On Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, Dr. Elliott Landon, Superintendent of the Westport Public Schools for the past 17 years, sat down with “Ursus” and answered questions about his upcoming retirement, his experience as superintendent of Westport schools, his career accomplishments, and what he will miss the most (and the least) once his retirement goes into effect at the end of the 2015-2016 academic school year.

Q: Why do you plan on retiring now?
A: “Retiring is not an easy decision to make, but there comes a time in your life when you just know, you have a feeling, that it’s time to retire. This is a good time for me. I have been here for 17 years and a superintendent for 37 years. I have been very happy doing it, but I think there are other things I would like to do at this point in my life.”

Q: What are you most proud of from your time as superintendent?
A: “I feel I have hired some of the finest administrators and teachers to be found anywhere, and they really are the strength of the school system. I also built a lot of schools while here.
For example, I extended Greens Farms Elementary school, rebuilt Staples High school, built Bedford, added a small addition to Coleytown Middle School, and converted the original Bedford Middle School into an elementary school. Also, the Staples enrollment has increased from around 900 students to about 1,900 students. We’ve added a ton of new programs and have more than doubled the AP courses available to the students at the high school. We have new, more advanced math and science programs. We have also expanded the language program, now offering Italian and Mandarin, which we did not have when I first came here.”

Q: What do you plan on doing in the future after you retire?
A: “I’ve been involved with labor negotiations throughout my whole career, so I think I’m going to spend some time doing mediation–trying to bring teachers, custodians, boards of education together to settle contracts. I also plan to travel and do things I haven’t been able to do, like read a book all at once instead of here and there.”

Q: What about being superintendent will you miss the most?
A: “Developing new programs that make things better for the kids. It’s all about the kids. Nobody goes into this business unless they’re really concerned about kids. And the fun has been working with the staff, teachers, administrators, department chairs — developing new programs, changing programs, enhancing programs, doing new and exciting things and making existing things better. I’m really going to miss all of that.”

Q: Do you have any advice for future superintendents?
A: Always be true to yourself and your principles. Always keep kids in mind first before anybody else, including parents, and teachers and administrators. And work hard.

Q: How has education changed since you started out as a teacher back in New York?
A: It was more compartmentalized. You went into your room, you taught kids, you closed your door. You didn’t have much interaction with others. Now education is so much more collaborative. Teachers working together and across departments. It’s much more interesting, more exciting and interdisciplinary. Also there’s more technology now than there was before.

Q: Is there anything about being superintendent that you won’t miss?
A: Getting up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning to determine whether or not to close school due to snow!

While BMS students are cleaning out their desks in June, Dr. Landon will be preparing for the next chapter of his life. Who will the new superintendent be? How will that person follow in his footsteps?
With all of the incredible accomplishments that Dr. Landon has achieved on behalf of the students in our town, one thing is for certain: whoever succeeds Dr. Landon will have some big shoes to fill.