Former DPS student during merger now manages student reassignment

DURHAM – Melody Marshall, above, gets it. Durham Public Schools’ director of student assignment is DPS, through and through, whether the local education agency numbered one or two.

Marshall’s lived memories include two LEAs – Durham City and Durham County Schools – operating in separate halves of the enduring Cleveland Street central office building, and attending Hillside High School on both Concord and Fayetteville streets. The leader of the team overseeing DPS’s “Growing Together” student reassignment plan – the first such major initiative since Marshall was in high school at the time of the LEAs 1990s merger – precedes implementing handbook policy with an inviting human perspective.

“Durham is different,” Marshall said. “The community is cool with it. They weren’t cool with it then. Sometimes, they’re not so cool with it now. I think there are more people who are cool with it than there were 30 years ago.”

Marshall’s would-be high school transfer to Jordan High as a student was averted by older siblings whose standing at Hillside helped her remain at the historically Black high school. Marshall is quick to rattle off first names of previous Jordan students – who looked, sounded, and had life experiences different from hers – whose impacts upon her secondary school experiences were game-changing.

“Somebody’s parent from Jordan was brave enough, and felt confident in the district, in the work to send their baby to a place that was different,” Marshall said. “I’m grateful to those parents who also acknowledged that what they did was different. It took them believing that this was going to be impactful – for not just their babies, but for me, too. And they didn’t even know me.”

DPS is preparing to implement its middle and secondary phases of Growing Together in the 2025-26 academic year. Another redrawing of high school district boundaries is forthcoming. This 2024-25 cycle’s elementary school redistricting phase has reaffirmed one thing about the genuine Marshall – known to become emotional when contemplating her student and professional journeys.

“Her resilience and ability to work with the community show her determination to create lasting change,” said Ebony Ross, DPS’s McKinney-Vento (homeless students) coordinator. Marshall and Ross worked together during Marshall’s previous positions in DPS Student Services.

Marshall’s office is adorned with photographs connecting her own academic milestones with those of her mother, a previous DPS educator, and children. There are original artwork and letters by current DPS students and parents who, initially, were uncertain about change as Marshall was three decades ago. She embraces each telephone call, whether complementary or condescending, as a chance to share how and why she still gets it – as a student, educator, wife and mother.

Glances at the artwork illustrations and letters’ text remind herself the “babies” are just fine, as spoken often by parents she talk to. “When I hear them say that,” Marshall said, “it makes me feel all right.”

Marshall embraces these keepsakes at a time of heightened concern about initiatives threatening public education’s foundation of the diversity, equity, and inclusion fostered by the 1990s merger. She admits having self-questioning moments as to whether she was the right person at the right time for what she is doing. She knows her relatively insulated, protected adolescent experience is not possible for everyone. Even with such differences, she embraces a most unique challenge and opportunity as her responsibility.

“She leads with the sincerity of someone who knows firsthand the importance of creating equitable educational opportunities for all children,” DPS Assistant Superintendent Deborah Pitman said.

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