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New
superintendent shares
some thoughts and impressions
James
Scanlon sees public education as a seamless process beginning at
the pre-kindergarten level, continuing through high school and
preparing students for some form of post-secondary education and
successful careers.
In his first media interview
since taking over as Brandywine School District's fifth
superintendent in late October, Scanlon told Delaforum that an
immediate priority is to see that curriculums are aligned so
that individual students are able to measure up to state
standards as they pass from grade to grade. Rather than
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continuing the
traditional system of differentiating between
elementary and secondary departments with a split
occurring at the seventh grade, he favors a "more
efficient and more effective" unified progression.
Mathematics, he said,
provides a good illustration of how it is necessary
to move through a progression of skills, building
one upon another, as a child matures. "You move from
simple addition and subtraction, through algebra and
geometry, to calculus," he explained.
More significantly
the focus has to be on individual students to assure
that they are learning as they move through the
progression. With standardized testing, "what's
important are not the percentages but focusing on
using the data to measure how each kid is
performing," he said. Teachers will be expected to
"not just take the curriculum down the middle" but
to use appropriate classroom-management techniques
to gear instruction to individual needs. |
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James Scanlon |
He said he has no plans for any
drastic change in operation of the district. The only thing in
the immediate offing is a realignment of the district
administrative staff in January or February. That will involve
"some shifting of responsibilities without adding to the staff,"
he said.
Looking ahead, he said he expects
greater emphasis on the use of technology by both teachers and
students. "You be seeing different and better uses [and] more
Web-based education," he said.
Scanlon said he supports
"high-impact" programs that exposes students to the
practicalities of living in the world around them. He said he
was favorably impressed by a recent activity linking Claymont
Intermediate School with the Junior Achievement program in a way
that introduced the students to how business functions.
Similarly, Springer Middle has one based on commercial banking.
While he is
highly supportive of
such ventures as the International Baccalaureate Program at
Mount Pleasant High and Talley Middle and soon to be extended to
Harlan Intermediate, Scanlon said special programs have to be
selectively evaluated. "I'm not going to bring programs in just
because they sound nice [but because] they're meaningful," he
said.
He hopes to strike a productive
balance between providing a unified education program while
maintaining the individual characteristics of the district's
schools. "Every school should have its own distinctive niche
[while] as a district our bread and butter is to provide a basic
non-negotiable basic program," he said.
Brandywine, he said, enjoys a low
drop-out rate but still has to concentrate on "getting the kids
engaged" so they won't drop out before graduating. "If they do
(drop out), their chances of making ends meet later in life are
slim to none," he said.
Not every student is going to go
on to college, but it is the district's responsibility to
"graduate kids with the ability to learn" and an interest in
pursuing "some form of post-secondary education." He is
committed to applying that to literally all who come into the
district.
An area which he is interested in
fostering is service education. "Kids have to learn how to give
back. Too few people are willing to give their time and
talents," he said. With such activities as honor societies and
the service related to the annual Blue-Gold high school football
game well established in the area, Scanlon wants to encourage
more youngsters to become involved with youth, church and
community groups.
He said he and his wife, Beth Trapani,
who previously lived here, are happy to return the Brandywine
Hundred. He said his initial impressions of the school district
were highly favorable. "The teachers in the classrooms I've seen
are dedicated talented people," he said, adding they are backed
by " a strong central office staff, a very supportive [school]
board and wide representation of parents and the community [in
school activities]."
That combination will be put to
the test with a near-term challenge -- the coming tax
referendum. With virtually no increase in assessed property
value in the district likely, the only avenue of support for the
pending five-year strategic plan is a higher tax rate, he said.
"The worst thing that could happen [would be] to be in financial
disarray," Scanlon said.
Read previous Delaforum article:
School
board gets plan for a bright future,
but is told present is cloudy |