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Nashua district at a crossroads

By Staff | Jun 12, 2016

I retired from the Nashua School District in June 2015 after 27 years; 21 as a school psychologist and five as special education director, serving on the superintendent’s administrative team. I am writing out of grave concern for the direction the district is taking. Losing the top three administrators within a two-month period is not a hopeful direction for the district.

The Telegraph has voiced both positive and negative comments regarding Superintendent Mark Conrad. Yes, Mr. Conrad with his business experience pulled the district together through a huge fiscal shortfall when our previous superintendent and chief operating officer joined forces and left for bigger and better things. He has remained steadfast in his attempts to maintain a lean budget while being mindful of the needs of Nashua students.

Telegraph comments have been unfair in implying the district needed a superintendent with a background in curriculum and teaching in order to improve test scores. When Mr. Conrad rejoined the district as superintendent, he immediately used our knowledgeable curriculum specialists and assistant superintendents to fully explore proven curriculum and best teaching practices, and began analyzing test scores.

He has been unwavering regarding hiring and training quality teachers, and principals with curriculum and educational leadership skills. And yes, despite persistent and committed efforts by staff across the district, test scores have not reached the level hoped for and expected. (Although if you ask teachers and principals today, they would say we have much better readers and writers than we did seven years ago, and math is on its way.) It is important to remember that student achievement is a national problem that is much bigger than public schools and competent teachers and good curriculum.

Superintendent Conrad is a respected leader who makes hard, thoughtful decisions alongside his colleagues. Until my last months in the district, I always felt secure knowing that Mr. Conrad’s level of dedication and commitment to the NSD would last years until his retirement. As school board President Sandra Ziehm told The Telegraph, "He gave his heart and soul to the district." To improve test scores and increase student achievement, staff members have worked hard and the superintendent has been the backbone, making a real difference for the students of Nashua.

What changed in the months before I left? With small changes in Board of Education membership, support for Mr. Conrad and his team began to erode. While his team has always maintained a strong respect for the ideas and feedback of the BOE, more time was being spent with divisive issues and individual agendas.

I watched as our key staff became increasingly worn, spending increasing time on individual agendas, leaving less energy to move the district forward. I naively wondered why the BOE was making it harder to do our jobs, rather than supporting us so we could do our best.

Mr. Conrad is right in describing the ongoing intensity and incredibly long hours it takes to properly run a school district, and there is no letup. A superintendent’s "day job" of running a district with daily challenge and complexities, and then long nights of BOE meetings adds to the intensity and is exhausting. As I left, despite few complaints from our top three staff, I knew the writing was on the wall.

I felt fortunate that during most of my five-year tenure with the superintendent’s administrative team, the board was led by Robert Hallowell and then George Farrington. The board gave staff the necessary support to do our jobs and feel good about our accomplishments. They educated themselves about issues, asked thoughtful questions, had meaningful discussions, listened to all sides, and led with calm direction. Unfortunately, that climate began to erode with new membership.

I remember the debacle of former superintendent Julia Earl that cost the district dearly, not only in terms of monetary payout, but the lack of leadership for a year. I knew we were in trouble when the school board back then, with members having their own individual agendas, announced that no superintendent in New Hampshire could do the job and a high-priced firm was brought in to hire from the outside.

We had a competent assistant superintendent in Nashua could easily have taken over, maintained our institutional memory and moved us forward. Instead, he left to be a successful superintendent in another New Hampshire district. I hope this is not a repeat of history. I know from experience that a relatively small change in board membership can change the climate of a district and have devastating effects on operations.

Nashua has just lost three of its best. A replacement of equal quality will be hard to find. The district is at a critical juncture. The stakes are high and the success or failure now rests on the ability and competence and teamwork of the current Board of Education.

Jan Martin is a retired Nashua School District educator.

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