A Tradition of Excellence & Value

This post was also published as the "Superintendent's Corner" column in the Winter 2015 Shrewsbury School Journal.

Our town has a long history of receiving an excellent return on the money it invests in local government.  It is difficult to find a community anywhere in Massachusetts where citizens enjoy the level of high quality services that we do while also paying a tax bill that is very low by comparison.  Investing in making a home in Shrewsbury is a tremendous value.

I am proud that our public schools play a large role in generating that value by making substantial contributions to the quality of life for all of Shrewsbury’s citizens.  I am pleased to report that our students’ and educators’ accomplishments are maintaining our school district’s longstanding tradition of excellence.  Shrewsbury students continue to shine in numerous ways, and they have been recognized at the regional, state, and even national level for for achievements in academics, the visual arts, music, drama, speech and debate, robotics, science and engineering, and athletics.   The variety of ways in which our students are excelling is truly remarkable.

The excellence of the education our students receive was recently noted by Newsweek magazine in its ranking of American high schools.  Using a methodology that included a variety of academic measures, Newsweek ranked Shrewsbury High School 146th out of 14,454 high schools - the top 1% - in the U.S.  I am particularly pleased that this ranking also included a special distinction for the achievement of low-income students, as one of the most important elements of the mission of public education is to provide opportunity to all the children in a community, regardless of their economic situation.

While the Newsweek ranking is one measure that represents excellence, another recent national study demonstrated that this excellence is achieved in an extremely efficient manner.  The Center for American Progress conducted a study of over 7,000 K-12 school districts to determine “return on educational investment,” and it ranked the Shrewsbury Public Schools among only 1.8% in the entire U.S. who received the highest ratings overall and when controlling for economic and demographic factors.  This is the second time in recent years this study was conducted, and Shrewsbury had similarly strong results both times.

We should all be rightfully proud of the results our schools attain and the fact that our success is achieved in a very cost effective manner.  However, there is much more to the quality of a school district than its academic and financial statistics.  The community should know that not only are our students obtaining important skills and knowledge, but they are also learning important values such as respect, responsibility, and service to others.  Visitors to our schools often comment on the respectful behavior or our students and the professionalism of our staff.   The recent accreditation report for Shrewsbury High School, which included evidence from a multi-day site visit by educators from all over New England, commended our high school for “the safe, positive, respectful, and supportive culture that permeates the school and fosters student responsibility for learning and results in shared ownership, pride, and high expectations for all.”  

The value our schools provide goes beyond the secondary benefits that come from having strong results and a program that engages young people in constructive activities, as our students are also providing a significant amount of direct service to our community.  For example, a few years back Shrewsbury High School began its “10,000 Hour Challenge”, where the student body is challenged to complete 10,000 hours of community service that year, and with each class expected to achieve that same amount in its four years of high school (Freshmen 1,000 hours, Sophomores 2,000, Juniors 3,000, and Seniors 4,000).  Our students have been shattering this expectation, and for this school year alone SHS students had already completed over 12,000 hours of community service as of February!  I am so proud that Shrewsbury students are volunteering so much of their time to provide help where it is needed in our town, Worcester, and the surrounding area.

Our community makes a large investment in its public schools.  I think the evidence is clear that this investment is paying off by providing an excellent education for our town’s young people and by providing an exceptional value for the taxpayer.

Do Your Job

Each fall, there is an education technology conference held at Gillette Stadium, where they use the common areas for keynote speakers and the luxury boxes for breakout workshops.  Back in 2010, the first time I attended, I have to admit that I became a little distracted when the Patriots actually came out and started practicing on the main stadium field.  I don’t really recall what that particular workshop was about, given that I spent most of the 45 minutes watching the players run through their drills.

I had to leave the conference early to get back to Shrewsbury for a meeting.  As I tried to find the right parking lot, I ended up walking by the players’ and coaches’ entrance to the stadium, where I noticed the sign on the door.  It said:

When you come here:

• Do your job

• Work hard

• Be attentive

• Put the team first

I wrote down what it said and filed it away, and then I ended up using these four bullet points at our back-to-school leadership team meeting the following August, when we had a discussion about the importance of leaders articulating the organization’s values and setting clear expectations.  These past several weeks I’ve been reminded time and again of the words on that sign, as “Do your job” has become the Patriots’ and their fans’ motto during their run to the Super Bowl.  

“Do your job.”  It’s a simple imperative, but often not simple to achieve, which is why I believe the other three directives are on that sign as well.  Doing your job requires hard work.  It requires skill.  It requires being attentive to detail. If you work with others, it requires putting the team’s needs ahead of your own. To do it really well, it requires passion and commitment.  You have to go beyond “good enough.”  

As I think about the challenges our students will face in their futures, it is clear to me that “good enough” will not work for their education.  We, and they, need to do our jobs better than we ever have.  As your superintendent,  I assure you that the Shrewsbury Public Schools team is up to the challenge, because I see examples of hard work, skill, attention, and teamwork every day in our schools.

Unlike the Patriots, the work of our schools doesn’t depend on a series of singular events, leading up to a championship contest - there is no Super Bowl of public education.  There are indeed many measures of school district success where we must challenge ourselves to succeed, but it is important to recognize that excellence and learning are not zero-sum propositions, where if someone wins someone else must then lose.  If we do our jobs well, we will provide the opportunity for all of our students to win when it comes to maximizing their learning and reaching their potential.   

So, if you are a community member who supports our schools by providing needed resources; a parent who ensures your children are well prepared for school; an educator who delivers excellent instruction; a staff member who provides great support; or a student who is giving your best effort to learn: Thank you for doing your job.  You inspire me to do the best I can at mine.

Parts of this post were adapted from remarks I made at the Shrewsbury Education Foundation Awards Dinner on January 24, 2015