Cobleskill-Richmondville invited everyone to its superintendents’ forum Tuesday night.
Five people showed up.
Nonetheless, the forum in the Golding auditorium went on as planned, designed to get community input in the search for a new superintendent to succeed Carl Mummenthey, who’s leaving at the end of the school year.
Lauren Gemmill, BOCES deputy district superintendent, moderated the forum. She noted the topics were similar to the survey on C-R’s website.
The forum was one of several; two more virtual ones for the community are today, and others are for teachers and staff.
Once forums are over and the survey ends, the school board gets all the information, Ms. Gemmill said.
“They look for themes, trends, ideas to ask questions,” for interviewing candidates, she added.
Ms. Gemmill also outlined the search process. (See related story.)
The questions and comments from the audience follow:
What are the district’s strengths?
Vic Taylor said the district is small enough so that people know each other. “We can find similar ideas in what we’re looking for,” he said.
Jeff Foote, a former school board member, said teachers and the staff are “very talented and considerate to parents and students” and that the district is very communicative with the community.
Both men praised C-R’s offering of college credit courses and also noted the district has a variety of clubs, though there could be more.
What needs to be improved?
Mr. Taylor said C-R needs a parent-teacher association and that teachers “aren’t given enough ability to teach outside the box.”
He also said food services should be improved.
One woman in the audience said C-R should do a better job meeting the needs of non-traditional students.
Although Mr. Foote said earlier that the district communicates well, he added that there should be more effort to reach parents who don’t respond.
What characteristics should the new superintendent have?
Several said the new hire should be active in the community, attend school events and live in the district.
Advocacy––lobbying for the district––and safety in school were other points.
Mr. Taylor felt C-R “lost focus” during the pandemic, “more worried about who’s wearing a mask” than educating children.
What should the new superintendent work on first?
The person should get to know all he or she could about the district, Mr. Taylor said. “Get to know C-RCS and what we’re about.”
Mr. Foote added that a series of meet-and-greets would be beneficial.
Besides learning about the district, the new superintendent should make an extra effort to become familiar with students and teachers, said Gary Schacher.
Learning about the district and staff is most important, Mr. Foote said.
“Making big changes right out of the box is not a good thing,” he said.