Last Friday at 4:30 p.m. the Board of Education announced the new superintendent of our schools. After a nationwide search, the board chose Dr. Toni Jones, the current superintendent of the Fairfield, Conn., school district.
This caught us, and many others, by surprise. Releasing news late in the day on a Friday is normally done when looking to minimize exposure. We were surprised not so much by whom they chose, but rather by whom they did not.
There have been thirteen superintendents in Greenwich over the past 20 years. Dr. Jones will be the 14th. Since 2009, we have had three permanent and three interim superintendents, and by anyone’s count, that is a lot of turnover.
Our current interim superintendent, Ralph Mayo, grew up in Greenwich and was a teacher and Principal at Eastern Middle School before being asked to temporarily lead our school district. He is well known for his calmness and is highly respected throughout the district and town. By all accounts, he has done a good job. Mr. Mayo also put his hat in the ring to be considered as the permanent superintendent, not just the interim.
Dr. Toni Jones had been the superintendent of the Fairfield school district for less than two years before applying for the Greenwich job. Before that she was a superintendent for five years in Virginia overseeing fewer students in the entire public-school system than we have just at Greenwich High School.
We have to wonder, along with others, why the Board of Education did not choose Mr. Mayo to fill the vacancy. Given the amount of turnover among our previous superintendents, who moved to Greenwich to take the position, it would seem that choosing a long-term, successful and seemingly likable educator and administrator from our own community would be a no brainer.
The majority of the Board of Education felt otherwise. It conducted yet another national search. Why a national search?
Greenwich is a very unique community. The perception of Greenwich to outsiders is often vastly different than what you experience when you actually live here. Some who move into our community can never see beyond the wealth, and it clouds their perception. The diversity in our community is vast and it suffers when it cannot be understood or appreciated. That diversity is throughout our public school system.
Each time we hire a new superintendent from outside our community, we do a disservice to our children.
Really, what it boils down to is: is the Board of Education best serving our students and our community? We are beginning to wonder. At best, its decisions in recent years have seemed short-sited.
We should be asking as a community, what is the reason for the extremely high turnover rate in superintendents?
Greenwich needs Dr. Jones to succeed and so does the Board of Education, so we sincerely hope that the board is taking a very hard look at its part in the turnovers and assessing how it can support its new hire. And when, hopefully many years from now, Dr. Jones retires and we need to appoint a new superintendent, perhaps the board will have done some succession planning and prepared a bench of trained, prepared and well-qualified Greenwich candidates ready to take over.
