A Conversation with Susan Marks, Superintendent Finalist

Last week, the BOE announced that Susan Marks an Associate Superintendent in Montgomery County, Maryland has been selected as the finalist for Norwalk's vacant Superintendent position
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Dr. Marks will be visiting Norwalk today to meet with the Norwalk Community.

I had the chance to speak with Dr. Marks by phone on Friday evening.

NorwalkNet: What have been your top three accomplishments in Montgomery County?

Dr. Susan Marks: I’ve been here for a while. I certainly think that I bring a lot to the table. Some of my accomplishments that I would highlight would be being a Community Superintendent. My main job was to oversee the instructional program, supervise all the school based administrators and deal with all of the facility issues and the community issues. Each community superintendent has 4 high schools and all the elementary  and middle schools feeding into that high school.

The schools in the area that I supervised had demographics that are very similar to Norwalk’s. We made lots of progress in terms of results when I was Community Superintendent. We increased our students who are in AP and honors classes and are having good results on SAT, as well meeting state benchmarks.

Another accomplishment I want to highlight is that I lead and participated in the development of three professional growth systems that we worked collaboratively with our unions. The professional growth systems are the way we would support and evaluate employees. At the basis of every school system are the people. You have to have people who have high standards and get a lot of support and professional development in their capacity and these systems support that.

NorwalkNet: One of the recurring issues in Norwalk is the  Achievement Gap. What specific things do you bring to the table in trying to close the achievement gap?

Dr. Marks: I think one of the biggest things is to look at  is the expectations that people have of children, and what they can learn and that they should be learning at high levels.  I have just started to look at Norwalk's data and the results and am trying to it break down.  In Montgomery County, we have tried to make sure we have high standards for every child and that every child has access. One of the things that we have looked at is increasing the number of students that we have in AP and honors. In Montgomery County we have increased the numbers of Latino and African American students in AP and Honors considerably over the last 10 years. When you have high standards for all students it really helps to close that achievement gap because your raising the bar for everybody.

NorwalkNet: Isn’t there a counter argument though that too many kids are being pushed into these types of programs and the rate of passing has gone down?

Dr. Marks: What we have been able to do in Montgomery County through a lot of hard work, and I’ve been right in the middle of it, is as we’ve increased the participation of students we’ve been able to keep the outcomes at that high level.  That takes a lot of work. It takes providing children with the correct support to be able to be successful. It’s important to have ways to assess children and to make sure that assessments are giving us good understanding of what children know and are able to do. We can then provide the interventions that might be needed to make sure that the children can access the rigorous curriculum.

The other thing is to make sure that there are no gate keepers. So many kids tell me, and I go out to talk to kids a lot, that people who have high expectations for them and want them to work hard make them rise to the occasion. I’m working on a project right now on how we select teachers. I had some focus groups with kids and we asked “What makes a great teacher?” and none them said, “Someone who is too easy.” They said, “A teacher who expects me to learn, who will really work with me and won’t give up on me.” So I think those are really important things to consider.

NorwalkNet: Norwalk, like almost every other district in the country, is dealing with its budget. This year’s budget seems tougher than last year’s and who knows what next year’s is going to be. You’re coming to a relativley small district with a smaller budget,without the kind of resources a big district can bring to the table. What are your thoughts on that?

Dr. Marks: I don’t think we spend that much more per child than Norwalk, but most of our money is tied up in people and that’s the way it should be. I think that the budget next year is going to be tough, and I think what we need to do is look at the short term and what do we need to do to tighten our belt, but try not to take resources away from the schools as much as we can. We also have to have a plan for when things ease and there is more revenue.  I’ve had to cut my budget here and we’re still cutting and it’s bad for every school system.

NorwalkNet: One of the things we in Norwalk have become much more aware of are issues of openness and transparency,  can you address this concern?

Dr. Marks: I work very very closely in ensuring that all stake holders are involved in what is done. I really always tell people about how we are going to make decisions. I have no secrets. When I was working directly with schools I was always out in the schools and went to athletic events, the plays, and the recognitions, community meetings and cluster meetings. Even as the Associate Superintendent I hold all my principal advisory meetings in schools and get my staff out there. You have to understand that this is a very big county. I don’t know everybody and everybody doesn’t know me, but I believe a superintendent is a 24/7 job along with school board. You got to get out there.

Because there may be some concern about an outside person or someone not knowing Norwalk, what I would do if I was fortunate to get the position would be to meet with people and get to know them, and have them get to know me and begin to build that trust where we’re pushing up our sleeves up together and working to resolve some of the issues of the school system.

For every school age child in Norwalk,  I would like to see that their parents view Norwalk Public School as an option for them. The way you make that happen is you get results and that people see that students learning at high levels

NorwalkNet: Can you confirm that you are moving to Norwalk?

Yes would move to Norwalk because I think it’s important for the Superintendent to live in the area that they are supervising.

This interview has been edited.