Meeting with Interim Superintendent Reese

Photo via Twitter, '@AmesburySchools'

I had the opportunity to meet with Amesbury Interim Superintendent of Schools, Gary Reese this week. With the start of the school year, he seems to have hit the ground running. I wouldn't say that I envy Mr. Reese's position, coming to Amesbury as he did after something of a tumultuous and challenging year for the District: outside reports that identified substantial weaknesses and 'opportunities for growth' (Walker and DESE reports), an unpaid electric bill that grew into a veritable crisis of confidence for many, two finance related audits (one of which is still not final), and the resignation of Dr. Robinson from the Superintendent position, only months after her contract renewal was unanimously approved by the School Committee.

It was a good opportunity to establish a connection with Mr. Reese. One of the commitments that I made when I ran for City Council two years ago was to significantly increase my level of attention to School Committee and School District matters. With the School budget representing over half of the City's operating budget, relying on a single budget hearing to primarily guide one's understanding of this complex operation (the school district) is not a good idea. In the past two years, I've either attended in person or viewed on local cable access almost all of the School Committee's Finance Sub-Committee meetings regarding the annual budget. This past year, I met directly with all but one of the principals and both the Superintendent and Ass't Superintendent to understand the details of and rationale behind their various budget requests.

At a recent School Committee meeting, Mr. Reese present a year-long 'Entry Plan' to the School Committee. You can read the Plan HERE. The purpose of this plan is to guide Mr. Reese's work during this year as Interim Superintendent, as well as launch the District as a whole into a broad Strategic Planning process. Of course, the lack of a comprehensive District-level Strategic Plan was a short-coming noted in last year's DESE report. This basically means that his primary task this year will be to deliver this plan by the end of the school year. Here's how the Entry Plan describes the final phase of his process:

Beginning in February, a strategic planning committee will be established and will meet to review the key findings and to develop a strategic planning document. The strategic plan will utilize data to highlight the current status of the schools in meeting the needs of our students. This data will be used as the baseline for establishing measurable goals, the action steps that will be taken to achieve those goals, the individual(s) responsible for implementation/ monitoring of progress, and the ways in which progress will be measured. This plan will be presented to the school committee, school staff and the community in June 2016. [emphasis mine] 

Mr. Reese asked me what my priorities were for the District in the current year. Speaking as a Councilor (and less as a parent with a child at CES), they are:

• Prioritized, coordinated and strategic responses to the myriad reports and findings that have landed in the past year 
• Enhanced communication with the City Council (suggested a regular memo addressing budget/finance issues and progress addressing the various reports) 
• Improved budget process and budget documentation 

I was able to spend a few minutes with our Assistant Superintendent, Deirdre Farrell, as well. They have a lot on their plates but both were upbeat about the coming year. Mr. Reese's Entry Plan sketches out an ambitious program of listening, dialogue and information gathering from a multitude of stakeholders between now and January. For the time being, the wind coming from the community and from the City Council is positive and I hope that as a District and a community we can work together to support this comprehensive strategic plan development. The Plan won't be done in time to fully inform the school's next budget, but I hope that this process can help guide the budget process nonetheless, in terms of priorities and strategies in a constrained financial environment.

What I Do and Why

I've had great opportunities in my career and life to work and serve in the communities where I live and currently, across the country.  I want to talk about some of what I have done for a living, what I've learned, and how I think these experiences have been and would be reflected by me as a Municipal Councilor.

2012 Town Park Playground Build; it was just a little rainy!

I have always been interested in public service and the nuts and bolts of government. In college, I interned in my Congressman's Washington, DC office. I graduated from Gordon College in Wenham, MA with a major in Political Studies and spent the summer of my senior year traveling with a study group to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, back when the Soviet Union still existed. 

From there, I went to graduate school at the University of Virginia for Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Religion and Literature. Before and after graduate school, I spent time working with homeless individuals and families here on the North Shore of Boston. On a daily basis, I was working with individuals and families who were struggling with poverty, mental illness, HIV/AIDS, addiction, systematic marginalization, and high housing costs. I ended up pursuing a career in social work and community development, rather than in teaching.

In 2001, I started working in Boston for an organization that worked with local governments and non-profits around New England to plan, develop and manage supportive housing for very low income people living with HIV/AIDS.

'Green' roof, Whipple Riverview Place, Ipswich MA

I also joined the Board of a North Shore affordable housing organization, the North Shore Housing Trust (which eventually merged with Harborlight Community Partners, in Beverly). While I was involved, we completed a affordable home-ownership project in Gloucester and the preservation and renovation of a historical Ipswich property as a 'green' elderly affordable housing building, complete with a soil roof, to prevent run-off into the Ipswich River.

Revision Urban Farm, Dorchester MA

Most recently, I worked as the Director of Housing for a large sheltering organization in Boston, Victory Programs, where I oversaw an urban farm. two family shelters (one, for mothers in recovery), transitional housing, and permanent housing facilities, serving hundreds of homeless and formerly homeless households a year. And I managed several million dollars in annual budgets and more in capital assets.

Now, I'm working remotely from home for a company (Cloudburst Group) that supports local and state government around the country in planning and running effective systems of services and housing for homeless and at-risk of homelessness households.

So, I tried out academia and it was not for me. What was 'for me' was digging in with people to learn about their goals and their challenges. Working with them as they navigated forward. Changing systems and resources to be more responsive to the needs of the community and its more vulnerable members. Looking at what 'is' and being a part of developing lasting solutions ('what can be'). I've learned that healthy, sustainable communities are made up of many parts and that it takes a lot of care and attention to keep them healthy. I've learned the importance of operating from your principles and of being willing to adapt those principles, the more you know and learn. And finally, I know that the number one asset that a community has going for it is its own caring and engaged citizens. Whether it's working on a zoning ordinance, helping build a playground or trail bridge, or digging through budgets and audits, it is that care and engagement that I bring to the table and have to offer.