By Linda Conner Lambeck
WESTPORT — Developing a strategic plan for the school district has been discussed ever since Thomas Scarice became schools superintendent in July 2020.
It was promised as part of his entry plan. The pandemic has delayed, but not deterred, the process.
Scarice, at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting, offered the board a definitive timeline for work on the strategic plan that will span much of the 2021-22 school year, involving dozens of staff members, online surveys, two educational summits and possibly even a fireside chat.
Helping students prepare for the future
“This is about our core work,” Scarice told the board, which met at Staples High School. “About doing right by our kids.”
The superintendent said the plan will prepare students for the world they will confront as adults. He called the plan solid and necessary.
“It helps any complex organization focus,” said Scarice “Otherwise, we are just responding to the latest issue or problem or crisis.”
The objective is to project what the school system will look like in a world that is changing rapidly. He promised the plan won’t end up collecting dust on a shelf.
Wide-ranging effort envisioned
Starting this month, a core group of 18 to 24 educators will be assembled to lead the process. A consulting facilitator, Judith Wilson, of the Executive Leadership Institute, has been hired to guide the project.
In October, there will be online surveys of students, parents and staff.
The educational summits, to be held at a school, or perhaps Westport Library, will be an opportunity for the Westport community to hear from “futurists” in the field of forecasting major trends and factors that will “shape the worlds of work and citizenship over the next 10, 20 plus years.”
“This work will inform [the] overarching goal development of our plan,” Scarice wrote in his plan outline.
The plan is designed to inform instructional, social and emotional programming, as well as other priorities, such as facilities and technology.
By November, two days will be devoted to completing the first iteration of three to four overarching, long-term goals and objectives to guide the school district’s work over the next three to five years.
The plan would be presented to the school board in December. If endorsed, committees will be formed to work on specific objectives from January to March.
The plan would also be reflected in the district’s 2022-23 operating budget. During that time, a communication plan would be developed to promote the work throughout the district.
Board members weigh in
Most board members’ questions about the plan centered around who would be part of the core planning group.
Jeannie Smith suggested the more board members involved, the better the plan’s chances for success.
Fellow board member Lee Goldstein wanted planning to focus on what might change. “That is what will take this from, ‘blah, blah, blah,’ to an actual vibrant school district,” Goldstein said.
And Youn Su Chao wondered how the plan would be evaluated.
Communication, racism prompt parents’ questions
From the audience, Camilo Riano, who said he had four children in town schools, expressed concern that the communication element of the plan is scheduled toward the end of the process.
“That is a big red flag,” Riano said. “I want to know what is happening.” He said he is worried that people with particular views will be involved and that planning will exclude other points of view.
He said he also fears controversial topics like Critical Race Theory finding their way into the district’s curriculum.
Anne Alcyone, who said she is the parent of two seniors at Staples High School, also expressed concern over something Scarice included in his June 2020 entry plan.
One goal is to consult with, among others, the Anti-Defamation League, to combat systemic and institutional racism and advance the cause for a more just, anti-racist society.
Alcyone said that goal does not have the support of the entire community.
“Many community members do not agree institutional systemic racism is a significant problem in our community,” Alcyone told the board. “Such assertions should not be made casually. “
Scarise said his entry plan and the school district’s long-term planning are separate endeavors.
There were public comments made on record at last night’s BOE meeting that send a disturbing message to our students, questioning the validity of students’ descriptions of their experiences. We feel that every student has the right to be heard – to share their experiences, especially alarming experiences in our schools to help ensure they never happen again. The courage required to share those experiences is immense. WPS should not tolerate an environment where the communication of those experiences can be attacked without rebuttal.
We understand the Board’s no comment policy on non-agenda items. However, we urge WPS to publicly reiterate their support for every student, and continue the work that endeavors to create a sense of belonging for every student so that all students can thrive and reach their full potential.
Christina Torres and Kevin Christie
This is false. No one at the BOE meeting attacked any student experiences or disputed that every student has a right to be heard. Nor does anyone dispute that our schools should foster a sense of belonging so that all students can thrive and reach their full potential. This is not, and should not be, a political issue. The concerns that many parents have expressed have focused on the partnership the town entered into with the NYU Metro Center, what that says about the direction and goals of the Equity Study, and lack of transparency. By way of example, the NYU Metro Center openly advocates the dismantling of existing education standards and curriculum, and replacing it with a system that instils ideologically-slanted political activism into the classroom in every class and in every grade from K-12. It seeks to racialize the education of our youth by defining people first and foremost by the color of their skin. Their approach is premised on the belief that all teachers, students, and members of the community who happen to have been born white are oppressors and advancing white supremacy whether they know it or not, while everyone else is a victim. They believe that capitalism is a form of oppression and a root cause of systemic racism. They believe that all disparities in outcome when viewed through the lens of race, sexual orientation, gender, or other immutable characteristic are the result of overt or hidden bias, white supremest policies and practices, and “power inequities.” They believe that science, technology, engineering, the arts, mathematics, and other disciplines are not objective explorations of the truth, but instead are inherently political tools intended to advance certain groups of people for profit and power. In other school districts, the NYU Metro Center has proposed steps such as eliminating tracking in math and other subjects to achieve more equal outcomes, in addition to teaching our kids that their society is inherently racist and oppressive. No one is making any of this up or taking anything out of context – it is all publicly available.
Are these principles that you would support if elected to the BOE? If so, you should be clear about that. It is easy to say we should all oppose racism, support all students, and be an inclusive community that encourages all of our students to thrive and reach their full potential. I think and would hope that everyone would agree with that. If you do not agree that our children should be indoctrinated with anti-capitalist political activism, or that racial and other immutable characteristics should be the emphasis of what we teach our children, then you should support the concerns that have been expressed by some members of the community as more about the Equity Study and the town’s association with the NYU Metro Center has come to light. And regardless of where you stand on these issues, everyone should agree with the need for transparency.
As a town, we should be able to discuss these views without political attacks or opportunism and without oversimplifying the issues by resorting to simplistic platitudes. I suspect we all have more in common on most of these issues regardless of where each of us sits in the political spectrum and that we can address difficult issues such as past racist incidents in a way that is not divisive and corrosive to our community. We all want our kids to thrive.