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Schools

Vernon Superintendent Receives Stellar Evaluation - And a Raise

School board's evaluation says that the superintendent is taking the district in the right direction.

Vernon’s superintendent of schools has received an exemplary evaluation that earned her a 4 percent increase in compensation.

Superintendent Mary Conway went through the evaluation process with the board of education over a four-month period. Her evaluation was released today.

A board of education subcommittee worked on the evaluation. Members included board chairman Anne Fischer, Vicky Rispoli, David Kemp and Terri Goldich. Conway did a self-evaluation too.

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“We were not in great shape when Mary came,” Fischer said. “We knew that.  She is exemplary. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Fischer explained that Conway has brought high expectations and a vision for education here in Vernon. Conway has assisted the board with creating a mission and goals for the district.

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“She is always asking if this is good for the students,” Fischer said. “Her main goal is improving the students. Her focus is the students.”

Conway will receive a 4 percent raise. The board allowed her to decide how to separate the $6,800 increase she receives. Her salary will increase by $1,800 – from $155,000 to $156,800. Conway will add $5,000 to her annuity, according to Fischer. The board has also asked her to move to the HSA health insurance option.

Conway was evaluated in four areas: educational leadership, organizational management, community and board of education relations, and personal and professional qualities and relationships.

Under educational leadership, the comment reads “The Vernon Board of Education believes that Dr. Mary Conway has done an outstanding job as Vernon’s Educational Leader during the 2010-2011 school year.” The evaluation lists positive actions Conway has done. The report reads:

a) Held initial interviews with staff, administrators, and BOE members to learn as much as possible about our District.

b) Observed all non-tenured teachers followed by appropriate action depending the outcome of said observations.

c) Communicated the BOE policy that all staff members are to receive written evaluations annually.

d) Ensured that all data is collated in such a way that our staff can determine the most effective way to educate our students.

e) Reviews all data, triangulates the data and gives feedback to our administrators.

f) Hired Job Coaches to provide support for our teachers.

g) Introduced Instructional Rounds to our District.

h) Organized a workshop for BOE members and administrators that allowed us to establish Mission and Goals for our District.

i) Restructuring committees and teams will allow our staff at all schools to be doing similar work so that collaboration across the district will be meaningful to all – and our staff will hopefully be able to be more efficient and productive.

j) Continues to encourage staff to use best practices (research based knowledge).

k) Strongly encourages professional development for all staff members so that they are current on best practices.

l) Involvement with CABE, CAPSS, NEASC is a great benefit to our school system especially as RHS prepares for their NEASC certification in 2013.

“Dr. Conway has truly demonstrated that she is proactive rather than reactive and that she is dedicated to providing a high quality education for our students,” the report says.

New goals set for Conway for 2011-2012 include continuing to set high standards for students and staff, review the grading system at the middle and high schools, move schools “In Need of Improvement” off the list to at least Safe Harbor, ensure staff use quantitative and qualitative data to improve student achievement, ensure written evaluations are completed annually for all staff members, and encourage administrators to recognize the hard work of teachers and to share success and failures with staff.

Under organizational management, the comment reads, “The Vernon Board of Education believes that Dr. Mary Conway is an exemplary organizational manager of our system. We know that change does not happen overnight and we realize that any reorganization is a work in progress.” The evaluation lists the following as actions Conway did to support this:

a) Working on restructuring the business office – though this is not completed as of yet, the plan is in process and proceeding in the direction we had hoped.

b) Involved with negotiating with all of our unions and includes the Assistant Superintendent as well as the director of pupil services where appropriate.

c) Helped to facilitate the consolidation of services with the Town of Vernon’s Department of Public Works which, thus far, seems to be effective. The Superintendent has a handle on this with the ultimate goal to ensure that our Schools are safe and clean for our students.

d) Provided budget information monthly to the BOE.

e) Developed a new, more user friendly and understandable budget format.

f) Did not add money to any particular line item without justification.

g) Followed through with the evaluation process – something that most Board members felt very strongly about. Dr. Conway is adamant that we have quality educators in our schools.

h) Vigilant about sharing suggestions for revisions to policies as well as ensuring that we develop new policies when needed.

i) Hired a data manager so that information can be gathered and shared locally as well as statewide.

“Dr. Conway has truly been challenged in regards to the organizational management of our school system and we feel that she has risen to that challenge,” the evaluation says.

The new goals under the category include: continue with the evaluation process, ensuring new and revised policies are given to appropriate staff and that they are shared, share the reorganization plan with of the Business Office as soon as possible with the board and complete that reorganization by the end of this year, provide a new organizational chart, facilitate a workshop on development of effective evaluation, ensure effective evaluations are administered, review the arrangement with the Department o Public Works Director and make a recommendation by October about this arrangement as the board needs to meet with the supervisors union and town council before the end of the year, and review the organization and management of the custodial and maintenance staff.

Under community and board of education relations, the comment reads, “The Vernon Board of Education believes that Dr. Mary Conway is an exemplary organizational manager of our system. We know that change does not happen overnight and we realize that any reorganization is a work in progress.” Actions Conway did to support this listed in the report include:

a) Scheduled and planned worthwhile workshops for BOE members.

b) Aptly explained Instructional Rounds to BOE members so we would thoroughly understand the process and its benefits.

c) Explained the logic of changing our elementary schools to trimesters and why it would enhance our students learning.

d) Has kept the BOE informed about organizational issues and shared her vision for a well run Business Office.

e) Possesses excellent Public Relations skills – our superintendent is responsive to the media.

f) Reached out to Community Organizations and has been the keynote speaker at their meetings.

g) In contact with local, state and federal elected officials about issues involving our school system.

f) Encourages input from our parents and staff – a good example of this was the survey conducted about our school calendar.

“Dr. Conway is the epitome of professionalism. She is a true advocate for our school system. She shares her passion and commitment to our students’ success every time she addresses any community organization,” the report reads.

New goals include educating board members in advance with how and why changes in procedures are being made. “An example of this is our new procedure for expulsion hearings. An explanation before going into our first expulsion hearing would have been a little more comfortable for all of us,” the report said. Other goals are working on upgrading the district website and ensure that it is compatible with the town website, provide a monthly newsletter for the public on the website, and explain the chain of command on the website to staff, parents, and community.

Under personal and professional qualities and relationships, the comment reads “The Vernon Board of Education believes that Dr. Mary Conway has the highest standards for our school system and all who work for our system. Her every action demonstrates her commitment to improving our schools. She also expects all our employees to have the same high standards.” Actions Conway showed according to the report included:

a) Sets high standards for herself as well as her employees. Example: Our superintendent does not want our SMART goals to reflect a 5 percent increase from 40 percent to 45 percent but rather our SMART goals should reflect that 85 percent of our students are proficient.

b) Meets with union presidents often to ensure good relationships and to deal with possible problems early rather than later before they become huge problems.

c) Advocates throughout our community for our schools.

d) Our superintendent is an excellent public speaker and a fine representative of our school system.

“Dr. Conway hopes to someday have signs in our town that read 'Welcome to Vernon- Proud of our Public Schools.' We encourage this idea and can honestly say that we are proud to have her as our Superintendent,” the report said.

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