A Leader First, but a Teacher Always

To understand Patrick Tutwiler's career in education, from teacher to superintendent to Massachusetts secretary of education, you have to start with a book. 

Unlike many people who knew from a young age that they wanted to become teachers, Tutwiler, Ed.M.’00, was set to graduate from college, with no plans to enter the classroom, when he stumbled upon Jean Anyon’s Ghetto Schooling — a troubling chronicle of the life of teachers and students trapped in a failing school system in Newark, New Jersey. 

Tutwiler saw much of his own educational experience in the pages. “That’s when I received my calling,” he says. “I felt my heartstrings pulled and felt like I could make a contribution.” 

After earning a master’s in teaching and curriculum from the Ed School, Tutwiler began his career in the Boston Public Schools teaching high school history, but as much as he loved the classroom and connecting with students, he felt like his voice wasn’t being heard. 

“There were decisions that were being made that impacted how I performed the craft, everything from the schedule to pedagogical approach, and some of the decisions I agreed with and some of them I didn’t, but I didn’t have a seat at the table,” Tutwiler says. 

After earning his Ph.D. from Boston College, Tutwiler served as principal at Wayland High School, headmaster at Brighton High School, and finally superintendent of Lynn Public Schools, the fifth largest school district in Massachusetts. 

In 2022, Tutwiler was working as a senior program officer at the Barr Foundation, a grantmaking organization focused on arts, climate, and education, when then-Governor-elect Maura Healey named him secretary of education, a position that made him the top education adviser in the state and the first Black person to ever hold the job in the history of Massachusetts. 

“Now I have a seat at a different table, bringing the experiences, the perspective, the stories, pain points, and the bright spots of 24 years of being in K–12 education to bear on policy and resource allocation, and it’s the honor of a lifetime,” Tutwiler says. 

He laughs when he gets asked the most basic question: What exactly does the secretary of education in Massachusetts do? 

“Well, it’s funny, because most people don’t know,” Tutwiler says. “I’ll go to staff and teacher professional development, or sometimes I’m with groups of high school students, and I’ll ask that question. ‘Hey, raise your hand if you know what the secretary of education does,’ and no hands go up.” 

But as a former educator, Tutwiler uses the opportunity as a teachable moment to share exactly what responsibility the job holds. 

“At a high level, I advise the governor on all things education, from birth through college.” That includes overseeing policy for students in early education, K–12, and higher education. Tutwiler also sits on the boards of each governing education agency in the Commonwealth, including the University of Massachusetts system.

Over his first year in office, Tutwiler’s leadership has been defined by his mantra of stabilize, heal, and transform, a reminder that schools around the state are still very much in recovery mode following the pandemic. “In the governor’s first budget, we were very intentional about making sure that we were building out supports to address” the issues still plaguing schools across Massachusetts, he says, including chronic absenteeism, teacher shortages, and student mental health struggles. 

“One of the perspectives that I embraced as superintendent is this idea of a systems-based approach to developing solutions,” Tutwiler says. “And one of the real strong points of my role now is that we have the opportunity to build on, improve, create, and refine systems from birth through college.” Some of those solutions include a newly proposed statewide student mental health framework and an initiative to reimagine the traditional high school experience. 

Despite his broad sphere of responsibility, Tutwiler still finds ample time to interact with students and teachers. Last year he visited more than 60 school districts around the state, and his team adds new stops monthly. “Those are really valuable experiences to hear what is at top of mind for the people these decisions and policies are impacting,” Tutwiler says. 

Although his leadership journey has taken him further and further away from the classroom, Tutwiler still holds close the words of a mentor from his early teaching days that guide his work today as secretary of education. 

“I have a sort of moral imperative that is wrapped up in a phrase a mentor shared with me, and apply this actively in my career, and the phrase is this: ‘As a leader in education, I must love the student, the teacher, and the craft of teaching, none more than the other, but in that order.’ That,” he says, “is my philosophy in this work.”