Gandhi steps down from superintendent position

For the past seven years, Dr. Rupak Gandhi led the district of Fargo Public Schools. However, his influential time as superintendent is coming to an end as he will be stepping down at the end of this school year to start a business with his wife. I had the opportunity to sit down with Gandhi and talk about his time as district superintendent, including the rocky implementation of EBR in the upper-grade levels, learn about what he’ll be doing after he steps down, and more.
Long before coming to Fargo, Gandhi began his education career in Houston, Texas, eventually becoming a high school principal. He then went to Colorado, where he served as an assistant superintendent for a few years. When it came time for him to try his hand at supervising a school district of his own, he chose Fargo for one main reason: the students. “What drew me into Fargo more than anything else was the level of student engagement. They were the only school district that had student reporters that were part of the interview process,” Gandhi said.
Even though he’ll be stepping down from the superintendent position, Gandhi doesn’t want to leave the Fargo area. “My family is choosing not to leave. We want our kids to continue in this school system, we want to continue to be residents of this community, and I think that’s because of what Fargo Public Schools has meant to me for the last seven years,” he said.
Gandhi went on to talk about what he loves about the district, “I love the people, I love the work, I love our community, I love the way that we support education, I love the great schools that we have. [Fargo] has not only become a work but it’s become the life that I want to live.”
One of the major changes that happened during Gandhi’s time as superintendent was the implementation of the evidence-based reporting system, or EBR. This system changes the way grades are given to students and the overall philosophy, expectations, and mindset for how students are taught. While the philosophy of EBR itself hasn’t been much of an issue, the implementation of the new grading system has sparked a degree of controversy. Detractors of EBR have said that this system causes lower motivation for students to try their best, has too much ambiguity in what constitutes a three versus a four, and has been pushed onto many different subjects with little thought put into how to best integrate it.
Gandhi acknowledges that there have been struggles in implementing EBR, but he feels the system helps students grow instead of just being stuck at the bottom of the class. “I think philosophically, EBR is reflective of what students are learning. It doesn’t label students as being strong or weak in one area. It allows students to grow, which I think research supports is better for their own development, and so I’m a big proponent of that for those reasons,” he said.
In 2023, Gandhi fought against North Dakota legislation that required teachers to report to parents if their child identified as transgender. Gandhi brought up statistics about the unfortunate suicide rates of LGBTQ students and the number of kids who have said that either their parents didn’t accept their transition or that they’ve decided to keep their transition a secret out of fear that their parents would be unaccepting. With approval from the school board, Gandhi said, “We will not openly ‘out’ any student because of one law if we know that is going to cause harm to that child.”
What gave him the courage to speak out against this law? Gandhi recounted the following story: “Several years ago in our student cabinet, we did ask the question of who feels a sense of belonging in Fargo Public Schools and unfortunately, it was none of the students of color who raised their hand. One of our students said we have a lot of nice educators and students in this district, however, people are intentionally nonconfrontational. So unless district leadership is open about ‘we need to be explicit where we know bias is implicit,’ people aren’t going to feel the courage to be able to speak up,” he said.
The choice to be vocal about support was the right thing to do for Gandhi based on his experience and feedback from those students “In that moment, I was thinking about what that student had shared and I think that sometimes if you just stay quiet, even though you know it’s not the right thing, then you’re giving tacit consent to let that behavior continue, and that’s not who we want to be.”
Now that he’s stepping down, Gandhi will be starting a new business with his wife, Dr. Brittany Gandhi, where they will be consulting for businesses, school districts, and students on how best to incorporate technology. “We are going to help school districts and other admission-driven organizations use AI, automation, and other pieces of advanced technology to streamline processes, and do things more efficiently,” he said.
He went on to say that he doesn’t consider himself to be a traditional learner, and he believes that technology can help students learn in the ways that suit them best, so “the other part of the business is to help students that might learn differently.”.
The school board picked the person taking over the position of superintendent to be Dr. Cory Steiner who will be starting on June 30, 2025. Gandhi gave some advice for the new superintendent, “Don’t be afraid to make changes. This district deserves someone that is always willing to change, always wanting to improve things for our students,” adding, “But then also know that we are a high-performing district with a lot of great work happening. There are always opportunities for growth so how do you capitalize on that without just diminishing the great work that we already have.”
When asked if he had a message for the students of the district, Gandhi wanted to make sure we knew our talent. “Never sell yourself short, we have students who are accomplishing unbelievable things. From students who are spending time taking care of their siblings, to students who are achieving music, academic, and athletic milestones that are just unbelievable,” he said.
Gandhi also wanted to share some advice for the way technology is growing, “Know that we are living in a world where information and technology is going to make everything accessible to you, so how do you use that information to advocate for yourself and make sure that you can reach your goals that you have, whatever those are.”
Gandhi’s departure will be a big change for the district. Whether or not you agree with the decisions he has made, it’s clear that he cares a lot about the students of Fargo Public Schools and that he wants the best for all of us. Thank you, Gandhi, for your seven years of service to this district and well wishes in your future endeavors.