Board Appoints Dr. Thomas Hagerman as 10th Superintendent of Scarsdale Schools

With an air of joy and pride the Scarsdale School Board marked the completion of a nine-month search for a new Superintendent of Schools, announcing that Dr. Thomas Hagerman will succeed Dr. Michael McGill, who will retire at the end of the school year. The board called a special St. Patrick's Day meeting to share the news to a room filled with teachers, administrators, PTA leaders, former board members and community leaders who applauded the decision.

Hagerman comes to Scarsdale from Winnetka, IL where he led the "high-performing" school district since July 2011. Board members described him as an "inspirational leader who is cooperative and collaborative and trusted by all." He arrived in Winnetka at a time of turmoil -- after the district had gone through three superintendents in just three years. He is credited with writing a strategic plan for the district that became a common platform and guide to decision-making. He also designed an award-winning communications plan to deliver his vision of a child-centered curriculum. According to Board Member Leila Shames Maude, who was on a team that made a site visit to Winnetka on Thursday March 13, his colleagues there called him a "visionary, with great integrity who is destined to do great things." Speaking of his high energy level, another team member said, "He runs at 45 and the rest of us run at 33."

Speaking about Hagerman's background, Board Member Bill Natbony called Hagerman a "visionary for the 21st century," and an "esteemed educator with 20 years of experience. At Winnetka, Hagerman headed up a district with five schools that served about 1,900 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The district included three elementary schools, a fifth/sixth grade center and a seventh/eighth grade center. Prior to the position at Winnetka, he served for three years as the school superintendent of another K-8 district in River Forest, Illinois with 1,327 students. He came to Illinois from Oregon where he was a principal, assistant principal and taught English, Social Studies and Technology for 6 -12 graders.

Hagerman holds a Bachelors Degree in English (1992) and a Masters Degree in Education (1994) from Lewis and Clark College and a doctorate in Policy Organization and Management from the University of Oregon, which he completed in 2003.

Natbony said that the incoming superintendent has significant expertise in building consensus, a strong relationship with the community and hires strong leaders." Maude said that during their site visit, "Everyone was positive and reflected everything that the board had heard earlier on." Maude repeated some of the glowing comments she heard about Hagerman from those who worked him.

"He gets the best out of everyone ...He is a good steward of tax dollars ... He gives teachers the confidence to take risks ... He has a great sense of humor.... He is unafraid to reverse course... He takes creative risks....Working with him you need to step up your game."

Maude said that the people in Winnetka recognized that Scarsdale offered a great opportunity for Hagerman but were very sorry to see him go. In fact, the Winnetka
Teacher's Association asked for an apology from the Scarsdale committee for taking him away. According to the Winnetka-Glencoe Patch, Winnetka District 36 also announced their choice of a new superintendent for their district on Monday night after Hagerman accepted the offer from Scarsdale.

Scarsdale Board members had nothing but praise for Hagerman and acknowledged that though they may have been divided on issues in the past, on Hagerman they all agreed Commenting on the decision, Board Member Lew Leone said, "We are all excited about the future of Scarsdale Schools under Dr. Hagerman. I hope we can set aside our differing views and come together to support Dr. Hagerman in Scarsdale."

Bill Natabony added, "I wholeheartedly endorse the appointment of Dr. Hagerman.  We want nothing but the best. This is a very picky board. We were not going to settle on a candidate. We are a board with differing views and priorities and he managed to impress the whole board."

Board VP Sunil Subbakrishna told the group that he grew up near Winnetka and was familiar with the school, saying, "He seems to fit. ... He is a terrific combination of left and right brain skills, a creative problem solver and a consensus builder."

Mary Beth Gose echoed the sentiments of her board colleagues saying "I wholeheartedly support the decision. Hagerman has the energy and skills to lead our district."

Jonathan Lewis said, "He gets it. He comes equipped with the intellectual firepower to generate a substantive, full footnoted conversation with anyone in the room. I could not be more proud of what we have done today."

The board emphasized the thorough nature of the national search under the direction of consultants, "School Leadership" who were retained in 2013. The firm held 50 focus groups involving 200 residents and followed that with an online survey with 742 respondents. Information from the focus groups and survey were used to develop a list of job specifications that defined the search. Among these criteria were the following:

• An experienced collaborative leader
• A courageous innovative educator
• An open highly transparent communicator
• A skilled assessor of staff and programs who put children at the center
• Savvy about school finances
• Approachable, accessible, fair minded, and of unquestioned integrity

The board met with candidates in February and an advisory committee of parents, teachers, staff, principals and community members met with the finalists in March.

Hagerman will take the reins beginning July 1, 2014 with a three-year contract and a starting salary of $295,000. He will be the tenth superintendent of the district in 89 years. The first superintendent, Ralph I. Underhill was appointed in 1925 making the average tenure for the job almost 10 years.

Hagerman is decades younger than his predecessor and will undoubtedly bring new energy to the district. An ambitious leader with an impressive career trajectory, he has served two districts in just six years, and will now face the challenge of managing Scarsdale, with double the number of students of his previous district as well as a prominent high school, which is sometimes called the crown jewel of the system.

From all accounts, his ability to relate to diverse segments of a community, communicate common goals and reach consensus will serve him well here.

Former Board President Florie Wachtenheim who chaired the advisory committee for the search remembered visiting Michael McGill's former school district 16 years ago and said that her visit to Winnetka last week was "equally as exciting." She congratulated the board "on the news and the care that it took to conduct a thorough search." She said, the "extent to which you included the community raised the level of the search" and called it a "wonderfully collaborative process."

The community is invited to a welcome reception for Dr. Hagerman on Wednesday, March 26th at 7:30 pm at the Scarsdale High School Commons at the Brewster Road entrance.