Mingus Supt.

 

COTTONWOOD — Melody Herne, Ph.D., the new superintendent of Mingus Union High School District, credits a strict upbringing by her parents and strong devotion to Christianity for helping her land an important leadership position in the community.

“I am a God-fearing woman who prays about everything, and I believe that’s helped me get to where I am today,” Herne told the Verde Independent.

Herne wants to use her position with Mingus Union District to encourage young women to consider careers in public education.

“When I was younger, there were not a lot of female role models. I want to try to use my position here as superintendent to connect to young women. I think being a strong role model requires a person to listen carefully, to ask others how their journey is going? It’s important to connect with young people so you can provide them with good advice about how they can reach their ultimate success,” Herne said.

Herne started her new job in May. Since then she’s been busy meeting her staff, students, parents and the five members of the Mingus Union Governing Board. Herne succeeds Mike Westcott, Mingus Union superintendent since 2019, who announced his retirement in September to allow an appropriate amount of time to find a replacement.

“I am going to use this position to always defend public education. I am focused on helping kids get to the next level in academics and in life. I always depend on prayer to help our schools, and I pray for all of our kids because they are the future,” she said.

Herne relocated to Cottonwood from Scottsdale, where she was previously superintendent of the Salt River Schools for the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community.

“I came on early in this new position in Cottonwood while Mike Westcott was still in the role. That gave us time to work together and we had a good time. We had a good working relationship,” Herne said.

“Building rewarding relationships is key to success in the superintendent’s role at Mingus Union or any other district where I was involved before I arrived here,” she explained.

Herne was born in Heidelberg, Germany, where her family lived while enlisted in the U.S. Army. Her mother was a teacher, and both parents were influential as Herne embarked on a career in education leadership herself.

“My father was a man’s man,” she said. “He was reassigned to Fort Huachuca, so we moved as a family to southern Arizona. From my mother I learned diligence, she always encouraged me to speak proper English, and I credit her for that,” she said.

While Herne was attending college working on her education credentials, she served as a substitute teacher in Sierra Vista. She landed her first full-time teaching job and moved around Arizona quite a bit over the years, serving in various teaching and administration jobs with Dysart, Higley, Mesa Public Schools and Phoenix Elementary school districts before she ended up with Salt River Schools.

“That’s where I got immersed in their language revitalization programs learning O’odham, Maricopa or Piipaash. They are considered endangered languages. It was a wonderful opportunity learning the language, and I even studied Latin during my earlier years,” Herne added.

In-between her different jobs at school districts, Herne was employed with the Arizona Department of Education, where she helped to create a statewide school grading and evaluation system that still exists today.

In her free time, she loves to sing and she has been involved in church choirs and Sunday School wherever she lived at the time, including at Cottonwood’s Faith Baptist Church.