Open letter to Winchester’s new superintendent of schools

The following is my welcome letter to Winchester’s new superintendent of schools, Thomas M. Danehy.

Dear Mr. Danehy,

On behalf of the Winchester community, I wish to welcome you to Winchester as the new superintendent of Winchester schools. I can now relinquish the title of “new guy.” I hope that you settle in quickly, because we have a lot to do.

Before getting to those pesky details, let me give you my 90-day perspective. Get out and meet as many people as possible. Don’t wait for meetings (which are typically sparsely attended by the same people) or for the people to come to you. Use your newness in the community to linger unknown in restaurants and grocery stores. Get your hair cut by a local barber. You will find the conversations with everyone to be refreshing and enthusiastic. Listen, and begin to build relationships.

The challenges that we face are significant, but I do not believe that they are insurmountable. One of the first difficulties is determining where to begin — it just seems as if we have so much to do. The analogy that I have used is that I am in a rowboat with dozens of holes and I am bailing with a thimble. It is tempting to get consumed with additional hours at the office (and sometimes those hours are necessary), but do not neglect the many positives of this community.

We have an expansive downtown. We have downtown rivers. We have parks. We have a college. We have arts. We have restaurants. We have entertainment. We have incredible natural beauty within town and even more mere minutes away. Most of all, we have opportunity, mainly because apparently many people, both inside and out, simply don’t believe in this community.

I am sure that you have read or heard all of the negative comments, most of which are written behind the all-powerful and knowing (so they like to think) “cloak of anonymity” on various websites. Your peers are probably questioning your sanity and decision-making skills after you told them that you are going to Winchester. Yes, THAT Winchester.

The people in this town want things to change. I have found it difficult to understand why things have simply been accepted the way that they have been for so many years.

In my office, I have found numerous reports, studies and recommendations for improvements to the town, but nothing has been pursued. Our residents have developed a sense of distrust and skepticism for local government, be it on the town or the school side. We need to promote and move things in a positive direction. It will not be easy.

We must work together to rebuild the trust and confidence. Over the last week, following the announcement of your appointment, you and I have exchanged more email messages (primarily introductory in nature) than I have exchanged with leaders at the schools in the last three months. It will not take much to demonstrate minimal cooperation, and I look forward to maintaining regular communication with you.

I hope that we can foster better communication between our respective boards. Strong differences are evident between the boards, but, just as I doubt anyone on the Board of Education is anti-town, I do not believe that anyone on the Board of Selectmen is anti-education. The differences are the result of pent-up frustrations that I believe can be defused by frequent communication and professional leadership.

As I indicated in one of our email exchanges, we need to develop innovative and bold concepts and ideas: We cannot keep doing things the same way. We can accept our responsibility as community leaders and pledge to do our best to guide Winchester. We will surprise a lot of people when we do.

I look forward to meeting you soon, but most of all, I look forward to working with you and the members of the Board of Education. Welcome to Winchester.

Dale Martin is the town manager of Winchester.