Superintendent Gildea Hard at Work, Listening

New Greenwich Superintendent Dr. Jill Gildea

By Richard Kaufman
Sentinel Reporter

Ever since she was little, Dr. Jill Gildea knew she wanted to be involved in education.

She developed an affinity for reading and doing research at a young age, and even played the role of librarian when her sister’s friends would come over to play and she made them check books out with a library card.

Gildea received her degree in English and Secondary Education from Bradley University. She earned her Masters, which dealt with the impact of early acquisition of socio-dynamics on literacy, from National Louis University, and her Doctorate from Northern Illinois University.

Gildea taught english, reading and social science at the middle and high school levels for 10 years and then served in multiple administrative roles before delving more into the curriculum world and becoming a superintendent for districts large and small for 10 years in her home state of Illinois.

Her career in education now spans 29 years, and she finds herself in Greenwich as the new Superintendent of schools — a position that has been somewhat of a revolving door over the last decade.

Gildea said the first five months in her new role have been a learning experience as she gets acclimated to the town and how the district operates. Most of all, she said, learning to listen more has helped her.

“It’s listening first, and taking that leadership sense. You have to listen and understand the context because different decisions may fit different places,” she said. “It’s important to understand the context in the decisions that you’re making.” Gildea also said she’s learned that there’s no such thing as small change.

Although the school year has yet to reach the winter break, Gildea has faced some challenges early on. Most notably, the issue of field lighting and new school start times have come to the forefront.

Due to the later school start time at Greenwich High School and daylight savings time, there hasn’t been sufficient lighting for athletic teams to complete practices. With regulations placed on the lights at Cardinal Stadium, the district has tried to come up with temporary fixes while brainstorming long-term solutions.

“I’m just surprised that not everybody across town understands that we need lit fields,” Gildea said, noting that the issue involves the whole town since there’s a vibrant, active community in Greenwich that utilizes athletic fields.

Gildea said that people need to realize that the leadership in the school district, which is relatively new, needs time to learn the system in order to assess, reflect and make good, focused efforts towards improvements for all students.

“It’s going to take some time. Everyone wants answers yesterday,” she said. “It’s not as simple. I think some of the things are simple and we make them a little complicated, but because they’re complicated then I have to take that step back and really take the time to look at all the inputs and make reasonable decisions.”

Overall, Gildea said schools around town need infrastructure work. “There’s a lot of need, a lot more than in any of my previous districts.”

GIldea also mentioned the achievement gap as an ongoing challenge she hopes to tackle. She believes that from the earliest ages, the district must work with families and even pre pre-school students to ensure that students are getting access to words, language and broad experiences.

“Coming to school with that is helpful,” Gildea said. “It’s that overall environment; conditions for success”

Stability and longevity in the superintendent position are important concepts for Gildea as well. They’re vital in order to move forward as a school district and as a community, especially in regards to the implementation of the district’s Strategic Plan.

“I would think that the community is feeling the affects of [superintendent instability],” she said, citing that with each new person comes an adjustment period that takes time and can cause confusion.

Gildea said she always looks to policy first and tries to guide everyone in that direction if there’s uncertainty on something. If there needs to be more clarification, they can look at the procedural side.

“You have to have some of those things that are just constant because otherwise there’s a lot of moving plates, a lot of spinning plates, a lot of things are going on,” she said. “If you want to be an innovative and progressive district, I would think that the longevity is helpful because if you know what your baseline is, you can innovate a little easier than not knowing.”

Every Wednesday, Gildea visits 3-4 schools to observe classes, something she believes is very important.

“If we don’t get to see what’s really happening, it’s harder to speak to what’s needed,” she said, pointing out that she enjoys visiting so much that she has trouble leaving on time to make it to the next school.

Interacting with the students and seeing the learning that goes on on a daily basis has been Gildea’s favorite part about being superintendent in Greenwich so far. She credits the teachers and staff, regardless of the school or classroom, with creating environments that are conducive to learning and success.

“[Whether it’s] the littlest pre-schoolers or the twelfth graders, you see really caring adults. [Students are] always willing to talk about what they’re learning and what they’re doing and getting the purpose and intention of it,” Gildea said. “It’s a district that really I think has a great base in what they’re doing; a great research base, a great understanding of why they’re doing what they’re doing, and that is different than any other place I’ve been.”

Gildea pointed out that in her previous school districts in Illinois, people would mostly discuss sports, birthdays or holidays first rather than education. In Greenwich, Gildea said, people will touch on those subjects briefly before really wanting to dive-in to the meat of education and learning.

“That’s very professionally intriguing. That’s a really cool part of being here. It feels like a college town. That energy of ongoing learning is very present in the public schools. I think that sets them apart,” she said.

Looking forward, Gildea hopes the community can come together to solve the ongoing challenges that face the district.

“It just needs to happen as a caring community,” Gildea said. “It’s a vibrant place, so how do you get all those people on the same page? That’s the only way I think we’re going to truly move forward.”

Gildea said that once the operational side, which includes field lighting issues, infrastructure and new school start times gets the attention, energy and focus that it needs, the academic pieces of the Strategic Plan can be implemented, which she said is, “critical to the improvement of education for all youth.”

Gildea has seen a variety of school districts over her time in education, from basic barebones to comprehensive ones, something she believes has provided her with interesting experiences.

The move from her home state of Illinois to Connecticut embodies her passion for education and her willingness to face challenges head on.

Although she’s faced a myriad of obstacles and has been busy since she began her term on July 1, the district is thriving.

“We’re very hard on ourselves, but we’re doing quite well,” she said.

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