A little nervous anticipation is in the air at the beginning of every school year. And this week in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District, that anticipation might have begun at the very top, as Victoria Kniewel began her first day on the job as the new superintendent, replacing the now retired Robert Loretan.##M:[more]##
In an interview last Friday, August 31, at the district office, Kniewel was asked what challenges lay ahead as she moved into her new job. She promptly listed a host of big-picture items, everything from staff recruiting to implementation of new technology. But then she referred to the many building projects now underway as part of the district’s $27 million capital improvement program.
“The parking lot at High School South,” she said with a grimace. “That’s the one that strikes fear in my heart — will we get it done by opening day?”
The new superintendent wasn’t the only one concerned. At a school board meeting on August 28 the facilities committee reported on a walk through it had earlier that day of the school renovation projects. “Things are in good shape,” said board member Ellen Walsh. “But we are keeping our fingers crossed about the parking lot at High School South. And they are authorized to do overtime.” (In fact, a portion of the parking lot was completed by September 5, the day before the school opening.)
Chances are it will take more than a tight deadline for a parking lot repair to get Kniewel rattled. In the first place, while this is her first superintendent’s job (and she is the first woman to serve in that role in WW-P), she is no stranger to the district. She was hired in 2004 by Loretan to serve as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Loretan, who earned kudos from most of the community for his communication skills, gets similarly high marks from Kniewel for his transition leadership.
“We have a good team already in place here,” said Kniewel, noting that most recent vacancies have been filled internally. Her successor as assistant superintendent is Steve Mayer, who had been principal at Grover Middle School. That position has been filled by Dennis Lepold, former assistant principal at High School South. “My biggest challenge,” said Kniewel with a laugh, “is to make sure I leave my old job and let Steve Meyer do it.”
Moreover, the superintendent’s office itself offers a certain calmness. From the second floor office in the front of the building on Village Road East, Kniewel has a bird’s eye of the Dutch Neck Cemetery. “It definitely keeps you grounded,” she said.
Unlike the past three superintendents in WW-P, both Loretan, John Fitzsimons, and Ray Bandlow, who were recruited from outside the region to serve as superintendent here, Kniewel already has become part of the West Windsor-Plainsboro community. As a homeowner in West Windsor, Kniewel reports that she has been enjoying the town, from its proximity to both New York and Philadelphia, to the hiking and biking opportunities on the Delaware & Raritan Canal, to her “great neighbors” in Canal Pointe. “They have been very welcoming,” she said, “and it’s really nice to be recognized,” especially given that “no one grabs me in the supermarket” to discuss school issues.
Kniewel is asked whether her new job is more like a small town mayor (population 9,”582 if you take the count of students as of this past June) or a corporate CEO (with annual revenues of around $147 million — the most recent school budget). In terms of governance, she said, it’s the CEO model, but the corporate image is not the one she would like to impose.
“I see myself more as an educational leader, with a leadership style that is a collaboration with teachers and students,” she said. “A corporate CEO might come into a new organization and shake everything up. Here we want to build on what already exists.”
Her hiring is an obvious contrast to situations in which a district might be looking for a new person to help make a change in direction. “Many times a school board has been unhappy with a few characteristics of a particular superintendent,” she said, “and then hired the opposite only to find that it was a case of watching out what you wish for.”
But in the WW-P district, major objectives have been set and largely agreed upon thanks to the recent strategic planning process that involved all levels of constituents in the school system. “Here we are all very much focussed on that strategic plan,” said Kniewel.
Asked why superintendents seem to be in such short supply, Kniewel said that “it’s a complex job. It’s got all the components of a CEO, but in a much different environment. You have constraints imposed by the legislature, you have more demands made at the federal and state level,” she said.
“And you seldom have people telling you that you’re doing a good job. You mostly hear from people when things are going wrong.” Two years ago the district got an earful when several bus drivers botched their assignments on the opening days of school and left young students stranded on buses or at locations far from home. Last year the buses ran with few incidents. This year the burden is to do even better. Said Kniewel: “Whenever you improve something people forget how bad it was before — that becomes the new benchmark.”
Another factor — not mentioned by Kniewel — could be pay. Her salary of $179,”000 might seem good compared to a teacher, but most businesses with operating budgets of $147 million would pay their CEO far more than that.
As she begins her first year, here are some of the new superintendent’s thinking on a variety of issues:
Staffing. “Getting the best and brightest for the jobs is a district challenge,” said Kniewel. Referring to a report at the August 28 meeting that showed two high school math teachers being compensated at 120 percent their normal rate due to extra class sections assigned to them, Kniewel said “it’s easiest to get elementary teachers. It’s much more difficult to get science, math, and world language teachers” — a significant reality for a district such as WW-P where science, math, and world languages are important parts of the curriculum.
“We’re not the only district facing that problem,” Kniewel said. Even though the math teachers mentioned in the August 28 personnel report are being paid at around $100,”000 a year, that salary level might not be attractive enough for some people. “Competition from industry is one factor. Colleges compete for the people who teach these subjects as well.”
Technology. “We’re doing well,” said Kniewel when asked how well the district is doing in terms of deploying state of the art computers and high tech teaching tools. “But it’s a continual learning process.” The WW-P district last year adopted a technology plan that is now in the process of being implemented.
Among the new instructional tools now being used in WW-P schools: The SmartBoard, an electronic replacement for the old-fashioned blackboard that allows teachers and students to electronically manipulate items on its screen. But, adds Kniewel, “some technology can be ancient in 12 months.” What can’t be lost among the high tech glitter are the outcomes of “critical thinking, problem solving, deep thinking, and questioning.”
Teaching life skills. Kniewel said there is growing interest nationwide in making high school a better transition to the real world. “Sometimes students don’t see that what they are doing is authentic, they don’t see the connections,” she said.
“We want students who do well on tests,” said Kniewel, “but we also want them to do well in life.”
Fiscal concerns. In response to a suggestion that education, like the arts, seems to be subject to inexorable increases in costs, Kniewel disagreed. “Fiscal responsibility is a main goal,” she said. “We are questioning and looking at every item on the budget. I get back to the idea of needing to think deeply about what we are doing — nothing is done just because we have always done it that way in the past.”
At this point the interview, which began with the reference to the cemetery across the street, turned to the other certainty in life. “Remember,” said Kniewel, “I’m a taxpayer in West Windsor, too.”
