Superintendent District Cutler Miles River School Committee Buker HWRHS Winthrop

Good Morning Everyone and Welcome to this our first day of school!

Before I begin, I would like to thank Catherine Donovan, and the Cafeteria staff for the lovely continental breakfast they prepared for all of us. I would also like to thank Chris Stoey and his crew of custodians and custodians from other schools for making it possible for us to meet here today. Thank you.

This morning I can’t tell you how delighted I am to be here and how privileged I feel to have this incredible opportunity to serve you and the children of Hamilton and Wenham.

Today is the beginning of a new school year I trust that you share with me the excitement that comes with these opening days. As you might imagine, with this years opening, I am as nervous as you are curious as I stand before you as your new superintendent. I have been here a mere three weeks, and each day, I grow less nervous and more comfortable due to the warmth with which you have welcomed me. I thank you for that warm welcome.

The literature published for the superintendent search and the interview process emphasized over and over again that this caring, collaboration, respect, and collective purpose are core values in this community. Today, as I look around this room, I can see that caring and collaboration are genuine values of this district. This morning, I see every member of our educational community present here today – the school committee, teachers, administrators, office personnel, custodians, teaching assistants, nurses, and cafeteria staff. I should like to thank each of you personally for your contributions and commitment to making the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District such a special place for our children and young adults to learn. I would like each of you to put your hand up, bend it to a 60 degree angle, like this, and give yourselves a well-deserved pat on the back!

I wrote in my letter to you that my perceptions that this school district is an outstanding one is reinforced with every person I meet or program I review. This is due to each and every one of you. In my three weeks here, I have met a number of people who comprise our community. If I may, I wish to share with some of what I have learned in this brief time….

*I have learned that you, our school committee, are a group of individuals dedicated to improving teaching and learning. You are thoughtful, collaborative people who work tirelessly and engage in advocacy to achieve the community’s vision for quality schools and opportunities for our students to attain their potential. And from all indications, you have been most successful….

*I have learned that you, our teachers, are eager to share with me, not your disappointments of last year, but your accomplishments, your hopes and dreams for the coming year, your stories about the students you teach, and your beliefs about what makes this district such a wonderful place to be professionally and personally.

*I have learned that you, our principals and administrators, have created school communities where teachers and other school workers believe in and care about what they are doing and are self-motivated. You have created cultures where people are committed to do what is right for their students and their school by committing to a set of beliefs about what teaching and learning should be.

*I have learned that you, our office personnel, teaching assistants, custodians, nurses, and food service staff, view your roles in a collective sense – you have told me that these are “our children, our students” and that you are here to help them learn and grow.

*I have learned that parents and community people have a long tradition of supporting good schools. They recognize that good schools are an important part of the towns. They are very positive about the level and quality of education their children are receiving. They have high expectations of us and they are eager to support us in any way they can.

*I have learned that you all share with me a passion for education and learning and the desire to continue to work together to make this district the very best it can be for our students.

*And I have learned that everyone here understands and shares the belief that educating our children and young adults is an endeavor that involves all of us.

My pledge to you is that I will continue to learn about you and from you during the coming months. What I hope you will learn about me in the coming months is that I take a personal approach to leadership by developing relationships. I believe that the quality of relationships determine the quality of the schools. I believe that if we take the time to come to know one another, we will come to understand each other. Understanding each other will enable us to develop not only a shared vision and it enable us to reflect, support, challenge, and collaborate with each other for the benefit of our students and community.

As a leader, I believe my role is to develop strong teams. I do this by listening to the wisdom of those around me. I believe that in order for a school system to be successful, others need to share in the leadership. I have no doubt that with assistance from all of you and by working together, we will develop that team and we will be all the more successful in creating and sustaining a school community where all members – students, staff, parents and community – are committed to working together for continual growth in learning and teaching for our students.

In the coming weeks, months and years, you can expect to see me out and about. I will spend this year visiting your schools, visiting your classrooms, and learning about you. I believe in visiting schools and classrooms because school reform begins and ends with the effectiveness of our classrooms. Paying attention to the relationship of teacher/learner and teacher/learner/parent is critical to any school districts' success.

Through my visits and conversations, I will gain an understanding of the culture of the Hamilton Wenham Schools, which is critical, if I am to be an effective and successful leader. My coming to know you in your school setting is key to our success as a district so that as we develop policies and programs, they are related to the real needs of our students and the district.

For me, this will be a year of “getting to know you” and I will need your help. I am a person who likes to keep albums and journals of the special people and events in my life. I invite you to help me begin creating my new album about my new community. Since there is only one superintendent, I am at a distinct disadvantage here since there are 295 of you to get to know! You all know my name, but it will take me longer to get to know your names and faces so - you can be a great help to me if you would send me a photograph of yourself or a group of you with your names and a few lines or anecdotes about who you are. This will enable me to know a bit about you so when I meet you in your school I will be able to greet you by name! That would be important to me. So dig through your albums and send those pictures to me!!! I thank you in advance and look forward to adding your photo to my new “family” album.

Since my appointment in June, I have been thinking a lot about the word “opportunity”. I have been thinking that this is not just an opportunity for me, but an opportunity for all of us to recommit to the values that have made Hamilton Wenham such a respected school district in our Commonwealth.

I look forward to the opportunities no less than I do to the challenges. I say this because I KNOW you to be a talented and dedicated faculty and staff. You have just come through a most challenging year. We know that the coming years will continue to present challenges to our work. There are external factors that neither you nor I can change. These include the national economic decline and new regulations, lack of industry in Hamilton Wenham coupled with budgetary pressures in the face of fiscal restraint.

But I can tell you what I believe I can do to help us be more successful with the uncertain nature of these external factors. As your superintendent, it is my responsibility to communicate well with all of the constituencies. The Chinese say that opportunity lies in chaos; Einstein said that in the adversity, there lies opportunity. How we, as a educational community, respond to these external pressures we encounter, is something I can control in part, by creating confidence, developing open communication, and working to resolve issues fairly by making clear in advance the criteria and the process by which key decisions are made. I envision developing this confidence and open communication through three venues…

First, by being in schools and classrooms observing students and how they learn;
Second, by working collaboratively with teachers and principals to develop programs designed to inspire students; and
Third, by forging partnerships with parents, organizations, and the community in the interest of our students.

I look forward to the challenges, because we will face them together. I am confident that if together we can continue to listen to, support, and care for one another, then we will be able to endure that which we cannot control. We must do that because there are 2100 students counting on us to be there for them each and every day.

One of my greatest sadnesses in life was my own inability to have children after eight long years of intensive and invasive treatment. While I was trying to understand why this should happen to my husband and me and searching for how I would be able to accept this, I came to realize that in my role as an educator I could have many children. It became ever clearer to me about my purpose as an educator as I would continue my work. My heartbreaking event enabled me to redirect my energy and to recommit to a key value that had always guided my work and about which I am so very passionate. This key value for me is that I truly believe that as public school educators we are “guardians of children”. I believe that the ultimate goal of my work, and of our work together, is to serve children and young adults and to search continuously for ways to serve them better.

I also believe that it is my role and my responsibility, as superintendent, to engage people to examine education so the professionals and the members of the community determine together how our youth should be prepared to meet the needs of a changing economy and society.

At this time, I wish to thank you for listening this morning. I close by saying how deeply honored I am for the confidence you have placed in me by selecting me as your superintendent. I pledge to you my loyalty, empathy, fortitude, abilities, and talents to take us to new heights as a school district.

As I said to you in my letter – I am eager to find ways to support you and to explore all know and unknown avenues to provide you with opportunities so that you can continue to excel on behalf of Hamilton and Wenham’s children. Thank you.