Marks Meets Norwalk

Norwalk parents and community members heard last night from the woman who will most likely become their next superintendent. Dr. Susan Marks is the associate superintendent of human resources in Montgomery County and has 30 years of experience in that district.  Montgomery County is a much larger district, 14 times the size of Norwalk, but it has similar racial demographics.

For ninety minutes, Dr. Marks stood on her feet in front of a crowd of over 100 parents and community members.  She fielded questions about her background and what she can do to improve Norwalk’s schools.  Her meet & greet focused on closing the achievement gap and the importance of a rigorous curriculum and professional development. 

“In order to close the achievement gap we have to raise the bar for everyone” said Dr, Marks in response to questions about the disparity in test scores between white students and poor and minority students. “High expectations are at the core of this.” 

In Montgomery County, she said that they have been able to increase the number of black and Latino students taking AP and Honors classes.  “There should be no gatekeepers,” she said.

Dr. Marks said that her goal was to make all students ready for college. “Even if kids go into the military or into the trades, we have to make them college ready,” she said.  “Believe me, the people at Toyota who are fixing all the cars right now need to have a high level of knowledge.” 

In addition, Dr. Marks stressed the importance of early childhood education and said that she hoped to increase such programming throughout Norwalk.

Dr. Marks said that teachers and school leaders need to be well-trained and she hoped that the Norwalk community would invest funds in professional development once the budget pressure eased.  “Teaching is rocket science.”

When an audience member asked about the importance of parental involvement, she said it is important but that it was also important to teach parents how they can help their kids at home. “I don’t think we should use parents not being involved in schools as an excuse for kids not succeeding.  Too often in my experience people use that as an excuse,” she said.  “I didn’t drop my kids off on the first day of school.  I was working.”

One parent described Norwalk as “system of schools” not a “school system” and asked how Dr. Mark would address that problem.  She replied that she will make the time to bring school leaders together both along grade levels and high school clusters. 

She reassured the audience that she would be in the schools “a lot” and that school leaders should not be sitting in their offices.  “Learning happens in the classroom.”

Dr. Marks described her style as collaborative, especially with the unions.  She highlighted her experience creating a peer evaluation process for teachers and administrators with union involvement.  She also said that she is problem solver: “Two things I hate are complaining and drama,” she said.  “If you have a problem, come to me with two suggestions.”

Dr. Marks seemed ambivalent on Race to the Top funding and said that Maryland did not apply for Race to the Top during phase 1. She does not believe that teachers should be evaluated on test scores alone.  One of the goals of Race to the Top is to link student test scores with teacher performance.

 “My goal has always been to be a superintendent,” she said early in the meeting. ” I want to work with people, roll up our sleeves and work together. At the end of the meeting she said: “My goal is for Norwalk to be proud of its schools again, every child deserves that.”

Dr. Marks said she plans to move to Norwalk if she gets the job. She has two daughters, 25 and 18.  Her husband is a popular middle school teacher in Montgomery County.

After the meeting, parents mulled around the room sharing their first impressions of the candidate.

“I’m optimistic but also cautious,” said Sherelle Harris. “ I’m taking a wait and see approach. We’ve had so many false starts in Norwalk.”

Trish Massucco said that she was impressed by Dr. Marks, especially with her focus on professional development.  “We need to help teachers, sometimes they just get in a rut.”

Greg Burnett, a former BOE member, was not as positive.  “I didn’t see any fire.  Norwalk needs a turnaround not baby steps.  I didn’t hear about a plan for drastic change and personal accountability. ”

Did you attend the event?  What did you think?

YourCT.com videotaped the entire event.


Dr. Susan Marks Meets Norwalk Residents from jackie lightfield on Vimeo.