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Principal Rachel Langston would do anything to make sure every child in her school is seen and heard.
Though parents and other administrators speak highly of her, Langston herself shares the credit with her teachers and every member of the staff at Farmers Branch Elementary.
Her goal is to give kids everything they need to be successful and said her biggest challenge is finding new ways to serve the students in her school.
“They all come to us with their own stories and their own situations,” she said.
Farmers Branch Elementary serves 469 students, ages four to 11, in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. Almost 80 percent of children in the school were considered economically disadvantaged for the 2021-2022 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency Student Information Report.
Langston said she lives and leads by four guiding principles: Equitable, empathic, engaging and empowering.
“I want to meet people where they are,” she said. “I want people to be seen, heard and cared for in my building, from parents to community members to staff to kids.”
Parents and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) members said that Langston’s positivity and caring have changed the atmosphere at the school. Even the youngest students know they can go to the principal, and she will do everything she can to make things better for them.
Lupe Gonzalez’s five-year-old daughter had an incident on the playground, a minor issue from an adult perspective, but difficult for someone so young because it affected her friendships.
She was able to go to Langston, and without getting any of the children involved in trouble, Langston followed up and helped.
“She knew Ms. Langston was going to fix everything in her little world,” Gonzalez said. “She’s [Langston’s] trying to fix everything she can.”
As current PTA president, Gonzalez said Langston “said she’d say yes to everything [the PTA suggested] so I’d know that her no was serious.”
Langston has been true to her word, not only saying yes to all the events the PTA has proposed but helping figure out the Texas gambling laws for Lotería night on Sept. 19.
Lotería is a traditional Mexican game of chance, similar to bingo, that uses 52 pictures. Some of the traditional pictures are not school-appropriate, so the PTA replaced those images with pictures of Langston, Assistant Principal Nicole Linscomb and Resource Officer Sid Kauffman.
“It’s just for our families to come have fun together,” Langston said.
Gonzalez said she was happy for the approval because the game honors the school’s large Hispanic community. “She did tell me yes, but she made sure we did everything by the book.”
Langston said she’s excited about all the events and ways the PTA helps unite students, families and staff. She was enthusiastic and quick to describe upcoming activities: Family University on Oct. 1, Day of the Dead and a family Turkey Trot.
“We want to partner with the families,” she said.
Susy Rubio, treasurer of the Farmers Branch Elementary PTA, said the school’s atmosphere has changed since Langston started at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year.
“It’s like she brought the school back to life,” she said. “When you are in the halls, the kids just love her.”
Rubio said that when she started as treasurer, there wasn’t any money or information for her since the PTA had not been active during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Langston and Linscomb have both been supportive, attending PTA meetings and even helping with budgeting.
Rubio said her daughter, Emma, 7, said she loves Ms. Langston. “They all love Ms. Langston. She’s made a big impression on all the kids.”
Rubio said Langston even showed a hidden talent at the school’s PTA carnival last spring.
“She baked a bunch of little bundt cakes, and they were the best thing ever," Rubio said.
“We keep telling them they better not leave,” said Marisa Lacey, who recently joined the PTA, of both Langston and Linscomb. “They love every kid there … the staff seems really happy as well.”
Lacey said that Langston’s positivity means that when an obstacle comes up, she digs in to find a way to overcome it.
“It may be glum today, but it won’t always stay that way,” she said.
Langston would remind all the parents, that she can’t and doesn’t work in a silo.
“I don’t do this on my own. I have an amazing staff that supports the whole team,” she said.
She not only wants to give the students a great education, but also support her staff to walk in their giftings.
And everything she spoke about circled back to the children.
“I believe all kids should have the absolute best education that is possible. And all means all,” she said with a distinct emphasis.
She said she loves that she has the opportunity to educate the whole child, not just academically, but emotionally and socially and also in the arts and share a love of reading.
“I think it’s an honor that parents trust us with their kids,” she said.
That means listening to her staff and working on herself, too.
She said she broke some long-standing rules of leadership when she started at the school.
“I changed things you aren’t supposed to change your first year,” she said.
However, her staff said the dismissal times and master schedule needed to be changed, so they made adjustments based on those requests.
She said the transition to her new position as principal and to a new school was made easier thanks to the mentoring she received from Matt Pruitt, principal of Charlie McKamy Elementary, where she served as assistant principal for four years.
She said on her first day, Pruitt asked her what her goal was and consistently helped her move in that direction.
As a result, she does the same thing for her staff.
“I believe I can change the world,” she said.
In addition, Langston started a doctoral program in education at Southern Methodist University in August.
“I want to get better for them [the kids]. I want to be the best version of myself now, for them,” she said.
She’s already grown from the program.
“They are helping me be better at leading for the kids already,” she said.
In her downtime, Langston said she loves to travel and see new places. Unlike teachers, principals do not have summers off, she said.
Her ultimate dream is to go on a multi-month cruise to see the world.
“That will be a retirement bucket-list item,” she said.
Parents hope that will be many years down the road.
