Highlights From Superintendent Finalist Ms. Taymore Live Blog

Melrose Public Schools superintendent finalist Ms. Cyndy Taymore met with the public and was interviewed by the School Committee on Wednesday. Below are highlights from Melrose Patch's live blog of the meeting.

These are lightly edited selections from the live blog, a . Questions are in bold and Taymore's responses start with "CT."

MCAS and Mandates

Q: How do you feel about MCAS? Specifically, middle school has a block they have to take an MCAS course. I see that as one-seventh of their day for most days of the year, teaching to that test. In addition, having the MCAS scores tied to teacher evaluations.

CT: They're not tied to evaluations to the degree you think. MCAS isn't going away, will morph by 2014 into whatever we decide to adopt. Two national groups working on that. Accountability is important, but as we roll out the evaluation system, if you work with DESE, they will tell you that only applies to 17 percent of the teachers. The new evaluations look at teacher performance as well as student outcomes and student growth data over two years. As many assessments we agree upon will be measured. I've said to teachers in my staff who are MCAS teachers, I will not hang you out to dry. One test on one day of a kid’s life won't say what you've done. So working on how many factors are used in the evaluation. Mass. said to us it's one of multiple measures, that's the key word, multiple measures you may use. It's a sophisticated and complicated evaluation system, if you had three hours I'd whip out a PowerPoint, I've given a few. Many things are going into that decision-making. I would hope people are not teaching to the test, I have this conversation in my district. If you teach the skills, the test will take care of itself. What I hope is happening in that class is they've identified the gaps in the kids knowledge and addressing that. There's not a middle school in the state making progress in math. Experts will tell you the MS math test is harder than high school test, and they have the data to prove it. Drill and kill for eight weeks, I told my staff, does not fill in what kids don't know, especially in math. You have to have a deep understanding of operations, not gimmicks. That's what you need to do is teach the skills, not how to take the test.

Carrie Kourkoumelis: Following up on mandates. With massive number of them, how do you help your staff stay focused and not become overwhelmed. Also temptation to go for the latest and greatest as a fix-all. How you filter all that to your staff and keep it aligned with your own philosophy.

CT: I tell staff there are only three things they need to worry about - curriculum, instruction and assessment. That's what everything is about. Anything else is how it supports those things. State about to mandate new social/emotional curriculum. As we meet, we talk about what that means for CIA. Are we already doing things embedded in the classrooms that can support it? Some mandates are purely administrative and we handle them, like social network policy. May spend a few minutes at a faculty meeting explaining, like the new nutritional policy coming out in the fall, that's a mandate handled by school committee, superintendent's office and them. Only thing we need to make teachers aware of is no more cupcake parties. Put PowerPoint up, do some outreach, but that's the end of it.

Initiatives are choices—that's the first place you start. You choose those initiatives that improve outcomes for kids, not necessarily the newest conversation coming down the road. That's part of process with leadership team. Most of us moving towards peer professional development. Need to free people up to do that or find a way to monetarily reimburse them for doing that. Don't forget to maintain license, all teachers have responsibility for professional development. They set their own goals, but they have to tie to district goals. Those district goals drive everything else. Some of it is structural—we went to early release every Wednesday. Negotiated with union. It's turning out to be a very good thing. Has some bumps in road that need to be revisited, agreed to keep tweaking it, but think people are finding in the long run we have this time to collaborate and do things.

Curriculum and Instruction

Q: I hear a lot of excitement from other parents around the buzzword STEM. What do you believe makes kids engaged in learning and how does STEM fit into that?

CT: We're (Bedford) one of the districts experimenting with 1-to-1 iPads so we're immersed in it. Technology is going to be the future in education ... that's all you see out there is how it has to change education, but it has to be a thoughtful process. Giving a kid a tool because it's pretty and fun is not effective. That's something you have to be cautious about. Being trained so we can be evaluators of tech in our system. The problem with it is it's faster than we are, it changes faster than we are, and you have to be careful that you don't try to jump aboard a moving train but you think about it. Is your staff ready? Are the kids ready? Can you afford it? Our obligation as educators is to say 'this is what it's going to be.' My son's school is totally online, they have to come into the school to access the course. We looked at this online curriculum, did it meet the standard what we'd want our kids to learn. Finally we decided on a software program that did that. As for STEM, it's the science curriculum. National standards will be released this spring. It's very interesting following the blogs, there is now controversy and partly held up because pure science people claiming there's too much engineering in them. When we talk about STEM we know we've become a technological society, science and math driven. How do you create a curriculum that teaches kids, addresses all kids' needs and gives them the skills they need when they leave us. When we talk about curriculum, it's more about skills based rather than content mastering. That's what the STEM curriculum tries to do. It tries to move science more into a skills based, critical thinking approach as opposed to a pure rote approach. I'm waiting to see the curriculum.

Q: Would you consider different approaches like the charter school in Malden, they do more common knowledge, they don't move on until mastery of subject.

CT: I find it interesting they say that. I was in Malden and got all the kids they sent back because they didn't fit that model. They don't send them on; they send them back, so let's get that clear. Charter schools have same accountability we have. This will be an interesting experience as we go forward, the accountability measures. I'm waiting to see what happens. Sometimes those kids aren't going on because they didn't meet the standard, it's because they're coming out. ... couple of schools are going to a totally skills-based model. It fascinates me. The piece I can't solve is the social emotional piece, especially around the babies. We all know kids who are good early readers, but certainly not going to put in third grade or middle school if they're not ready. As long as we're holding people accountable to make sure kids know everything we want them to know. I say to staff, when you get kid in your grade, what do you expect the child to know and be able to do? ... Kids have to have a certain skill level by the time you get that diploma. If they have it by 16, I have no problem with that. But you have to make sure all the way up that skills are being acquired.

Q: Your philosophy on early childhood education and full day kindergarten.

CT: Without a full day five day program, I'm concerned we will be creating a gap due to the recession that may go away when things get better. More kindergarten teachers telling me kids are coming in behind. Problem of course is who is going to pay for it, whose pocket are you going into. Now that we have a Pre-K Common Core, it's very important. I'm in the middle of realigning everything, I always say the babies—that's what I call them—aren't ready for some of this stuff. Better to spread out I think, rather than cram into time we have. I would steal the Franklin School in a moment. I had one in Malden, I love it. We started a Pre-K program four years ago with one class. Last year I added a second class, next year a third class, I'm out of space. I have no place to go, I don't have a building. I think it is probably the biggest difference, is when you have those children at that age.

Initiating Change

Q: What can you immediately bring here, brings immediate change to our system that we haven't experienced. What would you like to bring here that might take a few more years to accomplish.

CT: The immediate benefit is really something that's hanging overhead for Sept. the new educator evaluation system. You're a RTTT Community, obligated to implement in September, I've done a lot of that work already. It's a very unsettling prospect for staff if you know anything about it. I can gladly go on for two hours. I can bring that immediately and help the town through that process. What I would look at long term as to what I talk to staff about is the curriculum work that is being done and needs to be done. The principals I spoke to, I really found them an impressive lot ...there is a need to raise the rigor in the district and raise the curriculum in the district. That's not a slight against Joe, he's laid a good foundation. I know a little about Melrose's history being down the street for so many years. He had work to do when he came in and I'd have to do work when I come in. What I like about Melrose is they share my philosophy about all learners. I carry a vision and say it constantly: All children are general education children first and foremost. Every child has right to the best education we can give them regardless of their classification, because of that all parts of curriculum need to be strong. Can't dumb down. Other side of that is parents have to realize not everybody can be an A student. What we expect is to take away the skill set. Capable writers, mathematicians, curious, the ability to use tech. to find information. Kids with more ability, we have to be challenging them more.

Carrie Kourkoumelis: Virtually everyone who has spoken to us about you has spoken about your depth of knowledge, passion for student-centered philosophy and your ideas are very current. You have a breadth of knowledge. Now that you've had a chance to learn about us, I know touched on earlier, is there in your estimation a structural area that with your philosophy and experience where you think in the short range we could make some short range changes that would be immediately or soon pay off in student achievement. Better use of our resources?

CT: I had an interesting conversation today with elementary principals and special education department. We were talking about supporting all learners ... you know that really is my driving philosophy. I think I need to know more about your elementary school structure, but I think there's opportunity there to do more targeted instruction. What you have and would need to do that, to help students to acquire the skills they need. The advantage you have is that I don't have K-5 buildings. Not having a K-5 is difficult because you want that vertical integration. Need to see if that alignment is happening across classes and between classes. Could be looked at immediately. Is it an easy fix, no, because it’s sometimes difficult conversations with staff. Don't want to be accusatory, but have staff say this is what I do well, this is what I need help with to do better. The upper levels, you're just beginning curriculum mapping and development. That's ongoing, it never ends. With new alignment being required it's quite a task. You probably could target two of your subject areas, or you could target the common core skills expected—reading, writing, research, oral presentation.

Vision For District

KT: Most of my questions have been answered. To build on Chris' question about vision, we talk about wanting a vision leader. What does a vision leader look like to you? How do you become the bearer of a vision to a new district? What do you think that looks like?

CT: Very interesting question. Part of it is who you are. Ultimately your decision is about fit, does this person fit our vision. Who you are, what you bring to the job, what you think is important. A lot of what I do is talk about it, clear to staff, clear about expectations and why we do what we do. Talk to them openly about how's and why's. Whether talking to students or staff, people want to know why are we doing this. I start from POV that all staff and community wants what's best for children. To believe otherwise is self-defeating. Then if it doesn't come through, you handle it. I think that's pretty much how you bring your vision. One of the greatest faults of public school system, unless you're one of the ones on the outside of me, is we don't toot our own horns enough. The fact that you have a new middle school and elementary school and ECC in this economy is a phenomenal achievement. I tell staff when they're frustrated, I say I measure success in micro-minutes. Sometimes when you're frustrated, I'm seeing success. Sometimes that's what people need to hear.

Q: Theoretical—thinking ahead, 4, 7, 10 years. Your work is bearing fruit. Think about the graduating class of 2022. What percentage of those seniors will go to college in the fall?

CT: That's very difficult, considering the current conversation of whether every child should go to college or have technical conversation. Eight years out I don't think this country will have converted to say Germany's model, where a lot of students get technical training. What I would like to see is I would use the 80/20 rule. At least 80 to a four-year school, but 20 percent involved in post-secondary education of some sort. I don't think every child is meant to go to college. If I had my druthers I'd like to see more opportunities for technical training.

My kids grew up in a system where 96 percent went, two or four year. I can also tell you how many kids didn't finish. That's an expensive experiment for families. That's why I think if we had more options for kids, it would benefit all of us.

Technology

Don Lehman: Talking about social media in the modern learning environment. Trying to develop policies. Some committees focus on controlling. What are you views and benefits of social media, blogging, etc. in modern education and what we should be doing.

CT: Two different sides of this. Social media as communication tool and education tool. As education tool, moving faster than most of us can keep up with. I'm in an iPad district, rolling out to all our high school kids slowly one year at a time as an instructional tool. Careful and cautious roll out with a lot of input from staff, in process of assessing it. Part of the debate we all have is this who the kids are and what their lives are and if you want them to be engaged, you have to go where they're at. For some kids, it truly is an assistive technology and makes a difference to them, how do you not allow if it'll help a child learn. The question is the right approach for a district. You buy something new today, something new next week. But you have to understand it's going to be part of education. The problem for district is roll it out as instructional tool, not just the newest gimmick of the day. Example: Guidance counselor speaking to me, young man who could never write down an assignment, so I said let him type it into his phone. That's how he communicates. They were very skeptical, staff get nervous about taped, photographed. Lo and behold it works for his child. His performance has improved. What do you do, deny something on principle or help a child? The second half is social networking policy, and about communication with students and parents via social media. That's a very real problem for administration. A couple of cases where staff dismissed for using social media poorly. That's something you have to address. It is a challenge, but something I think is going to happen regardless. Make it work for us, rather than it working us.