Bagels and Conversation with Ms. Scricca

(August, 2007) Riverhead Central School District's new Superintendent of Schools, Diane B. Scricca, who has been meeting with representatives from community groups through out the month of July and August, also initiated a series of scheduled opportunities for conversation with District employees during the waning weeks of August. Four meetings dubbed "Bagels and Conversation with Ms. Scricca." Teachers, aides, custodians, administrators, and others from all of the schools and departments of the District came together for an hour early in the morning over a cup of coffee on four occasions to have a conversation with Ms. Scricca.

Ms. Scricca made it clear that “Working Together to Improve Our Schools” will be more than a motto at the top of a newsletter during her tenure at Riverhead. “I want to hear what you have to say,” she said encouragingly to each group of teachers and staff members with whom she met. “We need to work together. The only way we can achieve change is to address concerns directly. I don’t want us to have an ‘us’ and ‘them’ relationship. We are all an ‘us.’ Tell me what you think the strengths of this District are. What areas do you think we need to improve?”

Some employees in the schools feel they are not heard,” an administrator opened at one meeting. “People need to know that their opinions count and that they will be heard. I think the fact that all of the staff as well as the teachers within the buildings were invited to these discussions is an important first step.”

Everyone’s job within a school system is an important one,” Ms. Scricca responded. “We tend to do horizontal communication. We need to communicate vertically as well. We also need to do vertical planning. What happens in 4th grade should have a direct connection to curriculum in 12th grade.”

“For our students to succeed we need to keep strengthening our reading programs,” a teacher noted.

“I certainly agree,” shared Ms. Scricca. “Teaching used to be referred to as the ‘Art of Teaching.’ It is quickly becoming the ‘Science of Teaching.’ We need to look carefully at the research of groups like the National Reading Panel that states that a child who is not reading by the age of seven has a much higher chance of being a struggling reader from then on. Our K-2 reading program is very important! We are going to continue our work in Reading/Writing Workshop, our Developmental Reading Assessments, Balanced Literacy program, Read 180 and begin training to initiate a Reading Recovery Program. We need to reach every child, and it will take a number of approaches to accomplish that. A grant will enable us to train four teachers in Reading Recovery--a program that was begun in New Zealand and has a 100% success rate.”

“We also need to showcase the good things that are happening in our schools,” added another employee. “We need to get the community inside the schools.”

“The Board and administration have established two major goals,” noted Ms. Scricca. “We need to improve student achievement. We are going in the right direction, but we need to keep making strides. The second goal is to improve the image of the Riverhead School District. All of the employees in the District need to be ambassadors for our schools. Improved student achievement will also change the way people view our schools. According to a new study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, every child needs to go to college. A college education is now the equivalent of a high school education 30 years ago.”

“I think we also need to make a strong commitment to technology,” shared a teacher who is interested in expanding its use in the classroom.

“You’ll be excited to know that over the summer we added 200 new computers throughout the District and a new Mac lab at the High School,” Robert Hines, the Director of Technology, stated. “We also made switching and Internet service upgrades throughout the District. The Internet connection was switched to Lightpath Metro Ethernet '50 Meg' which is 16X faster than was available last year and 32X faster than 2005. This increased Internet bandwidth will help our system support video streaming and the myriad of instructional and administrative Internet based applications we depend on daily," Mr. Hines concluded.

The hour at each meeting went quickly and concluded with an opportunity for those present to meet and greet Ms. Scricca individually. Ms. Scricca plans to visit more informally with the staff during the first two months of the school year over the lunch hour at each of the schools. In addition, she plans to keep meeting with community groups and to attend the first PTA meeting at each of the schools.

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