ORCSD must move into 21st century

This community commentary was published in Fosters today. If there is any questions to the credibility of the author, please read this.

ORCSD must move into 21st century

The smoke has cleared somewhat at Oyster River and what have we seen so far? We've seen a public interview of what the ORCSD School Board deemed as two strong candidates for the interim superintendent's position. After witnessing the interview, is there anyone who would argue that these weren't qualified candidates? And, with the selection of Leon Levesque for the post, is there anyone who would argue that he does not have the background to serve as our interim?

His description of Lewiston, Maine going from double digits of ELL students to four digits of ELL students within his tenure is a challenge that few school administrators in northern New England have had to deal with. And, every indication is that he rose to the challenge. Does that represent the exact set of skill required in ORCSD at this time? Who knows? Certainly, the ability to adapt in a changing environment is an important skill. Regardless, Leon Lévesque, a solid candidate, asked for us to accept him and our board said, "Yes."

After the public interview, I spoke to Chairman Brackett and board member, Jim Kach. I was struck by the excited optimism shown by both when they stated that if they hadn't rejected the first choice of the former superintendent for the high school principal position, they wouldn't have Todd Allen. I thought, making no judgment on the other candidate, is there anyone in our district who would have preferred the former superintendent's first choice? If not, doesn't this, at least partially, answer the question of "Why" the board took these actions?

The larger question, to me, is the educational direction that the school district takes. There have been numerous letters written about whether or not the board will support the long-standing philosophy of individualizing and differentiating learning. I, for one, hope that there is a change. The traditional OR philosophy, is, in my view, too 20th Century. We need OR to move into the 21st Century with a personalized/customized philosophy. There is a significant difference. OR has traditionally been viewed as a state leader in education. I believe that a case can be made that our status has slipped. With a positive change in philosophy and a virtual all-star team of education professionals, the opportunity to bring our schools to a better place than ever is before us. (For those who want to know more about this direction, go to the New Hampshire Department of Education website and look at the Vision for High School Redesign, or, look at the articles that John Shea wrote for Foster's).

The School Board seems to have a team in place that it obviously didn't feel that it had before. I think that our citizens should give them the space to show us what they're thinking. The board is proposing public forums. I hope that every citizen interested in the future of our schools will attend with an open mind.

Fred Bramante
Durham