New Superintendent Faces Daunting Task

A dozen parents met for two hours in the administration building with new schools Superintendent Jonathan Landman as he wound up his third day on the job Thursday night.

It was evident, even with the small sample of parents which included three couples, that people's concerns and ideas for their schools are as varied as their personalities, the personalities of their children, and of their children's teachers and administrators.

Landman's job is to encourage a personality for the Hopkinton schools that accommodates not only these people, but the entire community. 

His first priority, he said, is to spend four to six months listening to and observing students, parents, educators and residents.

Improving on excellence, he said, is a challenge.

"I want to make sure I understand the system and what's working so I don't mess it up,"  he said.

Landman mostly let the parents talk, holding true to his plan to listen and observe.

One of his longer answers explained how some programs such as MCAS, Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind are being debated and altered, and what that will mean to Hopkinton.

One parent, reading between the lines, worried that making time and place for the goals of these programs might, as she described it, diminish the depth of learning that Hopkinton has.

Landman responded quickly to that. "I won't let it," he said.

No matter what educational directives the schools get, Landman said Hopkinton will teach children creative and thinking skills, such as how to design a lab, which academic tools to use to solve a problem, and how to teach themselves to learn.

Addressing the breadth of differences of parents' ideas and concerns, coupled with government and educational imperatives which he finds himself at the center of, Landman defined an educator's job as being "skilled at differentiation."

There are core subjects that students should learn, and it is up to educators at each level to determine how each child, or group of children, can best succeed at that task, he said.

Landman also said that moving forward from the failed new school is his second priority, which will involve a lot more listening and observing.

And for his third priority, calling himself a huge fan of strategic planning, Landman said he would like to take a look at the current strategic plan, see what has been accomplished, what still needs to be done and make adjustments accordingly.

Specific issues raised by parents included:

1. Providing help to non-elite high-school students who may have more difficulty with getting into or paying for college.

2. Finding physical activity for high-school children who had played sports since pre-school but find themselves out in the cold in the competitive high-school environment. Ultimate Frisbee got high praise but was seen as an exception.

3. Coupling middle-school socialization with what Landman called "an exciting curriculum." Landman said part of this task is supporting middle-school teachers and making clear to them what the goals are. 

4. More help for students with elementary school transitions. 

5. Better communication between schools and parents.

Landman will hold his next listening/talking session with parents on Monday, July 11, at the Hopkins School, from noon to 2. Students and residents without children in the school are welcome too, he emphasized.