Forum on BKW's next leader nets few visitors

The Enterprise — Marcello Iaia

In the middle of an empty auditorium, Lynne Wells, with her chin on her hand, listened to Berne-Knox-Westerlo parent Sarah Pasquini talk about the qualities she seeks in the district’s next superintendent. Wells is an assistant superintendent for the regional district of Board Of Cooperative Educational Services.

BERNE — Two parents of Berne-Knox-Westerlo students sat in the school’s auditorium Monday night, outnumbered by the facilitators of a search for the next superintendent.

“I’m getting dragged into this because I’m concerned with where the school is going,” said John Valachovic, an assistant Boy Scout leader who has three sons in the school. He and Sarah Pasquini, a mother of two BKW students, talked about what they are seeking in the next permanent superintendent in the rural district.

Currently working with a second interim superintendent in two years, BKW’s school board has recently started the search for his successor, helped along by Capital Region Board Of Cooperative Educational Services. The district of just under 900 students paid its last superintendent an annual salary of more than $120,000.

A survey with the same end as the community forum is available on the district website until Feb. 13. The criteria collected will become part of a brochure for the search, with candidates’ applications due by March 16.

Lynne Wells, dressed in a bright red blazer with a matching scarf around her collar, leaned toward Pasquini in the middle of the auditorium, listening closely. Wells, an assistant district superintendent for BOCES, started by asking her to identify the strengths of BKW.

“I think right now, the biggest strengths are the community and the teachers,” said Pasquini. She continued, “The teachers are very dedicated to the students. They are easily accessible to us.”

William DeVoe, a BOCES public information specialist, used a purple marker to write her comments in bullets on a large sheet of paper, reading them back before they moved onto the next of four questions.

A similar forum held earlier that day for faculty and staff was attended by roughly 50 people, Wells told The Enterprise. Besides the two parents in the community forum at night, a third person stopped in to give her input.

One of Pasquini’s biggest questions in the search is whether the district is going to be around for her daughter to graduate.

“What I want to not hear is rumors of redistricting,” she said later. “What I want to have is the school is going to stay intact and this is how we’re going to do it.”

When Wells asked about what needs to be improved in the district, Pasquini responded quickly: communication and collaboration between the superintendent and the board of education. She said she once had to call the school when she wasn’t notified that her daughter’s teacher had left or who the new one was. She contrasted this with a letter going home about changing traffic patterns at school.

“I think the image of the school needs to be put in a positive light and not in a negative light,” Pasquini told Wells, talking about press reports of fines accrued by the district. “There’s so many interim people that nobody is knowing what is going on,” she said.

“So what I hear you saying, you are looking for administration stability,” Wells affirmed.

Asked what she sought in the next superintendent, Pasquini said she wanted someone who would collaborate with groups in the district, have experience in a rural community, and have a long-term vision. She praised an informational night for parents and students last year to learn about Common Core Learning Standards for math.

Valachovic walked in and took a seat just before Pasquini finished answering the questions. Wells joined him.

“I’m very happy you came out because I think this is a very important decision for communities to make,” said Wells, adding that public input will help the board of education in the search.

Both Valachovic and Pasquini inquired about how they might be involved in the search process in the future. Community members, students, or BKW employees referred to as “stakeholders” will help in late April to interview candidates winnowed by the school board. The appointment is scheduled to take place in June.

“I’m desperate for consistency,” Valachovic told Wells, bypassing the questions he had already answered in the survey online.

He went on to talk about the need for a superintendent who hires the right people. He said Brian Corey, a principal who recently resigned to become superintendent at a nearby district, was his friend.

“When he was still here,” said Valachovic, “I was able to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’” 

More Hilltowns News

  • On Wednesday, March 27, the state’s Department of Public Service will hold two public hearings — in addition to an ongoing survey — on broadband that will be an important opportunity for state residents to correct previous maps and analyses that determine broadband availability. 

  • The Carey Institute for Global Good will once again host “a series of learning workshops and small public and private events,” beginning in the summer, according to a release that described this as a “transitional time” for the beleaguered not-for-profit.

  • As Berne-Knox-Westerlo Superintendent Timothy Mundell laid out the district’s progress toward its next budget while the district waits on lawmakers to finalize a state budget, conversation centered around one of the few things the district can control at this point — whether or not to go ahead with its annual bus purchase.

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