By Gordon Joseloff
Four months into her job, Westport Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer said today it is the “best job in the world.”
Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer addresses the Westport Rotary Club today. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
In a wide-ranging talk to the weekly meeting of the Westport Rotary Club at Branson Hall at Christ & Holy Trinity Church, she said it is “truly a privilege to serve in this role.”
“I do live in Westport,” said Palmer, who was formerly superintendent in Weston. And, bringing laughter from the audience, she added: “And so I’ve tried to figure out how to make a left turn into Starbucks….the problems we should have.”
“I love it here,” she said. “I love the vibrancy. I love the energy. I love the intellect, the passion, the talent of this community.”
“Our school system is truly spectacular,” she said. But she added that changes are likely to meet the changing needs of students.
She said a year ago there was talk about a large addition to Staples High School.
“We probably don’t need a huge addition to Staples,” she said. But there may be a need for a smaller addition to the high school that has a flexible learning space with more access to technology, and more conference areas.
Palmer pointed to plans for upgrading the Westport Library that allow for flexible spaces according to needs. “That’s really the kind of space we need to look at,” she said.
“We can fit our program into the building,” Palmer said of Staples. But she said enrollment projections call for a declining Staples population.
”I don’t want to build something we don’t need in eight to 10 years,” she said.
Palmer said college students today are taking some classes online and that concept might work at Staples.
She said if every single student took one course online to graduate, each year that would be 400 students not booked in a class.
She recounted a trip to Washington, D.C. two weeks ago, including a White House visit, as a result of her being named the state’s superintendent of the year.
Meeting with officials who will be out of a job with a new administration, she said while Westport is “kind of an oasis here, isolated in so many ways,” she expects “there will be changes at the federal level.
“Things cascade down to us,” Palmer said.
She said, however, she is not overly concerned.
“I’m not so worried about the federal government because whatever they’ve done, I tried to find a way creatively to do what I need to do…and I’ve been successful so far,” she said.
But she added: “I am more worried about the long-term funding of education.”
Palmer said she recently met with the state’s education commissioner and pushed for relief from some state mandates, including a universal calendar, as a way to find savings.
“I am pushing back as strongly as I can against the state,” she said.
“I think there will be more of an outcry that, you know what, if there’s no financial support and we can run our systems smarter, we can run more efficient, we can have better outcomes, then cut us loose,” Palmer said.
