In last week’s article “School Committee to consider part-time superintendent,” the reporter cites a comment I made to the School Committee on administrative costs as “according to Sklar.” That is not accurate, that number is directly from the Administrative Restructuring Subcommittee report. My personal belief is that the report does a good job at looking at all the options open to us.
My experience on the School Committee, including one year as chairperson, leads me to the conclusion that the right model for Harvard is a full-time superintendent.
While most people don’t see the behind-the-scenes running of our school system, I’ve been personally involved and know the hours demanded of our superintendent. I don’t want to see the principals have their time taken away from running the buildings and helping the students and staff. We need a full-time superintendent.
The report shows that no other K-12 system of comparable size operates with a part-time superintendent. None of the other options identified in the report justify putting our top-notch school system at risk.
Read the report, which can be found here: www.psharvard.org/superintendent/info/restructuring_report.pdf.
Come to your own decision, then email or call the current School Committee members and let them know you want a full-time superintendent. You could also plan on attending the School Committee meeting on Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. in the Town Hall Meeting Room and directly telling the School Committee your thoughts.
Stu Sklar
Scott Road
