By:Jason Scheer
Representatives of School Leadership LLC, an educational consulting firm, have been meeting with teachers, support staff and students in order to determine what qualifications and attributes the next Baldwin superintendent of schools should possess.
On Monday, Nov. 22, it was the community-s turn to weigh in. The firm hosted a community-input meeting in the Baldwin High School auditorium to gather opinions from parents, business leaders and homeowners on what they would like to see in the next leader of the schools. With the current superintendent, Dr. Kathy Weiss, set to retire next summer, about 30 people attended the meeting to voice their opinions.
The consensus was that the next superintendent should be as much a community leader as an educational leader, and should work in conjunction with local leaders for the betterment of Baldwin. He or she should be a leader not only in Baldwin, but also in other communities the district encompasses, said Renaire Frierson-Davis, who has two children attending Baldwin schools.
The Freeport resident said she feels neglected by the district. Forging closer relationships among Freeport families and the Baldwin schools is a win-win situation, she said. They could give us lots of support and open access to grants and bonds, and things we are not aware of now, she said.
The recent performance of students on state-mandated exams was another topic of discussion. Several attendees cited students- performance on math tests as an area of concern. Baldwin fourth- and eighth-graders scored well below county averages on the exams. The test scores are an example of a sense of complacency and despair that has emerged in Baldwin, said one parent.
Several people said that one remedy might be to tie the salary of Weiss-s successor directly to district performance. It [should be] like a business, said one. You need to pay people for what they do.
Another speaker provided a student-s-eye view of the school district. Rahul Prabhakar, a student at Baldwin Senior High, said he hopes the next administrator will ensure that the district continues to offer the extracurricular activities it now offers. He pointed to the towering production of Ragtime, performed on the auditorium stage, as an example. There has been a tremendous amount of opportunity for those that have sought it out, Prabhakar said, and I want to see those opportunities continue to be offered.
School Leadership LLC representatives said the search process is in its initial stages, and that all recommendations from the meeting would be forwarded to the Baldwin Board of Education, which will ultimately decide who the next superintendent will be.
Comments about this story? JScheer@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
