After a national search, a Boston native and alumna of the Metco program has been named president and chief executive of the nonprofit voluntary racial integration program, the board’s chair said Monday.
Kandice Sumner’s tenure begins Wednesday. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, a former associate principal at a Brockton high school, and author of TedTalks called “How America’s Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty.”
“Her career has been defined by amplifying the voices of students and communities often left at the margins — and always with warmth, joy, and purpose,” Darnell Billings, who chairs Metco’s board, said in a statement.
“As you’ll see, Dr. Sumner is a student-centered leader and strategic thinker with a natural flair for connecting with people, inspiring audiences, and fundraising,” Billings said.
According to Sumner’s bio, she is frequently invited to speak about, consult, and facilitate “difficult conversations about race, education, gender and equity with schools and organizations alike.”
Metco is contracted by the state to oversee busing children in kindergarten through 12th Grade from Boston to suburban schools.
As a young urban student participating in Metco, Sumner attended Weston High School. While there, she made history when she was elected the school’s first Black female class president, the statement said.
Metco (officially the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) began in 1966 as a coalition of Boston parents and a handful of suburban school districts who agreed to bus predominantly Black children from the city into wealthier, suburban communities in hopes of obtaining a better academic experience.
Today, the Metco program spans 33 communities statewide and enrolls about 3,000 students. (There is also a separate Springfield program that sends about 100 students to four Western Massachusetts communities.)
Metco’s mission and ethos shaped not only Sumner, but also her mother and grandfather.
Sumner’s mother was a Metco graduate from Lexington, and her grandfather helped organize Project Exodus, the predecessor of Metco, according to the statement said.
Sumner is the third leader to take up Metco’s mantle in the organization’s nearly 60-year history.
“Dr. Sumner’s appointment marks a powerful moment of return and renewal for METCO,” Billings said.
Since 2019, Sumner has been teaching doctoral students at UMass Boston where she created the Critical Studies in Urban Schools curriculum.
At New Heights Charter School in Brockton, Sumner was associate principal of culturally responsive practices. She also has worked at Charlestown High School, Newton South High School, Fenway High School, and TechBoston Academy.
Sumner cofounded and was coexecutive director of the nonprofit Educators for Antiracism, where she oversaw annual virtual conferences for educators worldwide.
She is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta.
Sumner’s confirmation as Metco’s next leader was unanimous after “a highly competitive national search,” Billings said.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.
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