By James Lomuscio
On a recent afternoon, Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon, 76, discussed how much the physical appearance of the Westport Public Schools has changed since he first arrived in 1999.
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Elliott Landon on eve of retirement: his greatest achievement is people. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com
The Greens Farms School, which had been shuttered and used as studio space for artists in the 1980s, was reclaimed and a three-story wing added during his first year.
The former Nike missile site on North Avenue was reclaimed with the Bedford Middle School opening there in 2004.
The old Bedford Middle School on Riverside Avenue was totally gutted, becoming what is now the Saugatuck Elementary School.
Staples High School, too, underwent a major expansion, from 325,000 square feet to a current 450,000 square feet. In addition, the Coleytown Middle School added a wing, and most recently the Coleytown Elementary School got its long overdue air conditioning.
The school system’s academic programs have also grown, with Landon finally getting two years ago what he had pushed for when he first took the helm—all-day kindergarten.
His leadership has been marked by myriad programs: the introduction of Mandarin at Staples; K-5 Spanish; a high school and middle school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program; and the introduction of geometry and algebra in middle school. Landon says each exemplifies the district’s push for academic excellence preparing students for an ever changing world.
But if you ask Landon, who is retiring at the end of June, what he considers his greatest achievement, it’s not buildings or programs. He sums it up in one word: “people.”
Elliott Landon took part in a student graduation video in 2014. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
“I think my greatest contribution to the district is the people that I hired,” said Landon. “I was involved in hiring everybody in this district, every principal and assistant principal and teachers galore. They all have very high standards that are evident in the work they do.
“If you hire good people, they can come to you for advice and direction, but they are the ones who do all the work,” he added. “I have worked in districts with supportive parents before, but it is the staff that it has made it possible for the students to gain successes that would not have been possible without all our administrators, teachers and staff. I’ve interviewed every teacher that’s been hired.”
Landon, who will officiate at the Staples graduation June 17, waxed nostalgic and emotional about leaving his post and profession.
Still, he stressed he would not talk about himself or his tenure at the Staples commencement. Most of the graduates were toddlers when he arrived.
“I’ve seen too often when people are retiring that they make it about themselves,” he said. “But it’s about the kids, not me.”
After a nationwide search since Landon announced his retirement last year, the Board of Education in January hired Weston’s Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer to replace him effective July 1.
Elliott Landon gets dunked during the 2013 Westport Sunrise Rotary Club Duck Race event. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Landon admits that leaving is bittersweet, and that over the years he has made his share friends and enemies over his proposed budgets, policies and programs, in Westport and other districts he had headed.
“I’ve spent more than 50 percent of my life as a superintendent of schools,” he said. “I’ve been in this since I was 37.”
In recent weeks, accolades and well wishes have poured in from members of Westport boards and commissions, as well as parents.
Even Michael Rea, the Board of Finance vice chairman and former Representative Town Meeting (RTM) member who regularly had sparred with Landon over budgetary issues, publically thanked “Doc,” as he calls him, for always keeping the best interests of the children at heart.
“I found that even some of my worst enemies would want to work with me,” Landon quipped.
On May 3, the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) approved approved a $113,128,166 operating budget for 2016-17, a 1.29 percent increase over the current year, the lowest increase since the first year of the recession. It was Landon’s last budget.
In 2013, Elliott Landon tried out the “flying” gear for a Coleytown Middle School production of “Peter Pan.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Lauren de Bruijn for WestportNow.com
“Elliott has done such an outstanding job over the past 17 years,” said Jeannie Smith, school board vice chairwoman “He has been the leader of leaders.”
RTM members Lou Mall and Seth Braunstein offered their thanks to Landon, too.
In addition to being the longest serving superintendent in the state, he is also Connecticut’s highest paid with a $292,000 annual salary.
Over the years there were those who liked his leadership style and those who did not. In the beginning he was called out for not being accessible enough for parents and their concerns.
Seven parents successfully filed an FOI complaint in 2001 over denial of access to meetings, records, and agendas of a kindergarten review committee.
In 2007, some parents faulted him for not taking the lead about a mold problem at the Kings Highway Elementary School. The problem fell into the lap of former First Selectman Gordon Joseloff who established a mold task force.
Elliott Landon listens to parental criticism of proposed budget cuts in 2012. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
In 2014, the school board criticized him for not informing it of the magnitude of a $1.65 million cost overrun to again remediate mold at Kings Highway.
Some parents criticized him on his school delay and closing calls. In 2014, he said he was “disappointed” in his late call to close schools during a snow storm, telling the Board of Education, “After all these years, my crystal ball was wrong.”
Others challenged him for pushing all-day kindergarten.
In October, Landon took heat from a few parents for allowing author Salman Rushdie to speak and read from his latest book at Staples for the Westport Library’s annual Susan Malloy Lecture in the Arts.
One parent said inviting Rushdie would put students at risk in an age of terrorism, though the talk was a resounding success as Landon had argued.
This past March he took umbrage with three school board members he said had questioned his approval of the February break.
Landon said he had confirmation from school counsel Thomas Mooney that the February break passed muster under the law because the district’s flex days could be added to the Presidents Day holiday.
Board members Karen Kleine, Elaine Whitney and Chairman Michael Gordon wanted to hear it from Mooney himself. Landon issued Mooney’s report at the next meeting.
“But you never take it personally,” he said.
Elliott Landon addresses a Westport Rotary Club meeting in 2011. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
In fact, Landon, has at times seemed Teflon, letting the attacks roll off him as he moved ahead. Some of that ability was forged by his Brooklyn upbringing.
During summers off from James Madison High School (also the alma mater of Bernie Sanders, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer) Landon would sell hot dogs and orange drinks at the Ebbets Field during Brooklyn Dodgers games, pick up litter under the boardwalks at Coney Island or work at a produce stand.
After Madison he enrolled in Brooklyn College, majoring in chemistry.
“I wanted to be a chemical engineer,” he said.
But a writing professor at Brooklyn College, Albert Goldman, who went on to write biographies of Lenny Bruce and Elvis Presley, had such an impact, Landon said, that he gravitated toward liberal arts and eventually teaching.
He later pursued his doctorate at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, and in 1962 received his first teaching job at his old high school. Later he became an administrative intern in the Port Washington, N.Y. school system.
In 1972 he was promoted to assistant superintendent for personnel. One year into that role he negotiated a five-year teacher’s contract.
Elliott Landon and John Dodig lead the 2005 Staples High School graduation procession. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
“It was the first five-year contract in the history of the United States, and the next day it was on the front page of The New York Times, and they mentioned my name,” he said.
After that, he said, his career in education took flight. The American Association of School Administrators contacted him, “and they said we would like you to do contract negotiations.”
In 1977 at 37, the Ridgefield Board of Education hired him as superintendent, “which was really a fluke because there were really excellent people who applied, people who had experiences as superintendents, but for some reason they liked me, and they hired me,” Landon recalled.
He said the Ridgefield district faced a lot of problems when he took over.
“The John Birch Society was active in town, and they were banning books,” he said.
Faced with declining enrollments, he closed two elementary schools and did what seems unthinkable today, having his proposed 18 percent school budget increase approved.
In 2004, Elliott Landon joined a Conga line down Westport’s Main Street as part of a First Night promotion. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
He stayed in Ridgefield for nine years before being recruited to head up the Garden City, N.Y, school system from 1986-89. After that he became superintendent of the Long Beach, N.Y. school district from 1989 to 1999.
“In 1999 I came here, and the rest is history,” he said with a laugh.
Landon’s plans for retirement are uncertain, but he says he would like to be involved in some aspect of government, preferably contract negotiations.
He and his wife Joyce, whose children are grown and are now grandparents, plan to remain in Westport.
“I’ve been lucky,” he said.
Landon will be feted at a retirement party by family, friends and colleagues on Thursday, May 26, at 5 p.m. at the Shorehaven Country Club in Norwalk.
