By James Lomuscio
Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon says that professionally “I’ve had the best best of all worlds,” and that at 71, he has no intention of retiring.
Elliott Landon: Westport Education 2025 is a main reason he is staying on. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
“Retire? No,” said Landon in a wide ranging interview at the end of the school year. “What’s interesting about it is that I’ve hired everyone one of the principals that we have and some of our best administrators and teachers.
“The thrill of working is that I can work with these people. They are bright, dynamic, young, and for me, working in that kind of environment makes it so exciting.”
Having taken the helm in 1999, Landon is already the most senior schools superintendent in Fairfield County, not an easy feat in a town that seems to prize education first and keeps all eyes on the person at the top.
And now to the Board of Education’s pleasure, Landon has agreed to stay on until June 30, 2014.
The school board last week unanimously renewed Landon’s contract for two more years effective July 1, 2012, the first year with a 2 percent salary bump for an annual compensation of $287,899.
He remains the highest paid employee for both the school system and the municipal government.
“The Board of Education has offered to renew, and Elliott has accepted,” Donald O’Day, school board chairman, said at the board meeting. “We are very happy to have him lead our schools. Elliott, glad to have you back.”
Landon’s long tenure was evident in an emotional comment he made at the Staples High School graduation last week.
“I have had the privilege to oversee the educational experiences of these young people since the day they entered first grade 12 years ago and have witnessed their progress over these many years,” he said.
With the exception of David Clune, who was Wilton’s superintendent for more 21 years, the top job is typically short lived, two to eight years, in area school systems.
Neighboring Weston, for one, recently hired Colleen Palmer as the town’s fifth schools superintendent in the past decade.
Landon, by comparison, is a survivor. He came to Westport after nine years as superintendent for the Ridgefield school system. Before that he spent three years in the top spot in Garden City, N.Y. and 10 years as superintendent in Long Beach, N.Y.
Acknowledging the economic differences between a diverse community as Long Beach compared to affluent Ridgefield and Westport, Landon noted that “all parents are more or less the same.”
“They all want want the best for their kids and they communicate that in different ways,” he said. “They vocalize that when necessary.”
And the one bearing the brunt of criticism for an unpopular school policy is often the superintendent.
“You have to have a thick skin, but it’s interesting,” he said. “You have to compartmentalize.
“You have your professional life and your personal life, and as long as a superintendent is honest, has integrity and believes in the right things for kids, and people criticize him in that role, you have to know they’re not attacking you personally.
“There can be differences of opinion, but I never take any of that personally.”
In a town where school issues from curriculum to infrastructure changes are sure to fuel passions, Landon agrees he has fielded his share of slings and arrows.
Landon has also taken criticism for his salary at a time of fiscal uncertainty. He is quick to defend it, saying it is in keeping with other superintendents’ pay.
“I don’t think my salary has every been out of line with the going rate of of superintendents,” he said.
“And if you look globally at the countries with the best student performance, they are countries that place teacher salaries far superior to what they are in this country.
“I believe that people who work on behalf of kids and are good at what they do should be paid accordingly.
“I’m not embarrassed by what we make,” he added.
“I just wish as a nation we could pay teachers and lower level administrator salaries commensurate with the work they do so we can get the best and the brightest in education so we can compete in medicine, law and in the financial industry.
‘I always see education as a national security issue. If we don’t educate all of our kids to the highest levels, we’re going to find ourselves struggling to maintain our preeminence in the world.”
To that end the school board recently began “Westport Education 2025: Meeting the Global Challenge.”
“We know that no matter how well we prepare kids, things are changing so rapidly globally that we need to stay abreast of those changes and give the kids the skills and the knowledge they need to be successful down the road,” said Landon.
“We’re really looking at and committing ourselves to challenging the kids to exercise their creativity and critical thinking.
“As our kids go on, it’s not just enough to master the basic skills,” he added. “They have to be able to reason, analyze, weigh evidence, problem solve, communicate, collaborate, be adaptable and to understand how to exercise initiative. We’re trying to infuse that into everything we do.”
Landon says Westport Education 2025 is a main reason he is staying on and “why I’m so happy the board extended me.”
“We are a beacon for other school systems because we have the resources others don’t have,” he said.
Looking back at challenges he faced since taking the helm, Landon recalled the resistance he encountered trying to go from a part-time, extended day to a five-day, full-day kindergarten.
“In 1999 I tried to have them go to a full-day, and the board split and rejected it,” he recalled. “A few years later I tried again, and they rejected it. The third go around three years ago they gave me a three-day, full-day kindergarten.”
Currently kindergarten runs full day Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Mondays and Fridays extended day, schedules that are two hours less than a full day. While he would still like to see five full days, Landon views the current setup as a victory.
Another accomplishment he looks back on fondly is the introduction 10 years ago of Spanish in kindergarten, adding it one grade at a time each year so that Spanish is now taught K-12.
“Before that we had no Spanish, no foreign language in the elementary schools,” he said.
He is also proud of putting Mandarin Chinese in Staples five years ago, “and just last year we put Mandarin Chinese into the middle schools.”
Another curriculum change he looks back on fondly was the introduction of a computer interactive math program called HeyMath in grades 6 to 12. Next year a program called Singapore Math will be introduced in grades K-2.
Landon also notes that during his administration the number of advanced placement courses has grown from 12 to 20, and that special education has been revamped.
“The biggest challenge is overseeing the evolution of programs to address changing needs and problems,” he said. “So we’ve worked to have a deep, conceptual understanding of math rather than rote memory. And we’ve also had changes in our ninth grade social studies courses to reflect global changes.”
“And remember we have a very, very sophisticated community where our kids come to school very well prepared to start, and it’s a real challenge to provide them with essential and stimulating programs that challenge them within our schools,” he added.
“Our kids, for the most part, are world travelers. Many have lived all over the world. They come eager for learning, curious and very well prepared. So its a challenge to meet those needs with programs.”
Westport is indeed very fortunate to have such a consummate professional as its educational leader.