Martin Luther King Jr. Day was recognized and honored with the Peace Breakfast at the Glendale YMCA that celebrated MLK’s spirit.

By Mary O’KEEFE

On Monday morning, the Glendale YMCA held a Peace Breakfast to honor civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Before taking the microphone, keynote speaker Dr. Darneika Watson, Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) superintendent, and the breakfast audience were entertained by former and present GUSD students. Tara Peterson, Glendale YWCA CEO, was the emcee for the event. She introduced 21-year-old singer Stone Morgan, a Glendale High School (GHS) graduate, who started off the event and set the tone of respect and celebration. He was followed by welcome addresses given by the leaders of the Glendale YMCA; then the GHS dance team filled the room with energetic motion.

Watson then took the podium and spoke of her journey of becoming the first Black woman superintendent of Glendale schools. Always focusing on students, Watson first acknowledged the dance team and Morgan for their performances. She said there is a plan for her to do a dance with the GHS dance team but reminded them of “her bones” and said to think of circa 1989 when they are choreographing the future dance she will performing.

She said she was a little nervous at first to speak in front of the audience but “took a beat” and then shared from her heart.

“It is my honor to be selected by the [Breakfast] committee and standing before you on this day as we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I stand before you as an African American female, the superintendent of Glendale Unified School District (GUSD), as a direct result of Dr. King Jr.’s vision, effort and tireless advocacy for civil rights and equal rights,” she said.

Watson then spoke of her path to GUSD that included her history of coming from a family of educators. Her father was a teacher and dean of students for 38 years in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Her mother was an elementary school teacher, also in LAUSD, for 32 years.

“Their experience as educators afforded me opportunities to see them work directly with students and families thus setting the stage for me, my twin brother and younger sister to follow in their footsteps,” Watson said.

She received her degree at UCLA and began her career as a first grade bilingual teacher in LAUSD. Her parents’ educational background taught her how to make connections and bridge gaps in communication.

She built a learning environment that was and is rooted in compassion, trust and love, she said.

She then moved to LAUSD administration and, after 26 years at LAUSD, moved to the LA County Office of Education. It was then that she got the call about the Human Resources chief officer position at GUSD.

“During that time I was preparing to lose my mother to cancer. My mother, while very weak, knew I was going to go for that [GUSD] position. She knew Dr. [Vivian] Ekchian, my predecessor, from my previous work experience working with LAUSD,” Watson said. “As I mentioned, [mother] was very weak; however, she was not too weak to wheel herself into the back of my interview on Zoom.”

She added her mother had a history of determination.

“The next day I went over to [her] home to care for my mom and her first question was, ‘Did you get the job?’ I said, ‘Yes, I got the job,’” she said.

Her mom then asked for a paper and pen and she wrote a letter to Dr. Ekchian and asked her to watch after her daughter. The next day Watson’s mom died.

She shared this very personal story with the audience to emphasize how pleased her mom would be of her accomplishments, and that she was asked to reflect on the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. Watson said her mother would say that her daughter is one of the “accomplishments” thanks to King’s work.

“I am the superintendent of Glendale Unified School District, an African American female in a city that was once a sundown town,” she said. “Dr. King paved the way – a way for my parents, a way for my siblings, my colleagues, my friends and all of you to be able to sit side-by-side, work side-by-side, serve side-by-side and fight for justice side-by-side.”