Once a Coach, Always a Coach

As the superintendent for Redwater ISD, Dr. Kelly Burns promotes a district-wide positive culture and a belief that relationships matter

by ELLEN ORR

Before the pandemic hit, Kelly, Karsyn, and Kevin took a family vacation to Disney World.

The Texas Rural Education Association named Redwater ISD’s Dr. Kelly Burns as the 2021 Superintendent of the Year. RISD board president Brad Rosiek nominated her, writing that Dr. Burns is “an intelligent, energetic, and motivated leader who has brought a renewed sense of pride and purpose to the district.”

Under Dr. Burns’ tutelage since 2018, Redwater ISD has experienced undeniable success and progress over the last three years. In 2020, Redwater Junior High School won a National Blue Ribbon Schools award for narrowing the achievement gap; they were one of only three public middle schools in all of Texas to receive the prestigious federal award. District-wide, Redwater has become a 1:1 campus, meaning that every student has a designated tablet or laptop. Infrastructurally, she advocates for and oversees improvements district-wide, with a focus on building and renovating so that facilities reflect, in her words, “what the community deserves.”

Dr. Burns reads “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” to elementary students in 2018.  The book is about spreading kindness and building people up.

It is easy to understand why Dr. Kelly Burns has been honored as Superintendent of the Year, but she insists that the glory is not hers.  “Let me say this: yes, the plaque has my name on it, but it is not a superintendent award. It is a district award,” she insisted. “What that award means is that our board is very supportive, progressive, and behind the leadership. And the leadership is not just the superintendent: I have an outstanding assistant superintendent in Lee Ann Corbin, who is phenomenal, along with our campus leadership—and, of course, our staff and students. Listen, our students are very successful. I did not teach a single one of them. So, this is a district award and a community award.”

Redwater board members Bryan Strand and Brad Rosiek with Dr. Burns when she received the Texas Rural Education Association Superintendent of the Year Award this summer.

To those who have known her for many years, Dr. Burns’ humble leadership style is no surprise. A lifelong team player, she graduated from Garland ISD at the top of her class, receiving scholarships for her performance in the classroom as well as on the softball diamond. A softball fanatic since age 6, she went on to play for both The University of Texas at Arlington, as well as Texas A&M University – College Station. Her love of the sport was a primary driver of her decision to become an educator.

“I loved softball so much and had a passion for it,” she said. “I knew I wanted to coach, and I also knew I did not want to be the stereotypical coach, so I became a math teacher as well. I had those teachers and coaches [growing up] who meant a lot to me and really mentored me, and so, at 18, that’s what I wanted to do with my life. I never pictured myself doing anything except teaching and coaching.”

Lee Ann Corbin (assistant superintendent), Dr. Kelly Burns (superintendent), and Kim Cody (principal) when Redwater Junior High was named a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School. 

After two years of teaching and coaching in DeKalb, Dr. Burns assumed a teaching position in New Boston. During her five years there, Texarkana College started a softball program, and she became a volunteer assistant coach. When the head coach resigned, Dr. Burns was hired to replace him, as well as to teach math and holistic health. She led the team to win not only the conference championship but also the region championship, which propelled them to competition at the national level. In 2004, she was named Region 14 Junior College Coach of the Year. Her success attracted recruiters, and soon, she was offered a Division I head coaching job at the University of North Texas.

Analytical and naturally driven, Dr. Burns seemed to be perfectly suited for coaching at a more competitive level—and she was. However, her strategic mind and competitive spirit, while important, were not the most critical of her virtues.

“[At UNT], I put so much pressure on myself that it became not as fun anymore,” she said. “I thought, when I went from junior college to Division I, that I needed to coach differently, and that was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my career. I pushed too hard and not in the right way. That was probably my worst job performance ever. The program still came up; the program was still better when I left it than when I found it.” (“She has led this program to a level that will attract the quality of applicants necessary to advance Mean Green softball to national prominence,” UNT Athletic Director Rick Villarreal said, as quoted in a 2007 press release.)

“But it wasn’t the full-on success I had always enjoyed,” Dr. Burns continued. “Looking back, it’s because I thought I needed to be a different person, and I shouldn’t have been. Athletes are our own worst enemies because we dissect everything, and we’re harder on ourselves than anybody else can be. That perfectionism is the part that got in my own way. In hindsight, though, I learned the most from that position. I learned that relationship-building is absolutely everything. I had always believed that, but I wasn’t practicing it. My walk didn’t match my talk at that point.”

After six years of collegiate coaching, Dr. Burns returned to K-12, accepting a principalship at Avery ISD (having completed her principal certification and first of two master’s degrees while coaching). In 2011, she was promoted from the district’s first female high school principal to the district’s first female superintendent.

When, in 2018, she was hired at Redwater, she was welcomed with unbelievable kindness. “Everyone was so nice and so warm,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘This place is wonderful.’ But there was that little voice in the back of my head, saying, ‘Well, you’re the new boss, so of course they’re going to be nice.’ But let me tell you: four years later, they are exactly the same. It really was genuine.”

As a smaller district, Redwater must “do a lot of things right to keep from losing good staff and students,” Dr. Burns explained, “and we do those things. Our culture is very positive. Number one, we believe that relationships matter. Kids matter. All of our staff must be learner-focused. We’re here for the kids. If you don’t love kids, you don’t need to be at Redwater.”

Redwater Elementary Principal Kasey Coggin, Superintendent Kelly Burns, and Middle School Principal Audrey Shumate made the first pandemic student work pickup loads of fun during March 2020.

Dr. Burns’ other basic requirements for Redwater staff are that they be team players and work to embody a “growth mindset,” an idea identified by psychologist Carol Dweck that refers to an individual’s beliefs about their own talents; someone who believes talents can be developed through effort is said to have a growth mindset, whereas a person with a “fixed mindset” believes their talents are innate and immovable. (She wrote her doctoral dissertation on the phenomenon.)

This passion for growth mindset offers a glimpse into who Dr. Burns is as a visionary educational leader. She is forward-thinking and undeterred by obstacles.  “I’m a big proponent of being solutions-oriented,” she said. “Anybody can come in and identify problems. We’re always going to have problems, hurdles, barriers. It’s how we react to those things that really defines us. It’s that whole failing-forward mentality. That’s what solving math problems is all about, and that’s what being a true champion in athletics is all about. How do we pick ourselves up? How do we fail forward?”

While at 18 she never dreamed of superintendency, Dr. Kelly Burns admits that the work she does today is not all that different than the work she did as a math teacher or coach.  “I’m still coaching,” she said. “I’m just not coaching a physical sport. I’m coaching my administrators all the time. And, as an adjunct in TAMU-T’s doctoral program, I get to coach future administrators. That’s been wonderful, too.

“Once a coach, always a coach,” she reflected. “Once a teacher, always a teacher. I think it’s just in our DNA.”