Superintendent Koufman Says Goodbye to Watertown

Energy and enthusiasm, that is the way School Committee Vice President described Superintendent Ann Koufman during her time in the Watertown Public Schools.

Koufman leaves Watertown at the end of the month to become the assistant superintendent in charge of teaching and curriculum in the Newton Public Schools. The School Committee appointed Assistant Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald to be the interim superintendent next year on Monday.

The departing superintendent left her mark during her two years in the top job and three years before that as assistant superintendent, said School Committee member Eileen Hsu-Balzer. 

Among the improvements Koufman brought to the town schools include integrating technology into lessons, having teachers at all grade levels work together to create a curriculum for the whole system, and helping to spawn new teacher leaders by using a task force model to work on different initiatives in the district.

School Committee Chairman Tony Paolillo said he has been impressed with what Koufman has done while in Watertown, and the full results may not be apparent, yet.

“There have been remarkable improvements to the curriculum,” Paolillo said. “You have truly brought the district into the 21^st Century. I do not believe we will truly know the impacts of the initiatives for a few years.”

Koufman said the teachers and administrators have done great work while she has been in the district, and she added the Teaching and Learning Showcase to the School Committee agenda so the work gets recognized.

Leaving Watertown will be difficult, Koufman said.

“I am excited about what I am going to do (in Newton) ­– it is all focused on teaching and learning,” Koufman said. “But I am dsad too. I’ll miss you.”