New Superintendent Dr. Wesley Smith was escorted around P.A.
Walsh Elementary School Tuesday, admiring the playground, portables
and friendly staff and students there. He chatted with students
about tetherball before observing a classroom where the teacher was
giving a fractions lesson.
New Superintendent Dr. Wesley Smith was escorted around P.A. Walsh Elementary School Tuesday, admiring the playground, portables and friendly staff and students there. He chatted with students about tetherball before observing a classroom where the teacher was giving a fractions lesson.
Making true to his promise to be accessible and inclusive, two qualities listed as great needs in the district’s brochure for the position, Smith spent the first two days on the job visiting schools. He hit each secondary school Monday, and all nine elementary schools Tuesday.
Smith, 40, was greeted with mostly smiles by the Morgan Hill Unified School District community this week.
“I saw a lot of smiling faces,” Smith said. “There were kids who looked very different, but they all looked the same – happy. There were staff members who were working their tails off and smiling while they’re doing it. The employees are dedicated, they obviously have great pride in their work.”
He also impressed students at Ann Sobrato High School.
Senior Peter Vu said he liked him a lot.
“He was very talkative. He asked about my senior year and the stuff I’m doing right now. He was a pretty cool guy.
“And he has very nice eyes,” Vu said, jokingly.
Senior Vicky Perry said she appreciated that Smith is younger than former superintendent Dr. Alan Nishino, who retired in June.
“It seemed like we could relate to him more,” Perry said. “Also, the fact that he has kids, he seemed more interested in the kid’s point of view. I think it’s really comforting to know we could relate to our superintendent.”
Smith said he still has a lot of work to do fulfilling that first greatest need listed in the district’s brochure for the position. He plans to meet with parent groups and employee groups next.
Smith said he’s suspending judgment on what his next steps will be in the district, as far as academic goals or program changes. First, he just wants to listen.
“The next step now is to take this real mission of listening, and learning as I listen. The community groups that spoke to The Cosca Group, and at board meetings – they expressed what I determine as a lack of voice in the district. District employees, students maybe didn’t have a voice. Correct or incorrect, there’s a perception by them that they didn’t … Giving people a voice, that was a thing that had to be done first in the district.”
Teachers and parents throughout the district welcomed Smith. Jackson Elementary School had an assembly, with all students greeting him with cheers.
It wasn’t all smiles, though. Smith was greeted at his first board meeting Tuesday by a group of Hispanic parents who, in alternating English and Spanish, expressed their disappointment with the board’s selection, and a list of what they see as important issues within the district. Some Hispanics have organized into two groups, Padres Unidos and CoLEAD.
“Experience and a proven record of having implemented affective programs to eliminate the achievement gap, those qualifications were important to CoLEAD. That we did not get a candidate with that experience confounds us and makes us question this board’s willingness to work to solve the achievement gap.” Armando Benavides told the board Tuesday, reading from a prepared statement.
Padres Unidos President Teresa Murillo spoke about student motivation, and reaching middle school students before they totally lose interest in high school. Two others spoke as well, concerned with issues including Morgan Hill’s new status as a program improvement district under No Child Left Behind to the handling of the recent fight at Live Oak High School between Hispanic students. The parents felt the students were labeled as “gang associated” simply because they were Hispanic.
Indeed, 41 percent of Morgan Hill’s 9,200 student body is Hispanic. Hispanic students outnumber white students by more than 100 students.
Smith took the comments in stride. Cascade Union Elementary School District, his former district, had a student body of about 1,450. About 8 percent of the student body is Hispanic.
“What I heard last night were parents who were passionate about their children and there are children in the community who haven’t succeeded to the level they’d like them to succeed,” he said Wednesday.
At Cascade Union, Smith had at times conducted community meetings in both English and Spanish. He said he didn’t expect to conduct board meetings here in Spanish, but he suspected that at some point a meeting in Morgan Hill would be bilingual.
“It’s not for effect, just to impress somebody or gain favor. It’s to give people a chance to participate in what we’re doing,” he said.
Other concerns include hiring a new educational services director, wading into the budget situation, special education complaints and the ever-present desire to improve test scores.
But for now, Smith said his goal was to give people a voice.
“This is not a flash in the pan strategy. My number one goal is to be visible, out there,” he said.
