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NORWALK, Conn. – Susan Marks has come and gone, having resigned after 25 months with Norwalk Public Schools in her first job as a school superintendent.
What do people think?
"I think she is a visionary, but implementing the vision was where she fell short," Lisa Lenskold, director of Norwalk Grows, wrote in an email. "Norwalk wasn't ready for a visionary because our systemic issues require serious 'heavy lifting' before we can implement a long-term vision for our schools."
"I think she just made some moves that you make too quickly, trying to change things too quickly with no support, and there was also a lack of communication," said Bruce Mellion, president of the Norwalk Federation of Teachers. "I believe that she listened to the wrong people, who led her in the wrong direction, and that wasn't helpful."
Lisa Brinton Thomson, co-founder, REd APPLES of Norwalk, an education group, credits Marks' stature outside Norwalk for her ability to bring in private sector funding for programs such as online learning and Wireless Generation.
"She brought back some 'firsts' – at least in a long while – for Norwalk, by evaluating principal staff for the first time in a decade, and she conducted the first-ever community and staff survey," Thomson said in an email.
While Thomson credits Marks for hiring the financial staff that uncovered a $4 million shortfall this spring, Mellion says 100 percent of the teachers surveyed at a general membership meeting held Marks accountable for that shortfall. Those teachers graded Marks' 2011-2012 performance poorly, with 30 percent D's and 70 percent F's, Mellion said.
Marks' background set her up for a "very difficult situation," Mellion said. She had never been a superintendent, had never been a teacher and had no financial background, he said. It was "unfortunate" that Marks "pandered" to the mayor and other city officials, Mellion said, and was not prepared for the culture of Norwalk, having come from a school district in Maryland.
Thomson said something similar. "By her own admission she was not good at the entrenched NPS politics, and I don't think she really knew what she was getting herself into," she said. "I think she found both the 'in your face' politics practiced by some as well as the 'backdoor politics' incredibly frustrating and disheartening."
"I think that she had some positives, but I think the negatives outweighed it," Mellion said. "I think it was a very frustrating experience for her in my opinion, and I think that, at the end of the day, she saw that it was going to be more of the same one more time."
Comments (20)
Susan Marks was not a leader. She allowed the Apples to dominate her thinking and decision making process while she was in Norwalk and that was her downfall. As I hear it, the RedApples will be applesauce under the Dadonna superintendency, and they are running scared. Good!
If you have insight into what the Dadonna superintendency will look like I suppose you have had experience with him. Personally I have not but have through the years never heard a good word about him from parents and teachers who have had first hand experience. If you can provide any positive impact he has made over his many years in the system it might be helpful to me and many other. Thank you.
While I am not completely familiar with the Red Apples group, nearly all of what I've read from their representatives in the Daily Voice makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure why people keep calling them a "fringe" without any explanation, perhaps it would be helpful to explain why they're a fringe group, and why their policy goals are misguided, rather than simply dismissing them as irrelevant.
The Apples never once talked about holding Marks accountable. But, they claimed that teachers and administrators weren't held accountable.
The Apples' leader (Lisa Thompson) is on the District Data Team. But she and her group criticize how the school department uses data/
The Apples demanded really time consuming studies of teacher evaluations and then said that they were all wrong because teachers couldn't be that good. Of course, they forget to mention that GE Capital did a study of Norwalk and praised how great the teachers were.
The Apples are hypocrits- they blame the unions for every single failure of Marks. They forget that Marks is a big girl who is responsible for her own actions and mistakes.
The Apples have never called out Chairman Jack. They claim to want professionalism but don't attack any of Marks' supporters--- they just want cheerleaders.
Thanks for your reply and explanation, but it seems to raise more questions than answers.
"The Apples never once talked about holding Marks accountable. But, they claimed that teachers and administrators weren't held accountable."
What specific failures do you feel Marks should have been held accountable for by the Red Apples?
"The Apples' leader (Lisa Thompson) is on the District Data Team. But she and her group criticize how the school department uses data/"
If her full-time job relates to data, then it sounds like she is qualified to speak on the subject of using data.
"The Apples demanded really time consuming studies of teacher evaluations and then said that they were all wrong because teachers couldn't be that good. Of course, they forget to mention that GE Capital did a study of Norwalk and praised how great the teachers were."
Where can I read the study by GE capital? What's wrong with looking closely at teacher evaluations?
"The Apples are hypocrits- they blame the unions for every single failure of Marks. They forget that Marks is a big girl who is responsible for her own actions and mistakes."
Again, what specific failures and mistakes are you talking about?
@EVERYONE
Just ignore Iwithssppon asking for evidence (specific failures ). Its a game he plays from thread to thread,,He will ask for evidence and when you provide it he will just ignore it and ask for evidence yet again..Keeping in mind that he has yet to provide any valid evidence for any of his insane posts..Its seems the evidence game is what he does when he is called out,,,
Also many on here have stated that he is a paid stooge for the administration..He will most likely be fired soon as he is doing a horrible job at it.
This is what happens when the republicans are in charge
How do the Red apples fringe keep getting press? Also, they keep saying she found the $4 million and forget that she helped lose it too. She was too passive and weak. She was very nice but never took a vocal stance. I'd rather have a jerk and a good school system and better home value. She took the money and ran.
When did making over a quarter of a million dollars a year make you teflon coated? When you're the number one in a large organization, you ARE RESPONSIBLE for its failures and successes. Those of you who make excuses for Marks are a part of the problem-- NO ACCOUNTABILITY IN NORWALK.
The unions here are tough. So, the superintendent needs to know how to deal with them. She had at least six votes for everything she tried- if there was something the union tried to block, Marks could have had it passed in a second. That's just another cheap baseless excuse for her failure.
The Board of Education is strong. So, the superintendent needs to know how to get her five votes together. I don't think Marks lost a single vote ever.
Susan Marks failed because Susan Marks failed. It's no one's fault but her own.
When you have a very uncooperative teachers union who blocks and questions and prevents any sort of new ideas and progress it will make anyone’s job very difficult. I found her to be very open and honest and if you needed her to appear at an event for the schools she was there. When I met her for the first time while she was going through the interview process she had a great vision for our children and very high expectations in our schools. I feel that some of her expectations are being met and in her short time here has started to shift the schools on the right path. I wish she were able to continue her journey but totally understand her decision. I really didn't care that this was her first job as a superintendent, everyone needs to start somewhere and she came with a very impressive resume and credentials and cared about our children and community which is more then I could say for a teachers union president that doesn't even live in Norwalk. I wish her the best of luck in the future and hope she comes and visits our schools again and see the progress we will be making in the near future!
Huh? Marks "started to shift the schools on the right path"? Let's see--- last year Susan Marks tried to cut all the intervention aides at the schools, this year she finally got her way and cut them and crowded the classrooms. That's quite the "path" she's following.
Did she hold principals more accountable? Don't think so.
Did she hold the special ed department more accountable? That would be a "no" again.
Poor budget cuts for little kids and no accountability-- that's the wrong path for the schools.
Let me ask you this question: Do you really think that Dr. Marks wanted to cut the Aides??? Programs?? Teachers??? AVP's??? Do you really think she just woke up one morning and said "Oh today I feel like cutting $5.9 million from the children in Norwalk" Give me a break! This is half the problem with our community. All we know how to do is bring up what could have or should have been done and we do not look at what was done and accomplished. I wonder if you actually ever spoke to Dr. Marks one on one either in her office or social setting and maybe you would have understood what she was truly up against. She made no bones about that in order to do the real changes to our schools we need to invest and invest heavily. There is only so much money to go around and yes as a taxpayer I would pay a little more but enough is enough. We get a royal screwing from Hartford and that is where the problems start. I was testifying to the ECS task force and had to inform them that we just passed a budget CUTTING $5.9 million from our kids, yet West Hartford raised there budget and didn't cut a thing or lay off a teacher. She was one person with a central office that was gutted! Yes gutted. And I know all the waste and nonsense that was going on there in the previous years. However, that was not her fault. It’s really time to take this fight to Hartford (paging Bob Duff.... paging Bob Duff) and get our rightful share of ECS money and start moving forward. Its enough of the he said, she said we did it this way in the past and its your fault, ENOUGH!! We have a new year upon us and time for everyone to get to work. Its time to stop blaming everyone around us and start doing things for our children and schools and how we could make them better. We all may not agree but let's keep the eye on the prize...OUR CHILDREN!
The ones to blame are Big Jack and the BOE
That's right Tim, blame Jack for everything wrong with the Norwalk schools..Its time for you to get off your soap box.
Just call it like I see it.
I met Dr. Marks at small question and answer session after her first year. It was clear her intentions were good but she did not know what she was getting into when she accepted this position. She was not equiped to deal with the political nonsense that is Norwalk Public Schools. This was not her failure but the failure of the board that hired her. Lets hope they have learned something as they embark on searching for a new superintendent. I know a "national search" sounds impressive but perhaps we need someone more local this time. Sadly Norwalk's best option left us after doing an excellent job at Nathan Hale.
I wish Dr. Marks well, clearly her vision was not achievable for Norwalk, and I'll go back to the initial vote for her employment, 7-0 with Ms. Rivas abstaining, as she believed the vetting process was lacking, no transparency,
Hopefully, less city politics and more academia will be the requirement for the next superintent, otherwise, we'll see another resignation in 24 months
Regards
NL
Please stop bolstering the fringe group of anti-teachers your paper keeps referring to as an "education group". The RedApples are a political group of relatively small numbers who don't speak for rank and file parents in Norwalk.
As for the premise of the article- gee, the teachers union prez says the superintendent failed and her pep squad captain says she failed but that it was the union's fault. How is that news?
By the way, a real schools' leader would have succeeded in spite of union antagonists and political frenemies.
Seems to me that the deck was stacked against Dr. Marks before she even arrived in Norwalk. I remember reading several scathing posts on the various blogs just days after the announcement of her appointment. She wasn't even in the State yet, and people were predicting her failure. It actually would have been a major miracle if she had succeeded.
I wish her well.
Paige
Please provide proof of "scathing posts on the various blogs just days after the announcement of her appointment"
Thank You