough about the budgets and the district to try and go in and ameliorate it. They opened the position, and actually hired someone to do that. I had thought about applying, but decided not to apply, and all summer long after I missed the application deadline, I kept sensing a strong message of “Something’s going to happen at Provo High, and you’re going to be appointed there.” And this is one of those, you know, coincidences of life, spiritual moments of life, whatever you call it. For me, it was spiritual. I kept denying it, thinking, Don’t think so highly of yourself; it’s not going to be yours; they’ve already given it away to someone else. And yet, at the end of the summer, my superintendent and personnel director came to visit my elementary school and said, “Something’s happened at Provo High School; we’d like you to take it over.”

So, that afternoon I said goodbye to my Sunset View staff. We’re like family; you just love these people. Dear, dear friends. The next morning I was in a seven o’clock meeting

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 3 with the teacher leaders of Provo High School. I mean, some of the most legendary people in education in Provo taught there: Jan Cooper, Merrill Webb, Dwanna Riddle. I mean these people were amazingly wonderful and talented people, and now it was mine to go to Provo High and try to resolve some of the school’s problems.

It was a difficult year. I broke my arm that year; my father passed away that year; I had to dismiss a very popular coach; I had to confront Channel 2 News which was constantly critical of me for having done what I did and, of course, they were not understanding all of the circumstances, nor could I talk about them. The people involved were people I had known for years, including the girl who was involved with the coach. She had gone through my elementary school. Her mother had been my right hand in the school’s PTA. So it was just fraught with an emotional aspect to it. I was grateful that I had this premonition all summer long that I was to do this. Otherwise, I could have easily packed up shop and gone home.

But it’s like every other job that’s hard. When someone would say, “How do you like Provo High School?” Honestly, I was exhausted; I was tired; I was worried; I was losing sleep. I wanted to say, “It’s really hard, and it’s really difficult.” But you don’t say that because these are great teenagers who you’re also working with. So I would constantly say, “It’s wonderful, it’s great; I love being with the kids,” which was absolutely true. The kids always restore you no matter what school you’re at. And over time, of course, it became my heart home. You spend so many hours there, evening activities and football games and dances, and the best part of every day is going outside in the hallways and just being with kids. So, it became a really sweet place for me, but a very difficult one.

After five years at PHS, I was appointed to serve as the assistant superintendent in the district for four years over curriculum and instruction, and then, in 2001, I became the Provo superintendent. In January 2003 I was asked to help lead the state as assistant superintendent, which was a short tenure. When I took that job, I said to the state superintendent, “You’re going to be there for a few months, or at least a few years, aren’t you?” And he said, “Oh, I’ll be there for a while.” And about ten months later, he announced his retirement, and, after much deliberation, I applied and became state superintendent, which work I did five years.

I’m currently the executive director of the Utah School Superintendents Association. I handle the meetings for the superintendents, and their conferences, and I’m their lobbyist up on [Capitol] Hill during the legislative session. I also lobby for the Utah School Boards Association—the local school boards of education—so I virtually represent the forty-one districts across the state up on the hill during the legislative session, which is fun, daunting, and challenging.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 4

[09:50]

KT: Awesome. Will you tell us where you received your doctorate degree?

PH: I started my doctorate degree in 1990 and finished in ’96. I was doing that at the same time I was Provo High principal so I would take off Wednesday afternoon about 1:00 and go to three classes, three hours each until 10:00 o’clock at night, and then I took a year off to do my dissertation, so I received my doctoral degree from the University of Utah in 1996—wonderful experience. University of Utah does the traditional, if you will, doctoral work inside of education, but then they ask you to do an allied field, and in my case, I chose to do allied study in business management and leadership. So I had many classes in business, which was kind of scratching my father’s side of life, and as well I think, sharpening up my own skills to be an administrator. In fact, I came to the administrative job without anything more than an educational budgeting and finance class, but no true accounting course. So I took an accounting class during my doctoral work and, as challenging as it was for me to be in a graduate-level accounting class, I barely survived it, but found it very helpful to me as I continued to grow and learn in education administration.

KT: Great, so we’re going to come back and touch on your career. But let’s go in another direction; you talked about your parents. So can you talk about your family, your siblings? Just tell us anything you would like to tell us about them, your birth order, any traditions, anything that you’ve grown to love being in that family.

PH: I have two sisters and two brothers; one older of each, one younger of each. So I’m the middle child, and the well-adjusted one, so everyone says. I don’t think that’s true necessarily. But I know the experience of having an older brother, older sister, younger brother, younger sister, and I love them each. And they’re very accomplished people in their own right. My older sister is a special-ed teacher. My older brother is the Director of Energy for the state of Utah; my younger brother is an emergency room doctor, and my younger sister has been a stay-at-home mom, but also picked up a teaching degree and has shown her talents in a number of ways. I think we’re a bunch of overachievers is what I’m saying. Mom and Dad gave us the gift of quick talk; you had to listen very fast in our home, and as a result you tend to try to move through things quickly and want to learn quickly. And so, we were blessed with that. Our dad gave us the gift of persistence and determination, and the will to get up and go even when you don’t feel like it.

MW: How long ago did your dad pass away?

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 5 PH: Pardon me?

MW: How long ago did your dad pass away?

PH: Mom passed away in ’90. Dad ’92. It’s been a long time ago for me to still feel to tear up about it.

MW: No, those are tender—those are tender things.

KT: She’s very close to her, yeah.

PH: My mother was a lifelong educator, and she developed a sympathy, compassion, and a respect for others. It went beyond tolerance of others; it was respect and love for others— cultural diversity and embracing of that. She was gifted with children and with people in general. She was a remarkable leader and was great fun to be with. She was sharp intellectually and had a wonderful wit. We all loved being with her. She was an ambulance chaser, so we never missed out on anything that was going to be hot on the news.

My parents were both avid readers of the newspapers and magazines and modeled that in the home and we all gobbled that up. They both were outdoor people. We enjoyed an outdoor life. They were both great golfers, and they won some amateur golf tournaments. I used to caddy for my mom when I was growing up, and it was a way I could earn money and enjoy being with her. I learned to golf from mom and have enjoyed golfing off and on throughout my life.

We had an idyllic childhood from my perspective. We attended great schools in Denver; I remember that vividly. We were in the schools at the time of the sugar cube inoculation for polio. We had annual field days of athletic competitions. We had art contests and great assemblies of music and drama. We celebrated holidays including Christmas in our schools. I remember Christmas caroling outside on the playground with snow falling in Denver. We went to neighbors’ homes for lunch without worry as everyone seemed to be living good lives in committed families. We were living in what I consider to be some of the great days of public education. And schools have become only greater in my opinion, as they serve such a variety and level of children.

We felt a personal relationship with our teachers in terms of their caring about us. As I mentioned, I can remember both of my elementary principals: Miss Worley was principal up to my third grade year, and she ruled the hallways. You never dreamed of getting in trouble with Miss Worley, but she was very kind and wonderful even though I

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 6 remember she was a strict disciplinarian. And Mrs. Lockemann in my upper elementary years was a tremendous advocate for reading, also full of high expectations. I remember—the word strict is too strong for her—but her high expectations were such that you knew you wanted to perform and do well in school. Mom and Dad also expected us to do well in school. It was a given in our house that you did well in school.

KT: Share with us, maybe a story with your sibling in school or outside of school.

[15:13]

PH: Well, outside of school we played at Bear Creek. Mom bought us a little plastic boat, and about three of us could fit in it at one time. The creek was about a ten-foot span. But we thought we were big time, you know, sailing down the creek, swimming in the pond. My brothers would build a fort; we used to put telegraphs between tree huts, so we could talk to one another. I, unfortunately, started a field on fire when I was a little kid. We had this contest; it was a terrible contest. It was to light a match to the weeds, see how big the fire could grow before you could make sure you stamped it out. And so we did it several times, and unfortunately I was the winner, meaning it got to be the biggest, and I couldn’t stamp it out. And, with great worry of course we all ran home, and I remember my mom saying, “You just go downstairs.” My mom was never one to spank or that, but a look was all it took to just shrivel you. I remember being downstairs and watching everyone from the neighborhood running down to the creek bed to stamp out the fire with their brooms and their shovels, and feeling like I was the pariah of the neighborhood. So, it was one of those memories that you want to forget, but it’s kind of etched in your mind about what you don’t do the rest of your life to cause trouble for other people.

Oh, we used to celebrate the Fourth of July; we still enjoy it. My dad made sure we knew the marines’ song, the marine hymn; he was a marine. We always learned patriotic songs as we were on vacations, singing together.

I remember at University Park there was a neighborhood house right next door that had, of all things, candy for sale in their front part and it was the thing for those kids that wanted to be quasi-naughty to run next door to the store during lunch time and run back onto campus, which was forbidden. It was something you didn’t do. I only remember doing it one time, but I do remember going over there with my brother one time. He and I, my brother—he was one year older than I was, so I’m always going to blame most of that naughty behavior on him—that’s Kristy’s father. We went over to what we called the student store, but of course, it was a private place next door to us, and we were there buying candy as were a half dozen other kids when Mr. Reamer, the vice-principal, came around the corner. We could see him through the window and someone yelled, “Mr.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 7 Reamer!” And so everyone scattered; some went through the front door and back to school; others out the door and down the street. I had no place to go, so I went between the candy place and into the back part of their house, behind the curtain, and I remember just shaking, just quivering when Mr. Reamer was walking into that store to see who was there. But he never found me. I escaped. I never went back, but it was one of those unforgettable things that now you laugh at and say, “Oh my gosh, I was too naughty in those days to speak of it.” But I don’t know if John got in trouble; I don’t know if he made it out of there without getting into trouble.

But you know, having been now on the other side of being a principal, an assistant principal, so many kids will come up to me and say, Do you remember me? I was in your office a lot. And fortunately, either because of the passing of time or because their misbehavior wasn’t that big of a deal, you don’t remember that. You remember how wonderful they were, how sweet they were, how oh—sometimes you can remember some of the mischief they were in, but nothing that makes me ever run into someone and say, “I want to avoid you,” because, to me they are all darling, and everyone has a little bit of nick in them. I did too, but I’m also one of those kids that never sluffed. I mean, even on Senior Sluff Day, I was at school. It was just kind of like this drive I had to make sure I did everything as best I could do it. But I obviously had my moments of occasional naughtiness.

[18:50]

KT: Awesome, that’s fun, that’s great. Great memories. Tell me—you’ve kind of mentioned some of the women you admired growing up. Is there anyone specific that you really admire, any women that you admired growing up or you’d like to speak about?

PH: I’ve had some great role models, women and men. My mother, of course, is the first role model, and I think that’s probably true for any girl that loves her mom. She was successful, bright, capable, funny, and she, as I said, she knew how to encourage me, motivate me, and also discipline me with just a look, just a feeling of either being disappointed in me or being exhilarated by what I was doing. So we were close friends. I think every successful woman has to look back at their mom and say, “That’s got to be a key reason why I did what I did.”

In terms of my career and blossoming, oh my gosh, there were so many great college professors on my pathway; there were many high school people who, you know, when you’re a high school kid you may make fun of them in not naughty ways, but in ways that just, you know, play with their name or whatever. But I remember a singular English teacher who probably instilled in me the desire to major in English and journalism. She

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 8 was so demanding, with such high expectations. And I loved her. She didn’t want to go do anything with us after school or whatever; she wasn’t the one that took me to my first Shakespeare show, although that one I, too, remember with great fondness. But she had high expectations, high demand, wanted us to perform well, and we did well because of it. We rose to whatever expectations she had for us, which is a universal theme about how to work with kids. And [it was] something I learned from her as a student.

I also had a great English teacher in the eighth grade who helped us read our first Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, and then took us to the summer production right in our community theater. It was an inexpensive evening, so everyone went—it made my love for Shakespeare grow and is still strong to this day. And both of those women were English teachers who probably had a major role in shaping my own future.

In college it was much the same. I had a tremendous experience at BYU. I remember a male teacher, Dr. Ellsworth, who taught Bible as Literature. It was a great course that extended my understanding of various cultures and religions and encouraged me to look at the Bible from a, if you will, sectarian viewpoint, not just from a spiritual viewpoint. The class provoked deep thought as did other great courses including fabulous political science classes taught by Dr. Scott Grow.

In my career, I watched other women, maybe five years older than I was at the time, who were beginning to get administrative positions at the building level. When I started to study school administration for my master’s, I was in special education and I saw myself becoming a special-ed director at the district level. Such a position was found in every district except the very small ones, so I thought there was high job security in that field. But when you get into school administration classes, most of what they’re talking about is what you do at the building to lead a building in elementary school or secondary school. And then I saw some women who began to do that in the Provo district, and I though that looked fun; that would be a good, next challenge for me. In a school as opposed to a district office, you’re with the kids all the time and you’re not focused solely around all the legal issues of special education and in some respects, all the adversarial issues that are related to it.

And so I decided I wanted to become an elementary school principal. Provo district was unique in at least two ways and I think pretty unique in the state of Utah at the time. Number one, they were very site-based managed, so when you became a building principal you had your head, and I’ll explain that in just a minute. And second, there was no glass ceiling. I never felt it; I never experienced it except one time, and so I had great role models who were just a few years older than I was working their way through as women education leaders. One was Katy Harris. She was a special-ed director for the

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 9 district, a remarkable woman, and now in her ninety-third or fourth year; I still stay in touch with Katy. She was a tremendous role model and helped us understand how to be professional and how to work in parents in particular, which is a big part of special education.

When I became principal at Sunset View Elementary, I followed Jan Wilde, who had been principal for three years, one year of which I was assigned to be her assistant. And Jan was an extraordinary leader who taught me so much about customer relations, if you consider parents and children to be your customers. I mean, she just went right up to people and put her smiling face right into theirs and made them feel welcome. She always talked about her teachers in glowing ways everywhere she went. Now knowing what I know about schools and knowing that every crop of teachers, every crop of administrators, and every crop of kids, have some trouble spots where you have to work through some issues you might expect leaders to be occasionally pessimistic. You never heard that from Jan. She kept such issues private; she dealt with that privately and everywhere she went, she raved about Sunset View and her great teachers. And of course that builds a reputation in the school and the community and has a way of making an esprit de corps in a school that is wonderful, so I learned from a master in that respect. I was grateful for that year to learn from Jan. She subsequently determined to go back to Salt Lake, which was her home, and when the job opened it became mine.

During that same time, one of my great mentors was Jim Bergera, who was assistant superintendent at the time and became superintendent ultimately. When I became principal of Sunset View after Jan, I was trying to learn the job, and I remember being in Jim’s office in the first few days of my new work as principal. He told me that a BYU professor wanted to work with us closely in our building and build a partnership. His name was Gus Clark and Gus was pretty well known in the valley for his great work in schools. And so Jim Bergera was telling me, “Patti, you need to contact Gus, and you need to get this thing going. He’s not going to come down to you; you need to contact him.” Then he looked at me and leaned forward with intent and said, “Act the part, Patti.”

I’ve never forgotten that. What he was saying was, “It’s yours, take it, run with it now; just do it.” And I was so grateful for that. That’s exactly how I like to work. I like people to help and mentor, but then I want to just independently fly and I want to—I want to make sure that I don’t tumble over anyone’s feelings or whatever, but I don’t want them worried about looking over my shoulder or thinking that they need to constantly give me direction. So I grew up professionally in a district that was extremely site-based managed, that expected and leaned on local leadership, and that allowed for building- level decision making. Let me give you an example.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 10 One day we determined that we needed to retire our flag at Sunset View, and of course that’s a pretty solemn experience, and we wanted to impress it upon the minds of the kids. So we decided to start school early, and have an early morning flag ceremony wherein we would retire that flag with the help of several local boy scout troops from among the kids that attended the school. And then we would have a late breakfast, a breakfast, whatever you would call it, in middle morning and then we’d dismiss school early. So instead of starting school at nine o’clock we’d start at seven o’clock and then we were done by early afternoon. I worked with my PTA of course; I worked with the community. We sent out all kinds of information about when the buses were going to run, worked with the bus people. We virtually did it without asking anyone’s permission except to make sure all of our public was well aware of it. And the bus people were supportive of it and the lunch people, and we had a wonderful experience retiring that flag, watching it burn. The kids often cite that as a key memory during their own elementary years. That’s the kind of site-based leadership and management that Provo allowed, and I thought it really gave us a lot of ability to do what we needed to do in behalf of our community to make school a rich experience for children.

When I took later assignments at the district and state levels, I realized that is not common—that there are many districts that are regulating local schools with all kinds of policy that you have to ask permission for X, Y, and Z on a regular basis. So I understand better now having been at the state and at the district level, why there are some who say that their school isn’t always focused around their child because local leaders sometimes are not allowed to do some of the things that help you to focus around the child. And while that’s not universally true. I am aware of many principals who often complain to me about the strangulation of regulation they have in their district. And I lament that because the best thing you can do is tailor a school for the needs of your children.

[27:50]

KT: So how did you, as a state superintendent, how did you help them? I mean was your vision—were you able to help train that—are you doing that more now as an associate over superintendents? How do you help them pick up on that vision?

PH: Good question. At the high school, Provo High School, that was where I first felt like my job was to deinstitutionalize the institution. Parents have got to feel more welcome in schools; they’ve got to understand that we want to talk to them. Counselors have got to get out of their offices and talk with the children. You can get too overwhelmed with paperwork or too staid in your position if you’re not careful and lose the true focus. So I felt that need to more focus on children at Provo High; I tried to take that same focus right to the state office.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 11

When I arrived at the state office, it was totally segmented, meaning math was in one place and science was in another and home economics in another. The “silo” relationship was not good for the state and the schools and was not helpful to students. I had experienced that at Provo High School, where I had an exquisite teacher of tailoring. She’s the best in the state; one of her students won the Make It with Wool contest year after year after year—the state winner. At one point I had a student who needed only one more elective to graduate, an elective in fine arts. Tailoring was considered by the state to be a practical arts elective course of which the student at PHS had several credits. The student had won the state wool contest, and his tailoring was exquisite. It was an art. I wanted to issue an elective credit to him for fine arts, even though the course was supposed to be a practical art elective. Unusually for me to ask permission from those not involved in the situation, but wanting to ensure quality, I called the state to discuss the matter. I should have just given the credit to the kid. But I called the state and said, “I’d like to move this credit into fine arts to help him graduate on time.” And they said, Oh, you can’t do that. And I thought, Well, this is unusual. The best thing for this child to get him to graduate on time is to give him this credit in fine arts, which, clothing can easily be seen as that, especially at his artful level; it wasn’t like I was throwing it to the wolves. But the state just put their foot down and kept saying no, no, no, nor would the state practical arts folks even talk with the state fine arts folks about it. Well, finally I gathered together my counseling staff and my leader at the district office and said, “This is what we think we’re going to do.” And the leader at the district office said, “Then do it, if it’s in the best interest of the child,” which we did—awarded him the credit, and he graduated on time.

So having had that experience and others, I got to the state office as assistant superintendent and those independent silos were everywhere, and everyone was protecting their turf, and so I felt very strongly to break them down by creating cross- curricular teams and insisting that we work together to support, not command schools. For example, we used to send out thirty-two applications for different pots of money in different subject fields from the state. That stopped. I said, “The districts don’t have time for that. We’re going to do one common application; we’ll get whatever questions we need on one common application.” I encouraged and began to expect the state staff to start thinking of their work holistically, through the eyes of principals and lead teachers, as opposed to their own cronies or past history. It was a tough sell, and it was an uphill road because it broke down what people thought was their turf. I don’t mean to say it in so negative a way, but in a way that it just broke down those silos that were up there. I wasn’t totally effective in the five years I was there on every matter I wished to improve and innovate, but I worked at it concertedly in those five years. The consolidated application now is permanent, and it has taken the place of those thirty-two applications. I

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 12 think more than ever people are seeing things through the eyes of parents and principals who are looking at the holistic idea for their child, and I hope that we’re getting some of those things done in our schools.

KT: So are you—so when you say these thirty-two applications—so will you just describe—is it the principals writing to you for the monies? Or is it grant monies that—

PH: A lot of them were grant monies; a lot of them were specific monies. Special ed, of course, and Title 1 are very specific monies, but it also went to advanced placement monies and the kinds of things that—you know, again, some of it came from my own background and Provo High School the advanced placement monies were awarded to the whole—to all the teachers in the department. Why? Not just to the AP teacher. Why? Because everyone in a department feeds excellence in English up to the AP class. They’ve all done a really good job if you’ve got an AP student ready in his junior or senior year. So we used to put the money around the department and let the department decide how to spread that money. When I say money, kids get—kids generate money by their scores on AP tests. And that money goes back into the arena where they came. So some of that—some of that was needing to be done and still needs to be done. Deinstitutionalize.

I mean, when parents say that they don’t feel welcome at school I just, I just want to die. I just want to say, “How could that be? This is their school; these are their children.” And they ought to be the first ones that feel welcome in the school.

I was in the state office; I didn’t start it, but I certainly embraced it as quickly as I could-- the idea of charter schools, and I’m kind of an unusual educator that way; a lot of my colleagues still fight them, and they’ve been now in existence in the state for some ten or twelve years. Charter schools are particularly effective because parents feel empowered. And because they’re on their boards or at least because they think they’ve helped to create them, of course they’re going to—it’s like giving birth to a baby. You’re going to do anything you can to help that child thrive. And so that’s why charter schools seem to be doing well. There are a lot of issues with charter schools that I’m aware of having been state superintendent: some financial troubles, some way out of control ideas about how they were going to use money to reward principals—they were going to set up severances for principals—all kinds of things that we’ve had to work out over the years. But their curriculum ideas are usually very sound, and their teachers are just as dedicated as teachers in traditional schools. So it has its place. We now have over fifty thousand students in our charter schools. I’m glad that they have a niche where they feel they can thrive.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 13 And yet, I will also say without hesitation you don’t beat the traditional high school in Utah anywhere in the nation; you don’t match it. It’s just one of a kind; across the state I should say it’s one of a kind. I’ve been in many, many good high schools in other places in the nation, but as a statewide effort, our comprehensive high schools are some of the best anywhere to be found.

Oh, one other area that kind of breaks down the institution—when I went to the state office, we were doing testing to satisfy policy makers and politicians. And it had its place; we were finally reporting it and finally disaggregating it, which I wish we would have done years ago, meaning break it down by the kind of student it is. We should know that the kids in poverty need more help because it’s evident in their scores, so I was really glad for the disaggregation and for the assessment in general. But, with due respect, we were not getting the results until the end of the year at best and sometimes not until two months after the end of the year. I politely, to the legislature, who created the U-PASS system, call those autopsies.1

You know, by getting test scores after the end of the year is over we can see how the kids lived or died, but it’s too late to do anything to help the child. So in the past three years we have been moving assessment away from just satisfying policy makers and politicians to rather a purpose of informing teacher, the parent, and the child, to help improve performance. We do that informally and in an ongoing way so that assessment starts in the fall, pre-assessing how a child is performing, periodically checking it so the teacher can adjust his or her instruction to help the child. So when a parent realizes that a child is behind or ahead in October, in October we can deliver some services to remediate or advance that child. And we act upon that. We match the reading materials to the reading level of the student.

All of that is background. I’m not the first one to have thought of that. But the reason it was so clear to me when I started studying that U-PASS system was because of my special-ed background where we always pretested and post-tested kids and measured their growth. That’s now happening statewide because of our work at the state level. So now the state board of education is very focused around computer adaptive testing with ongoing assessment in order to figure a growth score. You can’t hold teachers accountable for every child when some come into kindergarten never having held a book, don’t know the front from the back and others are already reading like a fourth grader. You can’t hold that teacher to the same expectation for each student, but you should hold the teacher accountable to make sure every one of those kids reaches eight or nine

1. The Utah Performance Assessment System for Students or U-PASS is an assessment program that compares students’ scores on statewide tests in math, science, and language arts.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 14 months of growth. Growth is a fair way to measure and more effective for improving learning.

KT: So how would—I know you were involved in the No Child Left Behind.2

PH: Yes.

KT: So tell me pros, cons, anything you want to share about how that affected you as a state superintendent and what you were trying to do.

[37:10]

PH: When I was assistant superintendent in Provo School District, I was responsible for all of curriculum and instruction, and I kept reading about places in Texas that were topping the charts. And I wanted to see them. So we took a group of lead educators, lead teachers that I worked with on a regular basis and went down to a place called Brazosport, Texas. It’s Brazosport School District; it’s on the Brazos River and the port of that river off the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a very poor area; it’s in the shadows of Dow Chemical, so you have a lot of homes that are just on cinder brick stilts trying to stay off the ground, and kids that are coming from great poverty in many areas, and then you have the Dow Chemical executives that live in another area that’s more affluent.

The lowest performing and highest poverty school was right there closest to the port— Freeport Elementary as I remember the name. And when we went down there, first of all, we walked in and they showed us their scores, and they had them plastered on a huge wall in the library by category—noting various demographics of children, including poverty, ethnicity, and languages spoken. The kids were actually seeing this every time they visited the library. Seventy-six percent of white kids are doing this, and 73 percent of black kids are doing this. It was astounding to me to see such transparency.

And when I walked in the hallways with the high school principals, each could tell me by name which kids were still at the elementary reading level. And in middle school they could talk about, with articulation, which teachers were able to move their kids the furthest academically. I mean, that was a very confidential conversation, but the principal could sit down and talk to me about that, without notes. That wasn’t our Utah culture at all.

2. The No Child Left Behind Act was proposed by President George Bush in 2001 and signed into law in 2002.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 15 In Utah, we were glad to bring students to school; we wanted to help them; we wanted them to do well; we worked really hard to help them do well. Teachers were not sitting around waiting to find out how to help children succeed in Utah. They were working hard, but we didn’t measure it in that respect. And because of that we didn’t hold ourselves accountable for that measurement. We offered a smorgasbord of outstanding lessons and experiences, but we never ensured, through measurement, that students could read, write and compute with accuracy and accountability.

I was so impressed with what I learned from Texas. I went back to work, got a bigger group of teachers, one from every building in Provo School District, and went back down there so they could see the culture, and we just enveloped ourselves in it for three or four days. And our teachers were just amazed, just wide-mouthed saying, Oh my gosh, we’ve got to do this. We’ve got to do this. I had one principal with me who got on the phone that afternoon and started directing her secretary to create a list of every child so they could get ready for careful measurement of reading with the Direct Reading Assessment. I was so impressed with that. All of this came before No Child Left Behind, and that’s what we were trying to do in Provo.

We had turned the corner; we had gotten informal assessment going; we were looking for growth scores; we were holding our principals accountable. As superintendent, for example, I had one principal who was not performing well. I brought him in and I said, “I want to see your teachers’ scores on reading.” He said, “Well, I really don’t know how they are performing.” And I said, “Well, the next time we meet, I want those scores in front of me.” And I helped him understand the test to use and how to use it; I tried to teach him rather than discipline him, but I wanted to surely impress upon him my high expectations for performance and my expectations for his becoming a reading leader in his building. The next time he came in, sure enough, he had reading scores of all of his teachers. He and I talked, and I tried to do the same for him that Texas had done for me— provide an epiphany of how you measure it and watch it and see it grow. And if it’s not growing why, and do the children need more help. All of that happened before No Child Left Behind.

I was superintendent only for eighteen months in Provo. The state superintendent called during that second year and said, “Would you take my assistant job?” And I said, “Oh I’m way too inexperienced for that. There are a lot of people with much better experience than I. I’ve only been here eighteen months.” He said, “Patti, I need curriculum help and you’ve got it. Provo’s known for it, please come.” Provo was my heart home; I had spent twenty-five years in the district; I loved the place. But I decided to try to move the state toward this idea of individualized assessment, and with his support, I went up to the state office and started moving that direction. Well, that was 2003. No Child Left Behind was

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 16 signed into law in 2001 and implemented in 2002 and was just hitting the states in 2003. I remember so many times thinking to myself, can I beat No Child Left Behind by getting ongoing assessment and disaggregated scores out there in our schools. I knew that once teachers embraced it, like as they had in Provo, I could get out of the way and watch them soar to new heights with students. Could I do that fast enough in the state so that we could beat No Child Left Behind as an untenable federal mandate?

The answer ended up being no. I worked hard toward rapid implementation, but statewide implementation is daunting. For NCLB, President Bush required every state to sign on to an agreement of how we were going to measure kids—by their strict guidelines—and it was a lengthy forty-page agreement of what we were going to do, and it included all the things that we now know are not so good about No Child Left Behind. It actually came down to one day where they were going to have a signing ceremony on the bill in the Rose Garden, and we had to agree by 11:45 A.M. to X, Y, and Z from Utah or we would not be included in the Rose ceremony.

Looking back on it I wish we’d have said, Well, don’t include us then; we’re fine. But you know I would have had congressional pressure in no small way on that, among other possible ramifications. So you have to think about all those political ramifications, and no other states really felt to fight No Child Left Behind as much in that year. So we signed onto things that, you know—some were reasonable like the number of kids that should count for an aggregation—you can’t get it so small that you begin to identify kids. That’s a smart move. Disaggregating data, of course, that’s a smart move. But one of the things that really bothered me then and now is that one score from one subgroup can make your whole school fail. That just made no sense, especially when you include the special-ed subgroup.

I was in a restaurant in St. George [UT] sometime in that year, and there was Senator Margaret Dayton, who came over and sat with us and said, “I want to fight No Child Left Behind, but I need your help. Do you like it or not?”3 And I said, “I don’t like it a bit. I don’t like what it’s doing for kids; it’s ultimately going make every school a failure.” You know, projecting it to [20]13, which was its ending year, and you had to have, by then, 100 percent of your kids at 100 percent proficiency. Anyone that raises a family knows that’s not possible, but certainly anyone that’s run a school knows that’s not possible. So I knew ultimately it was going to make us all look like failures, which was an agenda that I worried about was coming from a national group who try to make public schools look like failures, introduce vouchers and then try to privatize public ed. So I had

3. Margaret Dayton was elected to the Utah State Senate in 2007. She continues to serve as a state senator as of the date listed on this transcript.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 17 some political problems with that. And I really had issues with the bill itself, so I agreed to work with Margaret Dayton.

She was fabulous at that. She’s not one that supports every public education vote up on Utah’s Capitol Hill, if you check her voting record. But I greatly respected her fight on No Child Left Behind as she did so almost singlehandedly in our state.

We got Governor Huntsman’s attention on it; we got the attention of our congressional leaders. Rob Bishop was in our court right away—Congressman Bishop, I should say.4 And so we worked really well together on that, and within three or four months, we had the assistant to the secretary of education and the White House advisor over education in Utah in a formal hearing with many of our legislators that represented public ed to tell them our frustration over No Child Left Behind.

It was one of those moments that’s kind of defining in your life because you have to take a stand on something that other people are saying is really good. I felt strongly that we needed our Utah Congressional delegation to understand what it was doing to our schools. I asked to meet with each of them; three of the four did meet with me and with Senator Dayton. The fourth Utah member of Congress who had not yet been willing/able to meet with us happened to be at a dinner I was attending later that year and he was across the table. Following dinner, I followed him out and said, “Could I possibly talk with you about No Child Left Behind?” He chirped at me and said without even looking at me, “There are a lot of people that like it.” And that was it, done. So it was clear we were not going to have his support.

But others gave us support. There were some news stories that ran in the Washington Times about what Utah was doing and probably in many media. One that’s pretty notable was in Time Magazine. They did a feature article on it with a picture of a principal from Provo and the disgust we had over labeling schools unfairly; the travesty of holding kids that are just learning English to the same standards of kids that know English; the kids that are disabled to be held to the same standard to those that are not. So I really struggled with the federal law; I still do. I think it’s fraught with problems. Congress has yet to reauthorize the law and reauthorization was due in 2007.

I really respect President Obama’s administration for giving some waivers to NCLB in meaningful ways that put the focus back on the child and his growth. And while all of us worry about an administration taking action without congressional approval, if Congress

4. Robert “Rob” Bishop was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. He was re-elected in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012. He currently serves as a member of the House of Representatives as of the date listed on this transcript.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 18 isn’t going to act on what is now almost universally recognized as a failed law; effective leaders must. In addition, President Obama’s administration is moving towards a growth based, computer-driven model with immediate results for children, parents and teachers to use to improve performance; it’s no longer about an end of year autopsy.

On the other hand, one of the worries I have about the administration doing that without Congress, is in wondering how many other things they do unilaterally—so it’s a push- pull and that gets into other politics, but—(laughter)

[48:03]

KT: No, that’s great, thank you.

PH: You can say that this political science minor still enjoys talking politics.

KT: It runs in the family.

PH: Yes, it does.

KT: Okay, that is great, thank you. I want to kind of go into personal, using your education too, but what would you say to women or young girls about the importance of women getting an education?

PH: You can never underestimate the power of education for anyone, male or female. If you’re going to be a traditional mother and stay-at-home mother, what better influence to have on children than to be bright, capable, and have reading materials that give you insight and that help your kids understand that you have a broad understanding of the world. So if that’s the goal, which is a wonderful goal, get an education. In fact, Senator Bob Bennett used to say [to] me all the time, “Patti, do you know the number one factor, the number one indicator of school success for children is the level of vocabulary of their mother.” It wasn’t a study that I had read, but it was coming from Bob Bennett. I believed it and later read the study he must have been citing; he was very astute on education matters.5 So it’s a critical matter for women to get their education if their goal is to stay home and raise their kids.

In today’s world it’s a must. You can’t have gainful employment without strong education and without an ability to understand others and to navigate a career, to understand and respect diversity, to embrace other cultures. This is such a worldwide

5. Utah senator Robert “Bob” Bennett served in the United States Senate from 1993– 2011.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 19 economy we’re in; you can’t just close it down to what’s going on in Provo, or Orem, Utah. So, it’s important from a cultural perspective alone, not to mention the economic and social benefits a career offers to adults.

Then if you add the skill base to it that you need, whether it’s writing skills or the actual skills of computer program or whatever it may be, it’s just the only way you can make it. Even when I started at seven thousand a year as a teacher—starting pay now is thirty thousand, so it’s improved over thirty years, but not nearly the way other careers have financially improved—I could, believe it or not, still buy a home on that meager of an income. It was a small little home, but it was a home. You just can’t buy a home on today’s entry-level wage of any job; we all need at least some post secondary training. So economically it’s the only thing to do, and if you want to raise a family that’s really able and has its own future, education is the key.

And then I’ve got to add that for me, learning is just so fun. I mean, being in classes, I still enjoy it. My doctoral work was every bit as fun for me as my bachelor’s work. It was just stimulating, exciting; it’s fun to trade ideas with people. It’s fun to have your mind expanded, and it’s great to rub shoulders with people that are very accomplished in their fields.

[51:01]

KT: Awesome, good. So would there—I know you’ve said a couple of your maxims or mottos that have helped you through, but is there anything, any one specific that you pinpoint that have really helped you?

PH: Oh, my mom used to say things that would keep me going such as, “Patti, the line between success and failure is very thin. Keep trying.” And that’s been very true in my life. You know, I don’t know that there’s any one thing that goes on in my mind when I think about how you get motivated, but I think the study of great people is just worthy of our time.

I think of the stories of Winston Churchill during the war, keeping the people of England looking forward. Just last night on CBS news I heard one of his sayings, which was “If you’re going through hell, keep going. Get through it.” And I think, You know, that’s what the people of London went through during that war and others outside of London, and great leaders do that. So when I think of other mentors that were not personal to me, Margaret Thatcher is one of my great heroines. I just think she’s a wonderful person, and her leadership with Ronald Reagan at the time, even as a young adult, was spectacular to watch. These are major players in the world and amazing people. I think of people that

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 20 I’ve read about, like Gandhi that have, you know, lived a life of peace, but moved the world while they were living their life of peace.

I grew up at the time of Martin Luther King’s leadership. And I grew up with a father who was somewhat bigoted and definitely affected by WWII in that way, and a mother who was very much the opposite and who loved all people regardless of station or background. And to hear that dialogue in our family and to come out now with my memories of Martin Luther King and my respect for the way he conducted business is something that is very helpful. So there are a lot of role models that are outside of my own family and outside of my own personal sphere who have, by how they have conducted their lives, given me inspiration. But as some might say of success, it all boils down to just showing up. You didn’t “not go” to school in my home. You went to school, tried hard, and learned to get along with others. We didn’t have mottos for the family, but the expectations for honesty and worthy performance were clearly there.

KT: That’s great; that is awesome. Okay what about—what would you say would be one of the most significant trials in your life?

PH: Well, taking off weight is always the most challenging of all, and I’m not very successful at that. Well, let’s see. You know, I could talk about some challenges at work that were there, but the real personal challenges are the most significant in your life and the ones that shape you. So you know, I’m sorry that I never got to marry and have children. It’s been a joy that I’ve been able to have a career with children, and it’s been—as a good single friend of mine said, “You know, that you’ve made a choice to be with children says volumes about what you would have liked to have done as a mom.” So, I’m glad for that. But that’s clearly been probably the biggest challenge of my life.

Beyond that, the rare but occasional glass ceilings. I told you I hit it one time. It’s an interesting story. One of our directors in Provo School District gathered some of the women that were doing a luncheon in the district, and he asked me to come because my lunch manager was the supervisor over them, and he wanted a building administrator in the meeting. He opened the meeting by saying, “I appreciate you little ladies coming in today.” And it was “little ladies” this and “little ladies” that, and he was very directive about what he wanted us little ladies to do. And those were the days when Jim Bergera was my superintendent. I left the meeting as soon as it concluded and marched down the hall right into Jim’s office, and, fortunately, I had the kind of relationship with Jim that I could go in and say, as I did, “Jim, here’s what he just said to me and to four other ‘little ladies.” I said, “I’m not going to be talked to like that. Do I need to talk to him directly?” And I would have done that. It would have been scary for me, but I would have done that. And he said, “No, Patti, I’ll take care of it.” And I said, “Thank you. It’s

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 21 not the way we’ve ever treated one another in this district, and I don’t expect it for me or for my lunch manager.” So we just had leadership at the top that kept that ceiling from ever being there for any of us, certainly for the women, and I think the men in the district felt the same way. Do your job well and growth opportunities will be yours.

KT: That’s awesome. Well I just want to take a quick license really quick. You talked about a trial not having children, but you’ve been highly influential in your own families’ life, and I’m very grateful for that, and I brought a couple things that you’ve done to help instill family values, so I want you to just explain this.

PH: Well, these are personal interviews, aren’t they? Well, our family likes cereal; that probably goes back to that diet challenge; we have all said that, you know, when you’re hungry just go have a bowl of cereal. I guess that’s what we have all been told from the time that we were little kids. So for Christmas fun a couple years ago I got a—it’s a pillow cover for everyone in the family—found out what their favorite cereal was and then just tried to mimic the moniker of the cereal on the pillowcase itself. So this is a Special K one for Special K eater.

MW: Hold that up high, Patti; that’s great. What a cute thing.

KT: And you just referred to what you did as you were first in college—how this kind of came to be and how you’ve helped build tradition.

PH: Right, this is really the second time I’ve done this. When I was a kid in college, I had no money, like all college kids, and but I wanted to do something fun for you who were my little darling nieces and nephews. What I could afford was your favorite box of cereal and a T-shirt with the logo painted on it from the favorite box of cereal. So that was my Christmas gift to each; it was what I could afford in those days, and so I did the same thing except on a T-shirt with a little moniker right there of the cereal logo, and they wore them with great pride.

KT: That’s so awesome.

PH: Little Trix kids.

KT: Okay, I don’t know where these are, these are family heirlooms; I don’t know where they are after Grandmother—after Grandma and Grandpa died.

PH: Linda has them.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 22 KT: Okay. She has all of them?

PH: She has the ones from our family.

KT: So she has all the family? Okay, so this is just another thing we tried to replicate. Tell us, these are not the blocks that she gave, cause hers are so cute.

PH: No, but it made me look a lot better they’re much cuter.

KT: But tell them, essentially, what you did and what your blocks were like.

PH: Okay again, you know, in the days when you don’t have a lot of money, you get creative. So I bought a length of balsa wood and decided it would be fun to make a block for every child in the family. And at that time there were probably nine grandchildren, maybe ten grandchildren, and I gave them to my mother for Christmas as the grandmother of the grandchildren.

So each block—mine were brown and I just stained them—not painted them. These are beautifully painted. But each block has the initial, and it has their name on it, and their picture on it, and then it also has their age at the time the block was made and their birth date. Then the thing that made them the most fun for all of us is that I tried to think of some characteristic, some adjective that described each child and put that on there so it would be both a symbol of how much I loved them and what I felt about them and also hopefully something to help them be that way.

So this is a good example of Zach who is now a great-grandnephew of mine, and he’s valiant, a great word for Zach, and he’s an athlete, and that’s really a word for Zach. But he’s a valiant athlete; he’s not just an athlete with nothing else going for him; he does so many other things. This is Kalee, a grandniece of mine, and in her case she’s very intuitive; that is so true. I feel like sometimes when I talk to Kalee, who is just going to turn sixteen, I’m really talking to my best friend. I tell her things that I probably never should tell her as a great aunt, but she’s so mature and so intuitive that I can do that. She’s also an artist. She’s always been a craftsy little girl and can now do great things with her artistry, and she’s always been an adorable little girl. So I did those with Modpodge, which was the state of the art in adhering photos in 1970. Oh it would be 1985 or so that I did these, and then gave them to my mom. It was something she prized. She had them in a notable place in her front room, but they have now been scattered as we have all established our own homes. Today my sister-in-law does these beautiful pieces, and they’re better than ever.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 23 [01:00:30]

KT: And I’d like you to just share one more tradition—the Christmas gift that you bring out.

PH: Oh, sure.

KT: Would you share that with us and how that’s connected us as a family?

PH: When I bought my first home, it was a forty thousand dollar pioneer home; it was actually built at the turn of the century, and it needed so much repair work, but it was in a charming neighborhood and there were some darling people in my neighborhood. One of the evening activities for the women in the area affiliated with the Relief Society from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was to visit each other’s homes at Christmas to see their Christmas traditions.6 And we were a small enough ward that we could do that reasonably with four or five groups.7 We just went from house to house, and as I remember it wasn’t a progressive dinner, but it was a progressive, you know, pick up treat kind of thing. But more than that, you would pick up your treat and then sit down for about twenty to thirty minutes, and the person that owned the home would share their Christmas tradition. Well, one of the homes was that of Syd Riggs, who’s a notable woman—she’s now deceased—but she was a notable drama teacher at Orem High School and affiliated with the Scera Shell Theatre and many other theatres—a wonderful person.

Her family’s tradition was that you would beautifully wrap a gift, and in the gift would be something for everyone in the party. It was probably the most beautifully wrapped of any that’s under the tree. And then before you would open any gifts for Christmas, you would allow the gift to be on each person’s lap, and, while the gift was resting on the lap, that person would express what they’re grateful for that year.

And I thought, what was a neat tradition. So I took that home to my parents’ home probably in 1980 or so.

We started the tradition. Over the years, the gift has contained anything from giant ice cream sandwiches to beautiful nutcrackers. Sometimes there is a gift for every person at

6. The Relief Society is the official women's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

7. A ward is the basic ecclesiastical unit in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 24 the party; sometimes it was a family gift. Various family members have been responsible for what would go into “the gift” each year and it has always been a fun secret that we open on Christmas Eve.

One year, the last Christmas that Mom was still with us, we put my mother’s favorite illustrated children’s book, The Little Match Girl, into every family’s gift. My mother had written a note and signed each book, leaving a special message about her love for the family and her grandchildren and her hope for their success and happiness. It was a sweet family gift and wonderful Christmas Eve together.

Lately, there have been some games for everybody; there have been yo-yos that have come out sometimes. It’s been just a fun way to celebrate the season—but the most important thing about the gift—two things—it forces you—when I say force, if you want to have that sitting on your lap and talk, it gives you that opportunity to express your gratitude, which is the first thing we ought to be expressing at any holiday time and especially with family. And second, it allows you to learn about people and what’s important to them because typically when the gift is on another’s lap, they feel this opportunity now to open up. And so teenagers that otherwise would sit quietly or preteens that might sit numb in those kind of meetings and never express themselves, now open up and say, Well I’m really glad we could do this as a family or that really meant a lot to me, Dad, when you did this—and it’s been a wonderful way to really understand one another and to express gratitude before you begin the Christmas folderol.

And then once it’s done and everyone’s had their time to share, and even little ones, even when they’re babbling will say something, you don’t know what they’re saying, but they know the import of putting it on their lap and saying something. Then the kids open it up and distribute to the families or distribute to the people, and it’s just been a really fun tradition. It has a spiritual element to it and a very personal element to it, and it still is about Christmas. And of all the traditions that our family does in Utah or California, they want to do the Christmas gift. So it’s a sweet tradition.

[01:04:39]

KT: It’s a great one; we’re glad you implemented it. I brought this.

PH: Oh wow. Les Mis.8

8. Les Misérables is a Broadway musical adapted from Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name. Les Mis is the shortened, informal title used in conversation.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 25 KT: I know music has had a profound impact on you. Can you just share your love of it and how it’s influenced you spiritually or—

PH: Sure, I love all things Broadway. I love music. Music is my balm; when nothing else soothes me, music does. So, Les Mis, well, I think I’d summarize it by saying it’s the greatest redemptive story short of the story of Christ Himself. It is so much a story of forgiveness, of revenge, of authenticity, of falseness, of pride, of you can always repent, and when I say repent I mean it in the sense of bettering your lives, I’m not talking just about the traditional religious repentance. I’m talking about stopping something that is ruining your life and starting something that blesses your life, and that’s what this story’s about. I personally have seen it, I don’t know, maybe ten times, maybe more. The first time I saw it was when my mom was in a wheelchair as she was about six months away from her death, and she had gotten tickets for all of us that wanted to go see it in L.A. at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Because she was in a wheelchair, we had fabulous seats. We were all aligned with her in the wheelchair when we saw it the first time, and I just— it was unforgettable. Well, since then I’ve seen it many times.

This last year your family, Kristy, wanted to go see Broadway, and you did in New York City, and you’ve got kids that all appreciate it and respect it and have been in plays themselves and love music as much or more than I do. Your family came home and still had an appetite to see this, which they still hadn’t seen. So we found that it was playing down at Shakespeare theatre in Cedar City, and we all had—unusually—a common Saturday night to go down, so we headed out in four cars, and all met down in Cedar City and went to Les Mis together. Fabulous production down at SUU [Southern Utah University] and you know, we did the whole Les Mis thing that evening. There was fabulous acting and it was a quality production and we had fun with ice cream later on and spent the night in the hotel, then came back home.

KT: Awesome.

PH: Yes, it’s a wonderful show.

KT: It’s a great show.

PH: One of the best.

KT: Let me ask you what—you’ve traveled recently to some foreign countries. Just quickly if you want to share how has that impacted you and seeing families and children and, you know, the education process things there—how has that impacted you?

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 26 PH: Well, I’m not traveled as much as some, but I’ve traveled enough to know that yearning for success for your children and yearning for your own success is universal. Wanting goodness for your family and wanting goodness for others is universal. Finding happiness even when you live in the least fortunate of circumstances is an unusual characteristic we find outside of the United States, and it’s maybe more strongly seen there then I’ve seen in the United States. I was so impressed, for example, in Argentina and Chile. Ushuaia, Argentina is the southernmost city in the world, and we saw so much poverty in Ushuaia. Since our travel there I’ve read quite a bit about Ushuaia, particularly as it relates to the LDS Church and I have found that there’s tremendous strength in the LDS Church there.9 And these are people, who, along with their neighbors, have very, very little, and yet they express their great happiness and joy living there near the Magellan Strait.

It’s just an amazing thing to see that universality of joy and of wanting the best for their families. It is what someone recently said, “People don’t make war; politicians do,” because people universally want peace and success for their families. It gives hope and makes me just want to go volunteer in their schools or help a child after school or whatever. For me that’s what traveling has done.

I prefer getting into backcountry when I travel and seeing how the people live as opposed to seeing the traditional tourist sites. I enjoy those too, but I much prefer seeing how the people live. So, you know, I haven’t been to that many places. I’ve not been to Europe at all yet or Asia or any of the African continent except the northern African continent in the Middle East in Egypt. But the same is true there, in all the strife that’s “traditional” in the Middle East, you see the same desire of the people, which is to protect their children, to go to school and do well and for moms to cradle their babies and for dads to try and get a living and eke out a living, and so all that—when you realize that’s going around the world, you don’t set up these arbitrary angers or defenses of hate. You say no, everyone’s striving for the best.

And, you know, when you say, “Where have you been?” You know, I’ve been to Antarctica. Why did I go to Antarctica of all places? Well, because I have two older friends who are in their eighties, and they’d been to every other continent, and they said, “Would you go with us to Antarctica?” And I said, “I haven’t even been to Europe! I haven’t been to Japan; I haven’t been to a lot of places I’d like to go, but sure, I’ll go to Antarctica with you.” And it was a great treat, but of course there are no people there, so you just enjoy the beauty of it. But going there through Argentina and coming back through Chile and seeing great people doing good things; those were sweet experiences.

9. The full and formal name of the LDS Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 27 [01:10:34]

KT: Awesome. So what about retirement? (laughter) What are your plans for retirement and what would you like to accomplish in the future?

PH: I have basically flunked retirement; I formally retired as state superintendent after serving for five years in that position and thirty-two years total in public ed. I retired in 2009, and spent a year in retirement, and then the current boss that I work for called me while I was sitting on the beach with my sister and her kids one day down in California and asked if I’d come back and take this job. They had opened it, but the applicants had—none of them had superintendent experience, and they felt like they needed someone to see it through the eyes of a superintendent, so I told them I’d take it on a one-year assignment. That was in [20]10; I’m still on the job, and I’m still loving it.

My job combines what I consider helpful to kids which is to serve as an advocate—an advocate for them up on the hill and in working with their leadership in their districts— with this political science love that I have—as challenging and frustrating as it is sometimes, I still find great joy in trying to help move a bill forward that I know is going to help children. For example, the bill to set up the K-3 Reading Program is one of the first ones we worked on when I was state superintendent with Governor Olene Walker, who is another tremendous role model.10 I dearly love and respect her and if I could be like her I’d be a happy woman. That’s what she wanted to do; that’s where she wanted to put her mark—on reading excellence. It wasn’t on anything else political; she wanted to make her mark on reading help for children. And so doing those kinds of things in this current assignment is still fun for me. It gives me the feeling like I’m still contributing to the lives of children.

KT: And anything in the future—anything that you are hoping to do?

PH: Yes, I want to write a Broadway play (laughter) that’s of the quality of Les Mis or Phantom or Wicked, something. I really do want to write. Write in general. I would like to try writing a book; I’ve never done that. I think it would be kind of fun to see if that’s something I could ever do. I tend to be a voracious reader of nonfiction and less so fiction, so I don’t have the best background for fiction, and so I’m not certain that I’ll ever do that, but I really would like to. I would really like to capture my mom’s story in a Broadway play kind of a thing—a book that would maybe yield itself to that. I think her life had enough highs and lows and enough pathos and enough joy and a lot of laughs, and it could be a fun, fun Broadway show. But then of course I’m terribly biased because she is my main mentor in my life. But I would like to do that. I still have a desire to

10. Olene Smith Walker was Utah’s fifteenth governor.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 28 travel; I still want to go and see and enjoy what the people are like in other places, and there’s just so much to see that makes you a more informed person and more respectful of other people and their cultures that I want to keep having that experience to rejuvenate that feeling in me all the time.

KT: That’s awesome, that’s awesome, but you would have to leave your dogs, right?

PH: Oh yeah, the dogs have got to be cared for; they have to be cared for.

KT: Well, that’s great.

PH: You know, one of the things that you mentioned as—I don’t even know how to say this because I hate even talking about it but, the first superintendent, female superintendent for the state of Utah—there was actually a predecessor in the 1912ish, 13 year. I don’t know if she was interim or not, but it was a woman for maybe a year appointment—eight or ten months appointment, and I’ve lost her name, but anyway there was someone that— she was, again I don’t know if she was interim, but she was superintendent, state superintendent for the state of Utah. Because there were so many years in between, people often, somehow think that that’s, you know, mine. I’ve never thought in terms of gender in terms of achievement. I just want to do my best job, and if it happens that I’m the first woman to do this and this, great, but it’s not been my goal; it’s not something I aspire to do. I just want to do the best job I can do on behalf of children.

KT: That’s great; I’m glad you answered that because that was on mine. Thank you for sharing all this information; we’ve been really delighted to have you here with us. And I’ve learned a lot, and I’m related, so I’m grateful for that. Just on a final note, is there anything out there that you would like to be recorded about your life that we haven’t talked about?

PH: Anything that I’d like to mention about my life?

KT: Anything that you’d like to mention that we haven’t—that you would like recorded—that we haven’t talked about.

PH: Maybe just one, and it is the power of teachers. I think any successful leader in education has got to ground themselves and surround themselves with great teachers and make policies around great teachers, not your poorest teachers, but make policies that support great teachers. So, in that respect, you don’t want a lot of regulation; you don’t want a lot of looking over their shoulders. You want to, rather, pay attention to your star teachers and support them and make policies and decisions with regard for them and then quietly

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 29 handle trouble spots with students, teachers, or whatever. I’m not advocating for the association or the union, I’m talking about teachers. So, frankly the greatest success I ever experienced wasn’t due to me alone; it was because I was working with teachers who caught a vision and then ran with it, and my job was to keep money coming to them and try to keep pace with them and to clear the administrative obstacles for them. Teachers are just tremendous; it’s a blessing to associate with them.

MW: Let me ask a couple questions. Is that okay?

KT: Yes, yes go ahead.

MW: Patti, what would you like to be remembered for?

PH: What would I like to be what?

MW: What would you like to be most remembered for?

PH: Oh golly.

MW: It’s a hard question, I know.

PH: Yes, it is. I think personally I want to be most remembered for being a loving relative in the family who cared about the family, but in terms of career and professional, I most want to be remembered for being a teacher advocate and a child advocate and for trying to make decisions that help children perform and feel successful and feel loved and feel wanted and valued. But not wholesale free self-esteem, but rather self-esteem that comes from hard work and from good accomplishment and from understanding more and learning more. So I just hope I’m kind of remembered the way my English teacher was remembered—both English teachers—that I care enough to get them to the community Shakespeare opportunities, but that I also have high enough expectations that they know I care that they perform well, and I would hope that would be the case.

MW: Thank you. What about advice for Utah women—younger Utah women? What advice could you give them?

PH: I would—this is a funny thing to say, but I’m going say it. Stay soft. Don’t think you’ve got to play hardball because you see some people, in particular men, playing hardball. Don’t. Just stay who you are; stay true to your values and who you are; stay connected with kids; stay true to the teaching profession; build up the esteem of your colleagues; build an esprit de corps in your building. Don’t be the naysayer in the faculty room;

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 30 constantly be building and looking for opportunities to grow. Be ready for every door that’s going to be opened to you. Don’t shy away from advanced degrees or advanced opportunities. Be ready because those doors will open and then you can compete in your own best way that’s authentic to you rather than inauthentic or that feels like you’re getting tough. Stay soft with the feeling you have that drove you to the classroom in the first place—those great kids, and let that be your guide and life seems to work out. At least for me that’s been the case—with kids constantly in my mind’s eye and great teachers who have supported great learning. Your decisions about your own career tend to come naturally as a result.

MW: Good, good. I like that advice. Tell me—religious feelings—has that played a big role in your life or not? And if so, what influence has that been on you?

[01:19:13]

PH: Yes, religion’s played a big role in my life. It is not my definition, but it’s clearly one of the tenets of who I am. It has developed my own character and been a place of development for other talents and skills that otherwise would not be mine. I came from a family where my dad was not an active member of the LDS Church; my mom was not either until in her late twenties. She was called by an LDS bishop to become the Relief Society president.11 She was virtually inactive, and he called her to do that job and she said, “Yes.” My mom was a natural leader; she was a University of Utah associate vice- president and sorority president and had done many things to show leadership, so I’m sure the bishop recognized it when he saw it, but a strong LDS background had not been hers, and so in her late twenties when we were just little children, he asked her to be the Relief Society president in the ward, and she said, “I really don’t know much about that? What does it entail?” And he said, “Well, it entails going to church every Sunday, both Sacrament meeting and Sunday School.” In those days—the two meetings. And she said, “I can do that.” And it entails conducting Relief Society and visiting the sisters primarily, and she said, “I can do that.”

And from that point on, she herself was active and so were we. My dad was active and inactive various points in his life; I wouldn’t consider that he was ever totally converted or we would have seen different behavior, but he was never antagonistic. I never—he never threw a fit on Sundays when we walked out the door. Occasionally there were times Mom chose to stay home in the afternoon Sacrament meeting because there was a golf tournament on, and dad wanted her company, but those were very occasional. I

11. A bishop is the ecclesiastical leader of a Latter-day Saint congregation or ward.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 31 remember once or twice at the most. Most of the time she was making sure we got to church.

So, having had that side of my life, you know, when people aren’t exactly on what some LDS people call the “strait and narrow,” I usually don’t worry about; I usually just want to connect with their heart and their feelings and their Christianity in general, and not just Christianity, but their belief in God in general, and if they don’t fit in this traditional paradigm, I’m not one that usually worries about it. In fact, I want to make sure they know that of all things you’re loved, and of all things you’re accepted. And I think much of that comes from having had a background myself that wasn’t the traditional LDS background but was rich in expectations of honesty, fair play, treating others with kindness, living up to your name, doing well in school, being loyal to family, et cetera.

The LDS Church has had a wonderful impact in my personal life. I’ve spent years with young women that have blessed my life—some of the choicest years of service, and when I run into them on the street, they still want to come up and give a big hug, and it delights me.

It’s the same thing with high school kids. I just ran into one of my high school kids selling furniture at RC Willey. I didn’t recognize him until I looked at his nameplate, and then it was hug time, and I’m glad that kids feel that with whatever experience you’ve had with them—that it has been a good one. I don’t feel like I’m the center of their attention. I’m just glad that we had a mutual wonderful experience, and we both love each other because of it.

And the Church has provided that a great deal. Camp was a big deal for me; it was a great place of developing leadership. I loved those years.

In my career my belief in God, in His Son, and in the Holy Ghost has had an enormous impact. I told you the story about my appointment at Provo High School; there was no way I should have been at Provo High School in the way that it happened, and yet, that’s where I was after premonitions all summer long. It was a riveting and unforgettable lesson about the Spirit of personal revelation. Though perhaps not as pointed, I have nevertheless had other such experiences that have helped to lead me through my career.

And throughout that year, what I didn’t mention earlier, is that I had constant reinforcement: “This is where you belong, Patti.” Provo High had so many challenges and problems in leadership, finances, and personnel, and I had my personal sadness of Dad’s death, a broken arm, and long, exhausting days. But I was constantly reinforced

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 32 by another constant voice that told me to stay the course; I was where I was supposed to be.

And at the close of the five years at Provo High School, I recognized then something that has helped me to be okay with my not being married, which is this: There is no way you could be a high school principal, as a woman, and maintain a marriage and a family. There’s just no way. The time you’re there is enormous. I was there everyday at 6:30 in the morning, and I’d go home at 3:30, get a bite to eat, go on my walk—those were days when I was in great health—and I’d be back at the school at 5:30 and be there till ten o’clock. That was the schedule for four days of every week. No family could have endured that; no family should have endured that, and so I thought to myself, if Heavenly Father wanted me to be here, which He clearly did, I have no question about that. Then you’d never be able to do this if you were married, so those things must be consistent. This must be the place you should be. This must be the way your life was supposed to be. Yeah, you’d have loved to have a slew of kids and a husband, but it didn’t happen. So be happy in the spot you’re at. Give where you can and recognize that there’s another plan.

So for me, on a very private matter, I’ve told Kristy this before, for me, it’s all about Moroni, the last Moroni in the Book of Mormon, Mormon’s son.12 It’s like he says I’m a lone man in the wilderness, and I said, “Good, that’s great. That’s going be my husband in the future.” He’s a writer and he’s righteous and he was alone, so it’s all good. (laughter) That will work out for me. Give me that Moroni; someone else can have the captain; I’m good with the writer. (laughter)

MW: I like that. I would like you to go into just a couple more things. I hate to keep you, but give us your birth date, the official birth date if you don’t mind, and year.

PH: My birthdate? March 2, 1953.

MW: Okay, and then also on your hobbies—I was interested—you’re a golfer. What hobbies and other things have you enjoyed doing in your busy life?

PH: I still enjoy anything outdoors, so I love gardening and anything to do with outdoors. I’m now a spectator rather than a participant in most things; I still golf occasionally. I haven’t done it this last summer. I had knee replacement this summer, but the summer before I did some golfing; I still enjoy doing that. Family is a big hobby. I enjoy getting together; I enjoy putting together some Sunday dinners periodically and Christmas breakfasts and the kinds of things that make family fun. Not much of a shopper—I don’t, I you know—I

12. The Book of Mormon is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ scriptural canon.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 33 just enjoy more being outside and visiting with people and gardening and the quieter life. I enjoy reading; I read quite a bit, but most of that, as I said earlier, is non-fiction. I just finished Walking the Bible and should have read it before I went to the Middle East, but thoroughly enjoyed it having been there to visualize what he’s talking about so—

MW: That’s great. What about your dogs? What kind of dogs do you have?

PH: Two big Labrador Retrievers, overly grown. You know, when we went to get the dogs, we were looking at litters in the area, but we were told that there was so much cross- breeding and in-breeding that the dogs that you could find both in pet shops and at local owners were too much in-bred. And so I was on a vacation with a friend, and she and I share a home, and we were in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, coming home, and there was a little news flyer from the area including Jensen, Utah, which is not too far from Steamboat. I read that there were Labs available in Jensen, Utah. I don’t know what we paid for them—couple hundred dollars each. So on the way home, I was driving. I pulled off in Jensen and we looked at the dogs. My friend was hooked immediately on a chocolate Lab, and I’ve always wanted a blond Lab, so you know, my Old Yeller comes out of me. I didn’t even mention Disney in this interview, but Disney is a central part of my life. (laughter) Oh, we got two dogs, and they are not in-bred. They are huge. I mean literally one weighs 110, the other weighs about 95, and they are massive guys so—

MW: Wow, what are their names?

PH: Koko for the chocolate one and Trooper is the blond one. He was so named because I was pulled over by a state trooper in Wyoming on our way to Steamboat Springs, and my friend was driving around Steamboat and was pulled over by a trooper, so we thought in memory of the vacation let’s name one of the dogs Trooper or something to do with that—so Trooper and Koko.

KT: Tell us a little bit about your cabin and what—

PH: I have a cabin that’s just on the east foothills of Mount Pleasant, just at the point where you get pine trees and aspen together, and it’s a gorgeous location. The cabin was built in 1976, so it was very old, but darling and right on a creek, on the North Twin Creek coming down the mountain. I bought that cabin because it reminded me of a cabin of my mom’s best friend that’s on the Weber River, where we occasionally went as a family when I was a child. The creek by my cabin is too small to fish, but it has the same feeling for me, a wrap-around porch, right on the water so you hear the water as you’re going to sleep at night, and it’s as I said, old, but it’s really a log cabin. It’s not a façade; it’s built out of logs.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 34

A year after I bought it, I was having some new carpet installed but they pulled up the carpet and found several mice carcasses there, so I ended up having to virtually gut the entire interior of the cabin and rebuild the interior. Fortunately, that was the year I retired, and I was able to put some cash into it because I wouldn’t have been able to afford that otherwise. By the time the summer was done—it was the job of one man—it was entirely rebuilt. The builder was really a craftsman, so it’s beautifully but simply done. But there’s a lot of nice wood aspects to it. He cleaned it up, so it’s brighter and cleaner. Of course now there are no mice holes to get into; we plugged them all up, and it’s really a fun place to be now.

MW: Great—in Manti mountains?

PH: It’s just east of Mount Pleasant.

MW: Okay, great.

PH: Actually if you were just looking from the valley, it’s due east of Spring City, but you access it through Mount Pleasant, taking switchbacks that keep going further south until eventually you’re really above Spring City.

MW: How often do you go?

PH: As much as I can. This last year I had a knee replacement, and that kept me bound up till about July, so I was only there four or five times this summer, but typically I’ll get down there a couple dozen—well a dozen times anyway. Not nearly enough. That’s one of those retirement things you asked about, you know—what will you do in retirement? I hope to just spend some time at the cabin just, you know, sitting on the front porch watching the world go by, looking at the birds and enjoying life, reading.

MW: Well, we appreciate your time. You’ve been a remarkable interview, one of my favorites.

PH: Well, you are kind, I told Kristy I go into this so nervous, it’s not my nature to necessarily like being in front of cameras, but—

MW: No, it’s been great, and we appreciate the fact that Kristy is related. What a—you’ve been on my list.

PH: Proud of that girl and getting through college right now; I’m so proud of her and her husband.

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 35

MW: Great student and you’ve been on my list for—oh rats, I think I just blew it there—for a long time.

[01:30:32] End of interview

Utah Women’s Walk: Patti Harrington 36