Strong feelings on the job of assistant superintendent

CORNWALL — A focus group regarding the Region One assistant superintendent of schools position brought about a dozen people from Cornwall, Sharon and Kent to Cornwall Consolidated School (CCS) on Jan. 22.

It was one of several held by Mary Broderick, a consultant for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), who is helping to develop a job profile to fill the vacant assistant superintendent position, if that is how the Region One Board of Education and its advisory group, the All Board Chairs committee, decide to go. 

Options have been considered, such as restricting the job to curriculum development or eliminating the position altogether.

Broderick said a candidate will likely be sought who can begin this summer.

While the gathering was small, those in attendance had much to say, and easily filled the 90 allotted minutes.

John Mauer, a former Region One school board member from Kent,  attempted to take an advisory role in the discussion by giving background information. He was quickly cut off by a resident who asked who he was and then insisted on turning the focus back to an information gathering session.

Many comments offered support and dissatisfaction for Housatonic Valley Regional High School and various administrations over recent years.

There was discussion of strife over the role of the superintendent’s office and its oversight of the high school. In public and in  Region One board discussions, the administrative Central Office has been criticized for micro-managing the high school; some noted that the superintendent’s office should have no involvement in the high school other than having its offices in the high school building. 

Broderick said that Central Office should be monitoring the high school. The assistant superintendent is historically the person who mentors the high school and elementary school principals and conducts their evaluations, she said.

Parents were critical of the lack of opportunity for their involvement, and poor or nonexistent communication from the superintendent’s office. Politics and fear of retribution factor in at the high school and administrative levels, many attendees said.

When asked, CCS science teacher Kathy West said the teachers have not been asked for their thoughts on the administrative position. Of greater concern to her was the lack of curriculum development among middle-school teachers in the six schools across the region, so that students get to the high school at similar academic levels.

“There are supposed to be meetings of teachers from the region for grade or subject level,” West said. “They are supposed to be coordinated through Central Office. I get that they are implementing Common Core, but those meetings haven’t happened for seven or eight years.”

West also spoke about the high caliber of teachers across Region One, and said attention needs to be paid to making sure they want to stay here.

Ed Epstein, who has served as principal or interim principal in all the Region One elementary schools during his 47-year career, suggested an assistant superintendent be hired who can eventually take on the superintendent’s job. 

He believes the Region One board should privately determine — with Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain — whether or not she plans to retire in 2016, and proceed from there.

“If you’re hiring a superintendent-elect, who will be the superintendent next year, you will get a whole different caliber of applicants. It’s been done here before,” he said.

It prompted a discussion, and most said they were not comfortable with being locked into that, or making the position simply a successor to the superintendent.

In summarizing, Broderick noted the many comments about schools in each town being able to maintain their individuality, as well as the town loyalty students bring to the high school. A job candidate is desired who will have common sense, respect teachers and morale and be able to follow both established and new paths. There needs to be acknowledgment and respect for the culture here, rather than preconceived notions about how things should be done.

There were strong feelings that it should not be just school board members making a decision on a new hire, but also educators and community members who have more expertise than most board members bring to the table.