New superintendent, new challenges

James Scannell, the Baldwin native who has taken over the school district superintendent’s position, will face a different slate of concerns than those that preoccupied his predecessor, the retired Dr. James Mapes.

Some of the issues Scannell will have to deal with are, of course, perennial: shrinking funding, growing pensions and insurance costs, declining enrollment. But Scannell will also need to address a new set of expectations that accompanied the advent of the Common Core Learning Standards — enacted nationwide last year and intended, as Scannell put it last week, to “bring greater rigor and consistency” to schools across the country.

Scannell, brother of veteran 5th District Legislator Joe Scannell, is a lifelong resident of Baldwin. He graduated from Baldwin High School in 1976 and raised his family in the hamlet. Before taking over as superintendent on July 1, he spent four years as assistant superintendent of instruction. Prior to that, he was an educator and administrator in the East Williston School District.

Scannell said he is excited about his new job, and looks forward to “open communication with the community” and “working together with parents, the board and our dedicated staff to build on the success of our wonderful students and signature programs.” But in order to make a strong start, the new superintendent needed to address Common Core. One of his most public steps in this direction has been the release of his initial Update from the Superintendent — an in-depth missive posted on the district’s website, baldwinschools.org, on Aug. 26, and distributed directly to parents via the Blackboard Connect system.

In it, he explained the essentials of Common Core and addressed the drop in test scores that attracted attention across the state. “The Common Core Standards and the new assessments were implemented on a very aggressive timeline,” Scannell wrote. “While we received information about the broad six instructional shifts, very little else was available, and what