Danbury Public Schools Superintendent Looks Forward To Growth And Improvement

Danbury CT

24 September, 2021

11:14 AM

Description

Press release from the Danbury School District: September 17, 2021 DANBURY, CONN. — When Danbury Superintendent Kevin Walston graduated from high school in the late 1980s, he dreamed of making it big on Wall Street. So, he enrolled in a business program at the City University of New York to study finance. "Wealth and status were the only measures I had that characterized success," said Walston, who signed a three-year contract to lead the district in August. That first college semester, however, didn't go as planned: "I hated all of it," he said. Rather than continue beyond his first dismal semester, Walston traded the school books for a mop and worked for the New York City school district as a custodian, cleaning the floors of his former high school. It was this job that not only humbled him, but also opened his eyes to the idea that helping others was perhaps a better mark of success for him than living a life of luxury. Walston said the teachers he saw day in and day out began to inspire him, as did the hardworking custodians he worked with side by side, often young men working to support their families. He began to develop a better understanding of what responsibility meant and how having a positive effect on others is crucial to personal development. It began to dawn on him that there was a purpose in going to school, in teaching others, in reaching for dreams that went far beyond the dollars in a bank account. At the end of every school day at Lehman High School in the Bronx, Walston cleaned the floor of Bob McDermott's classroom. The work day always ended with the two of them spending an hour talking. This press release was produced by the Danbury School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.