On the Job in Scarsdale: Superintendent Thomas Hagerman

Scarsdale's newly installed Superintendent Dr. Thomas Hagerman started work three weeks ago and according to Board President Mary Beth Gose, he has not stopped since. He did however take a few minutes out of his day to speak to Scarsdale10583 about his transition to Scarsdale, first impressions, and plans for the upcoming year.

Hagerman, who comes to Scarsdale from Winnetka, Illinois didn't have the easiest time finding a place to live in Westchester. He quickly discovered it was a highly competitive real estate market, and after two failed attempts to buy a home decided to rent instead. He is however discovering some of the County's best features such as the walking trails at the Rockefeller Preserve and good restaurants nearby.

In order to get up to speed on the issues and his constituencies, Hagerman is holding one on one meetings with teachers, administrators, union leaders, past and present board members, leaders of community groups and parents to hear their views and their concerns. Armed with answers to a series of questions he is posing, he will formulate his ideas about what the district needs to do to move forward.

However, he says there are some issues that require immediate attention and rather than wait to address these in a formalized plan, he will "build the plane while flying it at the same time," and take on issues that should be addressed now.

When asked about his overall educational philosophy, Hagerman said that he comes from a "strongly progressive background." Quoting Carlton Washburne a famed educator from Winnetka, he said he believes in educating "the whole child" and in teaching students how to take care of themselves on all levels, emotional, physical and intellectual. Recognizing that Scarsdale can be a very pressured place where good grades triumph over educational passion, Hagerman hinted that work on meeting children's emotional needs would be a part of his plan.

Hagerman was drawn to Scarsdale by the district's focus on 21st century education and innovation. He is excited by plans for the maker's space, design lab and learning commons and looks forward to working with the faculty and technology team on developing the curriculum for these new facilities. He is also impressed with a new course in the high school called City 2.0 in which students undertake "project based learning" and integrate public policy, urban planning and economics to solve a real world problem in New York involving, for example, water or open space. Once the projects are completed, students present their findings to a group of professional experts in the field.

Though he is impressed with innovation in Scarsdale he recognizes that the district's infrastructure needs an upgrade. He said that in comparison to his district in Winnetka, many of our facilities look "rough" and ready for renovation. He said the high school looks like "Hogwarts" and that we need to create an environment where kids can learn. He also cited the need for an upgrade to our technological capabilities to facilitate better communication between schools and parents and to enhance educational opportunities using new technologies. He would like to improve the district's website to include more information about the schools, increase transparency and use it to display all that the district has to offer to outsiders.

He recognized that one of the challenges in Scarsdale is maintaining seven rather small schools and staffing each one with support staff. He understands that Scarsdale values its neighborhood schools and personal relationships between parents, teachers and students but said that a network of small schools is costly in comparison to a middle school of 2,500 students that he headed up in Beaverton, Oregon.

Hagerman arrived in Scarsdale just as a new contract with the teachers was finalized. One of the provisions of the contract was the formation of a joint committee of representatives from the teacher's assocation and the Board of Education to make a recommendation on whether or not to continue to welcome the children of Scarsdale faculty  who live outside the district to attend Scarsdale schools. There are estimated to be fewer than 100 out-of-district children of faculty members in attendance and the new contract calls for a study of this practice to determine whether or not this continues to be feasible. This an issue that has apparently caused some rancor among the teachers. The committee has already met two times and will continue discussions in the fall.

Though Hagerman realizes that the endpoint of a Scarsdale education is admission to college, he said "there is a college for every student," and hoped that the focus here could be on igniting a passion for learning rather than admission to a brand name school. His passion and enthusiasm for education was evident – and if he can convey that to the faculty and students, he is sure to make a difference.