District Administration - May 2012 - (Page 54)

Hard acts to Follow Christina Kishimoto, center, who had served as the Hartford (Conn.) Public Schools’ assistant superintendent of secondary schools and school design, became superintendent last July. Kishimoto speaks to Adam Johnson, left, principal of the Hartford Public High School Law and Government Academy, and John Hayes, the academy dean, during a visit early this year. istrators (AASA). Domenech speaks from experience, having become superintendent of the Fairfax County schools in the late 1990s after the celebrated Robert “Bud” Spillane retired. Domenech says that he made sure to keep in place the language immersion programs and high school academies created by Spillane. Both initiatives, he adds, are still going strong today. At the same time, the message has gone out to the successors of successful superintendents that the status quo won’t do and that the changing educational landscape and the difficult economic positions of many school districts call for plenty of additional innovation. “When you have a healthy system that’s growing and successful, you are in the position to hire a superintendent who can take you to the next level,” says Shirley Brandman, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education. “Jerry Weast did an amazing job. But we weren’t looking for someone to be the next Jerry Weast. We wanted the best person for this moment.” the Jerry weast Years The iconic Weast’s 12-year run in Montgomery County ranks as a veritable eternity for superintendents of large districts in the United States. According to the AASA, the average tenure for a district superintendent is three and a half years. By all accounts, those 12 years were well spent. Weast focused on the critical ingredients and turning points in the careers of 54 May 2012 cHrIstINa KIsHIMoto Superintendent, Hartford (Conn.) Public Schools successful students, and then implemented changes to reach the district’s 147,000 students, more than half of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch programs. Weast also developed his nationally known “Seven Keys to College Readiness,” which include reading at advanced levels in K2, completing algebra 1 with a C or better by the end of grade 8, and passing at least one Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exam. What followed was an expansion of the district’s AP program to reach more students and a complete overhaul of the math program to make it more rigorous. Among the positive outcomes of these changes was an increase in the number of ninth-graders who went on to graduate, from 60 percent in 2003 to 86 percent in 2011, the highest rate of any large district in the country, according to published reports. College scholarships for Montgomery County graduates rose from $150 million to $264 million between 2007 and 2011. If it ain’t Broke … Enter Joshua Starr in July 2011. Starr admits that for much of his successful sixyear stint as superintendent of Stamford (Conn.) Public Schools, he was following in Weast’s footsteps. “We were inspired by the work done here under Jerry’s leadership,” Starr says, singling out Weast’s emphasis on combining excellence and equity. “Jerry certainly proved that you can serve kids at a high level if you use your resources.” “The work that Jerry did on the ‘Seven Keys’ was fantastic,” Starr continues. “I remember looking at it and walking into my accountability office and saying, ‘They got there before we did. Let’s copy them.’” As he pursued the Montgomery County superintendency, Starr found that the district placed a premium on one item in particular, which coincided with his own priorities. “The equity agenda was the most important, and the board of education would not give up on it,” he explains. “But that’s why I wanted to come here.” As part of that equity agenda, Weast had required all students to take courses that would prepare them for college and had increased the numbers of AfricanAmerican students taking A.P. courses and passing the exams. That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t plenty of work left to do and new directions to take when he arrived in Montgomery County. Starr says that while he has picked up where the previous administration left off, he has his own ideas of District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - May 2012

District Administration - May 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Sustainability Update
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Problem/Solution
Product Focus
Digital Reading Empowers Students
The Critical Task of Hiring a New Chief
Hard Acts to Follow
Leading the Way
Sally Reis & Joe Renzulli
CIO News
Not Your Mother’s Student Information System
Professional Opinion
Noteworthy Books
New Products
Going Mobile

District Administration - May 2012