Highsmith Looks To Raise Academic Standards

Nora Grace-Flood Photo

New Super Gary Highsmith: Focusing deputies on curriculum.

In his first move as Hamden’s next superintendent of schools, Gary Highsmith is planning a reorganization of administrative responsibilities — in order to allocate more resources towards teaching and learning and heighten internal collaboration.

In a Monday night meeting of the Board of Education’s Personnel Committee, Highsmith outlined the plan to have the district hire two assistant superintendents who would both focus on curriculum development and assessment across the district’s schools.

For the past several years, Hamden has had two assistant superintendents — but one was in charge of curriculum oversight while the other led human resources. 

After Superintendent Jody Goeler announced his retirement this year, Asst. Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Chris Melillo also chose to leave the district, accepting a job promotion as superintendent of Newtown schools. Highsmith, who was the assistant superintendent of human resources, then took over Goeler’s post.

Now that Highsmith is in charge, he is arguing that a district the size of Hamden’s, which serves over 5,500 students, still needs two assistant superintendents — but that the majority of their attention should go towards assessing teacher instruction and curriculum adherence while responsibilities pertaining to human resources should be split among all chief administrators.

We need to recommit to making teaching and learning a priority,” Highsmith said Monday. As a school system, the pandemic required us to alter plans, create new priorities and extend grace to unprecedented levels to both students and staff.”

Following the ultimate disruptive force” of Covid-19, which saw kids falling behind in classes through months of makeshift remote learning and new, at-home hardships, Highsmith said one of his top priorities is making sure that kids are actually catching up academically as Hamden better adapts to a new normal.

Highsmith suggested having one assistant superintendent focus on curriculum development and instruction at the secondary school level and another at the elementary and middle school levels could provide more in-depth supervision of how subjects are taught across all grade levels. 

Highsmith argued that his proposal would see more teacher evaluations, a guaranteed and viable curriculum at every subject level,” and greater presence of higher-ups in individual classrooms on a regular basis to help teachers become more effective” and boost collaboration and communications throughout the district.

He also described the plan as indicative of a communal approach to leadership,” as all three superintendents would furthermore devote around a quarter of their working hours to dealing with human resources-related projects, which means additional pairs of eyes could oversee and review collective bargaining agreements and conflict resolution procedures. 

No one person should reasonably be expected to serve as a K‑12 leader of teaching and learning,” Highsmith asserted. Plus, he said, working alone in human resources for years often left him feeling isolated.”

Instead of forcing administrators into separate lanes,” he said those at the top should work more collaboratively and spend more of their energy on the ground, interacting with teachers and students.

Board members present Monday voiced general support for Highsmith’s idea — though BOE member David Asberry questioned whether Highsmith (who will be in charge of hiring those two individuals) will be able to identify candidates who are as enthused about HR” as Highsmith was.

You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone with the same enthusiasm I have for HR,” Highsmith said with a grin. But specifically because of his own extensive experience covering Hamden’s human resources bases, Highsmith said, he can continue to lead on some of that work in his new position to allow the assistant superintendents more time to focus on curriculum. 

Given how many educators have to learn human resources on the job, Highsmith said, he will be looking for dedicated life-long learners” to fill both roles. As you go about learning HR work,” he said, it makes you a better educator” because you can see the full picture of educational operations within the district and build interconnected relationships with staffers and students alike. 

I’m just gonna ask that you trust me on this one,” he said to the board members present Monday. I know it’s risky, I know it might be unusual … But this will be seen as an important first step towards creating greater coherence district wide.” 

We will be focused on teaching and learning from the very top level,” he promised. 

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