Angi McAndrews – Open Door, Open Book

Houston Public Schools hired a new superintendent, Angi McAndrews, this past summer. Her motto is “Open Door, Open Book.” She encourages members of the community to reach out to her with any concerns or celebrations.

While McAndrews is new to being a superintendent, she has extensive experience in education. After she graduated from La Crescent High School, Angi pursued an elementary education degree at Winona State University. She taught sixth through eighth grade and was a middle school coach at Kasson-Mantorville for 11 years. During that time, she served as the teacher union president.

She later took an administrative position in Faribault as a Curriculum & EL Coordinator for two years and then became an assistant principal for three years, She taught fifth and sixth grade for two years at Austin; then she became a principal at Rochester Kellogg Middle School. Following that, she spent two years as a director of school support, helping teachers when issues arose. During that time, she also served as the principal union president.

Angi explained that the reason she became a principal was that she felt fulfilled working with adults. Originally, Angi had been turned off by the political nature of a superintendent position, but she was really inspired by Rochester Superintendent Dr. Kent Pekel as she watched his leadership and connectivity to the district.

After completing her studies to be a superintendent, McAndrews waited a couple years for just the right position. When the Houston position became available, she knew she’d found it!

Angi enjoys the closeness of the community. She likes that people freely provide feedback – both positive and things that need to be worked on. The Houston brick and mortar school has less diversity than the schools McAndrews had been at before, but MNVA has more diversity. Angi had 1,250 students when she was principal in Rochester; there had been little unified school spirit.

When asked if she’d had any surprises in being a superintendent, McAndrews commented, “I didn’t think I knew it all for sure! The learning curve is steep!” According to McAndrews, she has some awesome mentors. As a youth, she had babysat for former Mabel-Canton Superintendent Gary Kuphal; R-P Superintendent Ben Bernard is her mentor now. After she took the position at Houston, many area superintendents reached out to congratulate her and offer her support. The local superintendents meet often. McAndrews is also a member of The Great Cohort, MASA’s superintendent group which meets monthly and partners with MSBA. Angi added that she appreciates the grace of the board as they too support her.

Angi feels the combination of MNVA and the brick and mortar school will keep her in tune with education. She will stay connected to students as well as connected with broader education issues.

A challenge that she is facing with MNVA is making sure to fine tune tech issues. McAndrews came well-versed in employment contracts, which helps her deal with the various contracts in both schools.

McAndrews loves the Houston students; she said she was so impressed by the American Government class. She had visited the class as they enthusiastically worked on the class assignment to host a school board forum. She lauded the student leaders’ great school spirit that was evident from the videos they produced and put online focusing on positivity.

Supt. McAndrews explained that she is a restorative practitioner. As a lead principal in Rochester, she learned it was important to build connections with families. This helped her become a better listener and realize that it was important to validate the concerns and frustrations of families.

McAndrews’ goals are to listen and learn and help highlight things that need work. She readily admits when she makes a mistake and informs the people involved what she plans to do to fix the problem.

Angi commented that she is surrounded by really strong leaders – Ashley Brown, Michael Mangan and Angela Specketer; Angi feels fortified by them as well as by her principals.

In the future, Angi hopes to start a coffee and conversation group in Houston. She shared that she was attending bingo at the Legion that evening, has joined the Houston Community Foundation and was very excited about the Design Team’s visit.  Angi is more than willing to visit any local groups to discuss more about the school.

Angi and her husband Jim recently celebrated their 31st anniversary. They live in their “forever” home which they built a few years ago halfway between Houston and Caledonia. Jim is a surgical tech at Emplify in La Crosse. The couple has two adult daughters: Madi lives in Atalanta, Georgia, and is a social and mental health worker; Nora is a senior at Westminster University in Salt Lake City, Utah, pursuing a degree in political science and environmental justice.

While Angi has many different experiences in the educational field, she hopes this in her last chapter. She would like to stay as Houston’s superintendent for many years. With her “Open Door, Open Book” policy, she encourages the community to come visit her and get to know her.