Five Years in Weston; Now Her First 100 Days in Westport
Dr. Palmer talks about what she has learned since her tenure began
Snow days, school delays, and budgets.
What do all these and more have in common? They are all the duties of the school district superintendent. Effective July 1, 2016, the Westport Public Schools hired Dr. Colleen Palmer as the new superintendent of schools.
A new leader means new management, new outlooks, and new ideas. But, as we are getting to know the new superintendent, she is also getting to know Westport.
“I have been inspired and truly very impressed, I could say overwhelmed, by the talent, dedication, and the special attributes of our students and staff,” said Dr. Palmer. “Westport is an exceptional district that truly cares about children and creating a learning environment that works for every student every day.”
From what she has seen so far, Dr. Palmer has been struck by the sheer congeniality of Westport. “But,” she says, “I still feel there is so much of this district that I need to learn about and to experience. I look forward to the opportunities to get out and to observe classes and other various events in the school district so I can learn more.”
A Dynamic, Motivated System
Specifically about the students of Westport, from kindergarten to senior year, Dr. Palmer has learned quite a bit so far: “There is so much right about Westport students. Most of them don’t know me, so when I’m walking down the hall at Staples or I’m walking here at Bedford, students really don’t know who I am yet. But they are welcoming, they are polite, they ask if I need help. When I tell them who I am
they are genuinely excited. When I ask them how they feel about the school district, they unabatedly tell me how much they enjoy being students here, how teachers stay after school or meet them in the morning, and they want me to know how special a place their school is.”
Dr. Palmer has a PhD in educational administration, and is already putting that knowledge to work. She has been in the district for over 100 days and already things have changed, most of which may be popular. For example, snow days, “I have changed the way Westport calls snow days and school delays by putting in place a 123 program. This is where we can put in place a 1, 2, or 3 hour delay/ early dismissal. This way we don’t have to keep kids out of school for 2 and a half hours if we only really need one hour to clear the roads.” When asked about the frequency of snow days she might call versus her predecessor, she responded by saying, “I can tell you this: I will never put [the town] in harm’s way. If I feel that the roads are really too dangerous to drive on, I will cancel school or have a delay.” So is there hope for every single student praying for a snow day in grades K-12? We shall see.
Budget Challenges
Something students may not be currently aware of are the budget restrictions being put in place for Westport. Dr. Palmer has been working with the state-imposed 2.5% “cap” on municipal spending. That means that we loose 1.1 million dollars from our budget. “Cap” is in quotes because we are allowed to go over. However, for every dollar that we go over the “cap”, the state is going to take away another 50 cents of funding. Dr. Palmer has responded to how she is going to work with the budget restrictions. “What [students] have to realize is not every school has the same feel, the same environment, and the same culture as [we do here]. And the culture here in Westport really empowers students to have a voice and to grow as individuals,” Dr. Palmer explains. She is not denying that there are budget restrictions. In fact, she has gone out of her way to explain to parents exactly what is going on. “I had an evening presentation here and I invited all the parents of the district to come. I did a half-hour presentation and then I said, ‘Question and answer. I’ll answer any questions you have.’ I want to be open and transparent. I want to be responsive to the questions and needs our parents have,” she says in response to how she is communicating issues with the community. She makes sure to tell parents that, “How you spend your money should reflect the most important things you care about. (…) I believe we are at a time where funding education is becoming more and more difficult. Not just for Westport, but for the entire state of Connecticut, and I have spoken to this publicly many times.” When asked about what she plans on cutting, she also answered very directly, “Things like the countertops in our science labs, we have been replacing. We may not have the funds this year to continue and replace two more labs. We mights say, ‘Woah, we’re going to wait this year.’ So I want to make sure that if I have to make reductions, that I keep it away from the classroom as much as I can, meaning teachers, materials, etc. [For example], can you still do the science experiments on the old laptops? Yes. Are they ugly? Yes. Do they need to be replaced eventually? Yes. But that is something we can differ. We can differ some of our improvements to our buildings until we get through this crunch right now, too.”
Making Every Penny Count
She calls this zero-based budgeting. “Zero-based budgeting means we go through every single item in our budgets and say, ‘Do we really need this? We have 1,000 people we employ. Do we need 1,000 people, to look at where we are?’ Those are the tough decisions that we have to look at. So we are going to present our formal budget January 6 to the town. We continue to sharpen our pencils, (…) but we are at risk of losing a quarter of a million dollars if we go over the ‘cap’.” This is just one example of the tough decisions Dr. Palmer has to deal with. And to those who are more worried than most about the future budget cuts, she says, “We also don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. The community cherishes high quality education, and I don’t see that the community of Westport is going to allow its school system not to have high quality, but it may mean that some of the way we do things, we may to differently in the future or, be more cost-effective.”
The Guiding Principles
But before Westport was dealing with zero-based budgeting, it was teaching every single one of its students, in every grade, about being a decent human being. Westport does this now with something called the guiding principles. Dr. Palmer has been superintendent for only a little over 100 days, and already has noticed the guiding principles at work. “What I truly love about the guiding principles is it articulates the beliefs of our school district and community in a very succinct way. We are able to effectively communicate what we believe in, how we want our work to be done, how we want our business to be done, and how we want teaching and learning to be done. It puts a stake in the ground about ‘This is Westport.’” Dr. Palmer could not be more correct: this is Westport. And as a community we extend only the warmest of welcomes to our new superintendent. We know she will only improve us, make us go farther, and make us into better thinkers and global citizens. Welcome, Dr. Palmer, and may your next 100 days and next 100 months be as productive and constructive as these.