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Pleasantville's new superintendent assigns staff homework
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PLEASANTVILLE - The school district's new superintendent began her five-year tenure Wednesday with numbers in her sights.
"I'm trying to gather data on where we are as a district, and the kinds of operational activities that have to take place," said Gloria J. Grantham, who has replaced Clarence Alston. "We're looking to make sure that every dollar we spend is tied to student achievement."
The former school administrator in Washington, D.C., and Chester, Pa. - urban, predominantly black districts like Pleasantville - has asked staff members to submit as many reports and spreadsheets as possible from their niches of the district. She expects to spend the fall and winter generating a strategic plan for her administration.
A 41-page report from the state in March reflected poorly on the district, particularly on performance and discipline at the high school. Assessments like that report prompted the previous administration's decision to dismiss Assistant Superintendent Gregory Allen and reassign high school Principal Stephen Townsend.
Grantham isn't in a hurry to hire for those jobs. Instead, she is revising the advertisements to ask for more credentials and experience, and she is not sure both positions will change hands.
"Mr. Townsend, like many other people, may end up in a different position on the organizational chart based on his skills," Grantham said. "That's not to say he won't be back as the high school principal."
The superintendent set aside Wednesday afternoon and most of today for one-on-one meetings, hearing ideas and assuaging anxiety about working under a new boss.
"I didn't want them to be concerned that I was coming to begin replacing them because I have my own entourage. It's nothing like that," said Grantham, the district's 14th chief in 12 years.
Mark Delcher, president of the Pleasantville Education Association, said he looked forward to meeting Grantham, "just to open up a line of communication that was sometimes lacking under Dr. Alston." An example, he said, was the recurrence of "instances of violence against staff members" at the high school.
"We felt that many of the issues could have been resolved, or even would've never come to a head, if there was more of an open line of communication," the union leader said.
Wednesday also began the brief tenure of state-appointed fiscal monitor James Riehman, who said he has begun preparing for the district's annual audit later this summer. The state first installed a monitor in 2007 as a response to problem-filled audits.
"Financially, they've come a long way, I just want to make sure they implement the new stimulus money that's coming in through the federal government," Riehman said. "We've got a lot on our plate here, a lot to get up to speed on."
The monitor will spend three days per week in Pleasantville, unlike the full-time engagements of both his predecessor, John Deserable, and his yet-to-be-named successor who will begin Oct. 1.
Riehman works the other two days per week as the monitor of Beverly School District in Burlington County, but he said Wednesday he will be able to attend all of the twice-monthly Board of Education meetings in each district.
The state has not indicated when the long-term replacement will be named or why he or she could not begin work this month instead of in October. Deserable said last week he believes the state has identified a leading candidate whose existing work commitments lasted into the fall.
Board of Education President Doris Graves is an outspoken opponent of the state's decision to keep a monitor in Pleasantville after Deserable's departure, believing the district has made enough progress to be trusted with its own affairs. Riehman said he and Graves met Wednesday. She could not be reached for comment on the meeting.
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Posted in Atlantic on Thursday, July 2, 2009 3:10 am
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