Dr. Homan, Second Superintendent Finalist, Interviewed

Arlington MA

24 November, 2020

12:16 PM

Description

Your Arlington: Last Updated: 23 November 2020 Written by Judith Pfeffer Saying that she has "experience bringing communities together in times of great change" and "a spirit of innovation," whether getting the most from a budget, increasing staff diversity or helping folks cope during the pandemic, Dr. Elizabeth Homan was interviewed for more than two hours Friday, Nov. 20, by the School Committee. Homan is one of two candidates under consideration to succeed current Superintendent Kathleen Bodie when she retires in June. Dr. Victoria Greer was interviewed Nov. 19. Homan has been assistant superintendent in Waltham for three years and was administrator of educational-technology integration there for three years immediately before that. She has taught English and other subjects at the high-school and college levels. In Waltham, she worked closely with an interim superintendent who was doubling as head of human resources, and therefore, she said, she gained a lot of insight into personnel and "got a lot of opportunities to handle situations" that often require a swift response. Committee member Jeff Thielman noted to Homan that Arlington is able to spend roughly $7,000 less per student than Waltham and that enrollment (which relates closely to state funding) is trending down. In response, Homan mentioned "restructuring the resources at your disposal" and reallocating them in accordance with priorities developed by all stakeholders including students. Asked by Committee Chair Jane Morgan about guiding principles with regard to budgeting – which the new superintendent would supervise starting in fiscal 2023 -- Homan acknowledged that "there never is enough" money for all desires and that her inclination would be to ask stakeholders to "fund the ask that you're bringing to the table," perhaps with grants, as has been done twice in Waltham. She said she would also ask teachers and others: "What could you do without?" Response to diversity query Informed by committee member Dr. Kirsi Allison-Ampe that increasing employee diversity is a strong priority at Arlington Public Schools, Homan had a detailed response. According to Homan, action steps should include the following six: People of Color (PoC) already on staff should be part of the hiring process Résumé reviews should be "blind" (that is to say, the names should be blocked out); Interview questions should mention the importance of equity; Part of the interview should be a performance task, with students among those watching; Recruitment should be done at colleges known to have many PoC studying to be educators; and Pathways to licensure should be given to PoC paraprofessionals seeking to become teachers. She agreed with committee members Bill Hayner and Len Kardon that social-emotional learning is important, especially given the relative isolation imposed on everyone because of pandemic health-and-safety measures. Ideally, she said, such learning should be embedded when possible into academic lessons. When it is emphasized on its own, for instance in advisory/homeroom sessions, these could be longer sessions, and held weekly or more often, she said. Asked about special education Kardon also wanted to know about how she would evaluate the success of special education. She said she would consult with the senior leadership team and principals to determine such points as who is writing the individual education plans, what is the staffing level for special education, what is the evaluation/referral process and what percentage of those with such plans are fully included in regular classes. It would also be important to determine how consistent programming is across campuses. Homan said she helped lead Waltham into partial reopening earlier this fall, though classroom learning, has been severely limited to date because of local Covid-19 infection rates. She said she has direct insight into how challenging the remote-learning component has been for children and their parents. For instance, one of the fathers she spoke with made clear his frustration with being "bombarded" and "inundated" with excessive messaging from school authorities. "We [in Waltham] retooled our entire approaches to things because of input from parents," Homan said. As to what she has learned from students, she said that "the curriculum was deeply colonialized," an issue she began to become aware of when she was a high-school student. Moreover, she said, youngsters often have uncanny insight into education issues. She described them as often able to create curriculum and design their own projects, as "very capable of metacognition when they are given the language to do that" and that they often are "deep thinkers about their own learning from a young age." The School Committee is slated to meet in special session Tuesday, Nov. 24, with two major agenda items: a report about matters at the under-construction Arlington High School, which continues under an all-remote learning paradigm, and further discussion and a possible vote on the superintendent candidates. YourArlington.com has provided news and opinion about Arlington, Mass., since 2006. Publisher Bob Sprague is a former editor at The Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Arlington Advocate. Read more at https://www.yourarlington.com/about.