Archive: Around Town

Tiffany Phillips has been Interim Superintendent of the Lansing Schools three times.  She has hit the ground running, taking charge of the district and moving initiatives forward.  She has also helped the School Board with the task of finding a replacement.  If all goes well a permanent superintendent will be in place by the end of October.

In the meanwhile she has been busy working with administrators and faculty, not only to prepare the district for the school year that started a few days ago, but with projects large and small that will impact the district going forward.  She took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to the Star on Wednesday, the first day of school.

Lansing Star: Where are you from originally?

Tiffany Phillips: I grew up in Elbridge, about 20 miles West of Syracuse.  In fact, I went back to my home school district to teach after I got out of college.

LS:  What is your background in education?

TP:  Actually I went to Ithaca College for my undergraduate work, do I do have some ties to this area.  I was a physical education major.  I taught physical education for about eight and a half years.  Then I decided to switch to the classroom.  I taught elementary grades four and five.  At that time I was pursuing my administrative work at Jordan-Elbridge, which is about 25 miles west of Syracuse. 

When I finished my administrative work I got an administrative internship, which is similar to student teaching.  That was at the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES in Auburn.  I was administrative assistant to the district superintendent, which was a great experience, because I had not had any connection prior to that to the BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services).

Then I got my first administrative job, which was in Fayetteville-Manlius as an assistant middle school principal.  I was there for three years and then became middle school principal in Skaneateles for six years.  I decided at that point that I would like to become a superintendent, and my first position was in the DeRidder school district.  A small school district, K-12, about 600 students.  It is just past Cortland.  Actually that is where Corliss Kaiser went.  It is the same school district.

LS: Where she just went?

TP: Right.  I was there for three and a half years and then moved on to a larger district, Bloomfield, which is west of Canandaigua.  In Bloomfield we had about 1,200 students.  I was superintendent there for just about eight years when I got a phone call from the school attorney here in Lansing, wondering whether or not I'd be interested in coming in and serving as the Interim Superintendent.

That's when I actually started my interim positions.  This is my fifth time now, and my third time in Lansing.

LS: When was that?

TP: November of 2001.

LS: So you started a new career of interim positions right here.

TP: Yes, I actually did.  It was my first Interim, and I came in November of 2001 and stayed through June of 2002.  That's when they hired Bob Service.  When Bob left after 18 months I was up in Sodus on Lake Ontario.  I had been there for 16 months as the Interim.  I got the call from Lansing, and came down to Lansing and served then from January 2004 through June of 2004.  At that time they hired Corliss Kaiser. 

And then I got a phone call in early April to see if I would come back a third time.  At that time I was doing the full school year in Penn Yan as the Interim.

LS: So you finished the school year there and came here?

TP: I did.  In mid-July.

LS: I know you can't say how the search is going, but in general I am hearing there are some good candidates and somebody will be hirable later this month.  If that doesn't happen are you available to stay?

TP: When the board contacted me in April they were not sure what they were going to do.  They wanted to know if I would be flexible, because they didn't know if they really wanted to go right into a search, whether they wanted to do a quick search, or a traditional search.  I told them at that time that I was flexible, that we could work through whatever needed to happen.

So we're all very optimistic that there is going to be a new superintendent in place by, hopefully by the end of October.

LS: Do you have any idea where you'll go from here?

TP: I'm not really sure I'll do another Interim for the remainder of the school year.  It's a little bit difficult to go in in the middle of the school year.  On the other hand if something works out with my schedule, because I have some personal plans that I've already made...  vacation time with my husband.  If something works out with that personal schedule I may do a short Interim before the end of the year.  Again, I'm trying to be flexible, see what's available and what matches my family's needs.

LS: When you get interim positions is there a central clearing house that you work with?

TP: They happen in different ways.  Quite honestly, by word of mouth.  When people have been in districts and have been successful, word gets out there, especially in the region, that this is a person that you can rely on as an interim superintendent.  How I started, as I said, I was contacted to see if I would be interested in doing something like this.  Then I put out a letter of interest to the District Superintendents of the BOCES in the Syracuse and Rochester area, because when I do this I like to stay within driving distance of our home in Auburn.

So I let everybody know that I was interested if they had any come up.  As it turned out the BOCES that I was in when I was in Bloomfield had an opening in the Sodus school district.  The District Superintendent contacted me and said, "I know you're finished at Lansing.  Would you be interested in Sodus?"

What happens then is the boards of educations get names of potential interim candidates.  You do an interview with the Board of Education.  I was selected to be the Interim in Sodus.

Another way of getting involved is through the school attorney of the district that you're going into.  If they know about opportunities, or Interims, they also try to at least give some names to the board to consider for the position.  So basically those are the two main ways in which (to get a position), plus, again, just word of mouth.

LS: So you have to be an active networker.

TP: You do, but they're in high demand, also, in terms of needing interim superintendents, because of the turnover and the aging out of superintendents.  There were a lot of openings this year, and they anticipate a lot of openings at the end of next year also.  There are a lot of superintendents that are in my age range that are retiring.  So they'll be looking for Interims.

LS: You've been here three times now.  Do you have any interest in making it permanent?

TP: No.  I'm definitely interested in just the Interims.  For my family and for me, I've been in education now for, I think this was my 35th opening of school, so I'm really ready to have some flexibility in terms of what I do with my time.

LS: What originally got you interested in education?

TP: I always loved school.  I really did.  From the very first time I went I enjoyed it.  I was successful in school and I had some excellent teachers.  I thought it would be a great profession to get into and I moved forward with it.  That was from the perspective of teaching, and once I got into teaching, actually I was the president of the teacher's association for about two years.  In that role I found I enjoyed working with adults and helping adults resolve problems.

So I decided to go into administration, and I did that because I thought I could have a broader impact on what happens within the school district.  I missed, and still do, those personal connections that you make with kids that last for a log time, but there is also an advantage to impacting on a lot of, not only students, but adults.  And I enjoy that aspect of it, so that's why I pursued it.

LS: Do you ever teach a class just for the fun of it?

TP: No, I don't.  I have colleagues that do.

LS: How would you say that Lansing stacks up with other districts?

TP: When I announced to my colleagues that I was going back to Lansing for the third time, I had several people say to me, "What's wrong with that school district?"  I could honestly say, "There's nothing wrong with the school district.  It's an excellent school district.  It's just been a series of circumstances that have taken place in terms of the turnover."

Even when I came in November 2001 there were three administrators that were already scheduled to retire that year.  There was the High School Principal, the Elementary School Principal and the Business Administrator.  The Middle School Principal was going to retire within the next couple of years, so we knew in the district there was going to be a huge amount of turnover.  But certainly not to this extent, you know, with the superintendent's position.

I said to the staff yesterday, "If it wasn't such a great school district -- the kids are excellent, the parents are supportive, the community is very supportive of the schools, we have a very fine staff -- I wouldn't come back three times."  And that's what I've said to people.  "You know, why would I go back for three times if there was a problem with the school district?"

And anyone who asks me about applying to the school district, I encourage to apply.

LS: What do you think the main challenges are at this point in time, aside from the obvious one of hiring a superintendent?

TP: Well, the hiring, but also someone to come in who will stay is so critical, because things get lost in the transition.  While it's pretty much business as usual, even with the transitions, there are things that will crop up every now and then that will say, "Oh.  This person did it this way, this person did it differently, this person did it a little bit differently.  Now which way are we doing it?"  You know, that kind of confusion.

But also we have not been able to sustain our staff development initiatives as well as our curriculum initiatives.  We need that leadership to continue to support the work that's done in those areas.  In addition to that I have picked up a recommendation that I made to the Board of Education through the budget process when I was here before in the spring of 2004.  That was that they hire a Director of Curriculum and Instruction, who has an expertise in that area, who can also work with the Superintendent to make sure that we move forward.

Times are changing and Lansing has been very successful, but if we don't attend to those things and do it in a planned, sustained way, then we're going to lose ground.  I see that as a huge challenge for the district.

LS: Our test scores in English and Language Arts have dipped.  Do you think that is due in part to so many superintendents coming and going?

TP: Well I think part of it is... there certainly are changes that take place in the assessments that are coming out that measure those things.  As a result the necessary adjustments need to be made in the curriculum and in the instructional skills and strategies that we use to implement that curriculum.  If we're not looking at that on a regular basis and making the necessary adjustments, then that's where that's going to happen.  Other schools are going to keep up with those changes and we're going to begin to fall behind in that, only because other people are moving forward.

LS: Are you talking about technological changes or changes in teaching philosophies?

TP: I would say that there is more information out there on research-based strategies and programs, and that we need to stay in tune to those things.  I'm not saying that our teachers are out of date, but there are additional things that we can try.  I guess the best analogy is that you have a tool kit.  You want to have as many different tools in that kit as possible, because we are getting students that are coming in with, I would say, a wider range of abilities and background. 

With that it means we're going to have to make adjustments in the tools that we use.  In order to do that we need to be exposed to those things, and we need to practice those things and we need to be reinforced in those areas.  I would say that's the difference now, that we need to change the way we approach our instruction.  Rather than, let's say, a traditional lecture-based approach to instruction we need more what's called a "student center" based instruction, or "activity based" instruction, along those lines.

For instance learning centers for students in the classroom, and being able to what's called differentiate instruction so that we try different things with different students.  The curriculum, also we need to be looking on a regular basis at our individual and group results for students, and we need to see if there are pieces of the curriculum that are missing, that we're not teaching, or we're not teaching sufficiently.

We haven't had a system in place where this has been done on a regular basis across all curriculum areas and across all grade levels.  While it might happen in various segments, if you don't do it across the board, again you're going to lose things through the cracks in the process.  We have excellent staff, and people that want to do well.  I see it as the District has not provided enough resources to people.

LS: Do you think that the capital improvement plan will contribute to that?

TP: Certainly the plan is there for a variety of reasons, and one of them is educational programming.  We know that there are health and safety issues that need to be addressed and a lot of those relate to the infrastructure.  So that's part of the capital project.  But, for instance, we want to make sure that our science labs are totally up to date in terms of the equipment that students have available to them so that they can be competitive with their peers coming in from other school districts.  That's the type of thing that can be addressed through the capital project.

That's why one of my charges is to work on the "facilities needs assessment," because we'll be able to show more clearly the direct relationship between what our educational program needs are and how the facility needs change to meet those needs.

LS: Are the capital improvements the way to go vs. human improvements?  Should it be approached in either way or both?

TP: Really it's both, because certainly we need to look at what we can do to support people in terms of their skills, strategies, the materials that they have to work with, the text books, the resource materials that they have, their access to computer technology.  Their ability to use computer technology is critical, because the students' being able to use that computer technology to be successful now, not only in post-secondary education, but also in the work force.  So we certainly need to do all of those things.

Can you teach in a small crowded room full of kids?  Certainly.  But the other limiting thing is that we might not be offering all of the opportunities we could to our students simply because of space limitations.  So you can have the best teacher there is in terms of the instruction, the curriculum and the materials that they're using, but if we're only taking a course to a particular level and our students need it at a higher level, but we absolutely don't have the room to offer that course, then that's where the facilities (plan) takes over.

It's the same thing in terms of... let's go back to the science rooms.  If we're limited in terms of the laboratory experiments that the students are able to do because of the facility, then that limits our ability to teach the students.

LS: Do you view the interim job as a leadership role or a maintenance role?

TP: Quite honestly it depends on the circumstances.  For me every interim position that I've had has been a leadership position in terms of needing to assess the situation and making the necessary adjustments.  And to be a transition person between what currently exists and the new person coming in.

So if I see something that might not be in place exactly the way that it should be then I'll go ahead and move forward on it, because that would be an expectation of the new person coming in that that be in place.

I can give you an example.  When I was here the first time there was no student information system, the computerized system where all the information is integrated.  Anybody who's been in a technically current -- and I won't even say advanced -- technically current school system would have had access to that.

So I just said, "We need to move forward.  We cannot wait for the new person to come in.  We have to get this started, because they're going to expect to come in and be able to access this information."

I've been in that position every time.  When I went to Sodus it was a school  that was struggling academically.  I walked in and two days later the school was identified as a school in need of improvement by the State of New York.  We had no choice.  We had to make changes.

I've enjoyed that and I'm not really sure I could walk in to, say, a three month Interim where they just want you to "hold the fort" until the new superintendent comes in.  I enjoy trying to help a school district move forward.  So I'm not even sure that I would accept a position like that.

But they're out there.  My husband did Interims before I did this.  When he retired in 1990 he did nine interim positions.  And I was a full time superintendent.  And he was really enjoying them and getting a great deal of satisfaction out of doing the Interims.  So he was my role model and that's actually why I started doing it.

But he did have one Interim that was three months in length, and I would say that was pretty much a maintenance position to keep things moving until the new superintendent comes in.  Don't change anything, just keep the status quo.

LS: How well do you work with the Lansing School Board?

TP: I enjoy working with the school board.  This is a school board that was -- certainly not the same school board that I worked with in the '01 - '02 school year.  That school board was basically a brand new school board.  There was no one who was in a second term.  Everybody was in their first term.  And I think we figured that out of seven people they might have had a total of nine years of experience.  It was just unbelievable how little experience they had.

That was one of my greatest satisfactions, working with the school board and seeing them grow in terms of understanding and executing their role as school board members.  I felt we made a lot of progress back then.

Then, when I came back the second time three new school board members were elected just as I left.  Three of the three were there when I came back and two of the three were there this time when I came back.  So some of these people I worked with back in 2001.  I really feel that we've been able to establish a great relationship, and I've enjoyed that.

I walked in on a very new school board when I went to Penn Yan last year also.  And in a district that was in turmoil.  It was similar to this (district) when I walked in in 2001.  It was just very rewarding to see the growth in the schoolboard as well as the growth in the district in terms of communication, getting a level of confidence and trust back again.  It was great.

LS: I noticed that they depend on you for things, and it seems to me that you deliver.

TP: I try.

LS: That made me thing at the last board meeting, how did she ever come up to speed that fast on so many different aspects of what it takes to run a district?

TP: Well, part of it is just the background that you've had as a superintendent.  Quite honestly the job is not that different from district to district, mainly because I've been in very similar school districts.  My districts have been... the largest district was Penn Yan and  that had about 2,500 students in it.  I have not been in a larger school district and would be hesitant, quite honestly, to take something larger.  Because the role of the superintendent changes at that point in terms of what level you get involved with, in terms of the day to day operation of the school district as well as the buildings.

So I have had similar experiences.  What's been an advantage here is the fact that I know a lot of people, and the things that they've talked about I would have been involved with one of the two previous times that I've been here.  So that combination of knowing the district as well as being a superintendent now, for -- I guess this makes fifteen years.

LS: What would you like to say in conclusion?

TP: the community needs to have a level of confidence in the Board of Education.

LS: Do you think that is lacking?

TP: I don't believe it's lacking, but this is a very difficult time for the Board of Education in terms of the seriousness of the decision that they are making.  The community needs to know the extraordinary amount of time these people put into these positions.

It is not a two night a month responsibility especially when you get into this level of involvement with the superintendent search.  But even if we were not doing a superintendent search, these people go to activities, they have their own families and their own responsibilities to the school related to their children, they volunteer to be on other committees.  It's a huge responsibility.

I hope that the community understands that and appreciates this level of volunteerism that these people are contributing to the job.

The schools are very good schools, but, and I have said this in public board meetings, the Lansing School District can rise to another level in terms of the quality of education that it offers.  And I'd like to see the school district step back and look at that and think about our course offerings and student performance and do what's necessary to support taking it up to another level.

And that's for all students.  I'm not talking about just the top students in the district.  I'm talking about all students that attend the school district.

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