Fresno Unified School District’s new superintendent says her childhood experience as a refugee will help her identify with the challenges faced by today’s English learner students.
Mao Misty Her, 50, who’s served as interim superintendent since last spring, took on the full role last month after a highly-scrutinized, year-long national search for the new leader of the state’s third-largest school district.
During an interview with the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, Her said she wants to make the classroom more accessible and comfortable for EL students – starting with how teachers and administrators talk about this student group.
“I don’t like the term ‘English learners’ because it [holds] such a stigma,” Her said. “As a kid, it made me feel like I had some sort of disease – or just because I was learning English I wasn’t good enough. So I use the term ‘linguistically gifted’ because it’s our superpower.”
During a late April meeting, dozens gathered inside the district’s boardroom in downtown Fresno to celebrate Her’s hiring.
Her’s appointment marked the first time a woman and Asian-American has led the district. Her is now also the highest-ranking Hmong school official in the United States, according to the district.
“We are confident and we are excited because we know we have selected the most qualified, experienced, visionary leader to take Fresno Unified to the next era,” said FUSD board president Valerie Davis. “Mao Misty Her knows what we need in our community.”
The boardroom erupted in cheers when the board of trustees named Her as the finalist for superintendent. Her’s family members, colleagues and former students offered their congratulations.
“As a principal, I’m relieved. We’ve been waiting for this, to have someone come and continue to lead Fresno Unified.” said Yua Lee, principal of Vang Pao Elementary. “I know Her will continue to do the work and support the needs of all our kids, no matter what community they’re from – whether they speak Hmong, Spanish or any other language.”
‘It’s our superpower’
Her started her career in Fresno Unified 30 years ago as a bilingual instructional aid. Through the years, she wore many different hats – she became a teacher, vice principal, principal and deputy superintendent. In that time, she says she’s seen numerous changes in the district.
“But I also feel like sometimes, some things have not changed since then,” Her told CVJC.
Fresno Unified is among the most diverse in the state. Nearly a fifth of the district’s student body is composed of English learners, known as EL. According to the district, approximately 100 different languages are spoken by students at home – most commonly Spanish, Hmong, Punjabi, Arabic and Mixteco.
Her, a native Hmong speaker, said that she strongly identifies with the struggles these students face in the classroom.
She was born in Laos during the Vietnam War in 1975. Her family fled from the country to a refugee camp in Thailand, living there for a year. In 1980, the family migrated to the United States, initially settling in the Orange County community of Garden Grove before moving to Fresno. The family chose the central San Joaquin Valley city because of its agricultural opportunities. Her attended Fresno Unified, and her passion for education grew from her personal experiences in the district.
Her remembers going to parent-teacher conferences as a student and translating the meeting for her parents because there weren’t translators available. She would volunteer to translate the meeting and would make her teacher’s comments more positive.
“I would just tell [my parents] ‘she says everything I’m doing is great!’”
‘They’re just asking for a fair chance’
The criticism of the superintendent search was largely sparked because of the lagging rates of academic success. In 2024, only 34% of students met or exceeded the state standard in English while 25% of students met or exceeded the state standard in mathematics.
Students who suffered the lowest scores came from diverse backgrounds, according to state data.
Her said she’s “keenly aware” of the issues, and is working on making leaps in progress over the next five years.
“In all the years that I've been in the district, we've never hit the 50% proficiency mark,” Her said. “My main goal, the only thing that I am after, is to get us results.”
Last May, the board of trustees and the interim superintendent adopted a student outcomes focused plan called “Goals and Guardrails” to hyperfocus on best practices and strategies to raise up progress in the district. The plan also outlines specific metrics to track progress made in the classrooms each year.
Some of the goals the district set out were to increase first-grade proficiency levels to 80%, boost college and career readiness in graduating seniors by 20%, and to significantly increase benchmark life skills in middle school – all by the end of the decade.
“The greatest thing I can do as superintendent is make sure those goals are met for all our students,” Her said.
The district’s Master Plan for English Learner Success, adopted in 2023, also sets specific goals and procedures to boost academic performance, student engagement and expand student-centered learning experiences for students learning English as a second language by 2028.
But Her knows that more specific needs will come up for EL students – and says the district will work to better equip teachers with the tools to identify root causes for issues in the classroom.
“Our students who don’t speak English aren’t asking for the answers. They’re just asking for a fair chance, to be put on the same playing field as the other kids. It’s that simple.”
Her says that while the district has previously been unable to provide all the tools necessary to make EL students successful, she’s confident the district will improve under her leadership.
“That’s one thing we try to do, but we haven’t done a good enough job yet. But that will change,” Her said.