Archive: Around Town

Dr. Stephen GrimmIn less than two weeks Lansing will have a new Superintendent.  Dr. Stephen Grimm and his wife Miquel are already looking for a home in Lansing as he prepares to take the helm of the Lansing schools on January 2.  In last week's installment of our exclusive interview Grimm talked about what attracted him to Lansing, his educational and personal background, and a bit about his educational philosophy.

In this week's installment he talks about his impressions of Lansing and some of the challenges he will face in a district that has been plagued with interrupted leadership, deteriorating buildings, and financial woes.  Despite these issues Grimm is optimistic.  His approach of looking at the district with new eyes and prioritizing district problems based on the importance given them by stakeholders may be just what the doctor ordered.

Lansing Star:  You must have been back and forth several times in the hiring process.  Did you ever just drive around to look around?

Stephen Grimm: Yes, I did that actually before I applied.  I always like to get a feel for the area.  It's kind of like when you were looking for colleges.  You can't really tell what the place is like until you're there taking it all in.  I did that with my wife and my children.  It was great.

We stopped at the elementary school and let the kids play on the playground equipment.  It passed the test for them!  And they have a twin slide!  We enjoyed the setting of the three schools together on a campus.  We saw the town center -- we just had a good feeling.  We stopped into a restaurant, and a gas station.  We talked with people.  It's a very friendly town.  The proximity to Ithaca is very nice.  You're a small town, but still part of a larger community.

And you can't not say something about the beauty of the lake.  My wife loves the water.  It reminded me of an advertisement for a superintendency back in 2000 that had a picture of a lake, so I just cut out the picture and put it up on the bulletin board behind my chair when I was principal.  Every so often someone would say, 'Where's that?'  I said, 'That's where I'm going to be superintendent,' just joking about it.

Because we liked the idea of 'the ultimate,' the ultimate being the Fingerlakes area, where water is part of daily life and the kids could grow up with that.  It's amazing that it worked out like this.

LS: Let's talk about some of the challenges you'll face in Lansing.  We talked about one of them, getting a superintendent who will stay.  Another is high taxes and budget -- as you know there is a chance of over spending this year.  What do you see as the main challenges?

SG: One of the things I'm going to do is use a practice called 'entry planning.'  That was authored by Barry Jentz.  It's really a process of learning about the district in an in-depth way, almost like a qualitative study where you gather information in a systematic way.  At this time I have a unique opportunity -- and it's an opportunity for Lansing, too -- for me to take a look at where Lansing has been, where we are now, and where we want to be.  The process involves interviewing many of the different stakeholders, and asking them similar questions.

As I'm gathering the information I'm looking for commonalities across the different stakeholder groups and helping identify what the constituents are saying to me and articulating it back out.

Some of the questions are, 'What are the top two or three most important needs in the Lansing school district?' and 'What is important to preserve in Lansing?' and 'What's most important to change?' and 'What are your expectations of me as superintendent?'  Those are asked to all of the different groups, the principals, the teachers, town officials, community members. 

I can say that the budget -- financial planning and financial health -- is one of the most important things I can see.  I wouldn't need to go through an entire entry plan process to know that that's a big issue.

LS: I think there are a lot of challenges there.

SG: That's the most important issue that has presented itself to me so far, not being there.  As you can see from the last board meeting, (Interim Business Administrator) David Klemm and (Interim Superintendent) Thomas Helmer are doing a wonderful job of trying to do an autopsy on this year's budget, and making some projections that will help us determine our actions in the next few months.

I can't imagine that the problem was created in one year, so it will probably take longer than one year to solve it completely.

LS: I think there are a lot of elements to that problem, so I imagine there are a lot of entry points to solving it.

SG: And that's the great thing about the interviews that I'll be doing with stakeholders.  Those items should be surfacing.  My style of leadership will allow those issues to be out in the open.  We'll have to look at the current reality and move forward from there. 

I can't imagine any time when school district budgets are not important.  I don't know of many communities where money is no object.  It's a constant struggle.  Unfortunately schools have to do it every year, to work with the State on how much money we'll have as revenue.  We're always working with limited revenue. 

We have to be very careful that what we're doing is getting us what we want to get.  Connecting our activities and the things that we spend money on to the results that we want to see.  Some refer to that as the antecedents of excellence.  DOug Reeves talks about that, where we try to find out what we're doing and connecting it to outcomes.

LS: I guess some of that and the outcomes are not in the district's control.  There's the income that comes from the state, but the other part is the mandates that may not be funded.  What I've been hearing about the current overspending crisis is that more special needs students entered the district this year, requiring more hiring than was projected.

SG: I'm not sure what the numbers are, but I know they had new residents who needed special education services, and it was after the budget was passed.  That's part of the financial health, that you want to be prepared, looking at historical trends to identify what some of the unexpected costs could be.  To expect the unexpected.  This sounds like ti went farther that and expectations, at least this year.

LS: That certainly can happen, but it makes a lot of parents wonder what is going to happen to general education.

SG: Yes, it's got to come from somewhere.  And that's why it's important to look at the long term financial health of the district.  To try to project what we're going to need for special education.  To look at all of the services that we provide in the district and at BOCES.  To try to maximize the aid that we get.

We also have to make sure that those programs are appropriate for those children.  We need to make sure that we're getting the most for our money.  At Wheaton and at Greece we've looked at what kids are getting in terms of their educational program, and found we could do that for less than that money, and it would be better for our students.

I think that's the most important thing -- that we're meeting the needs of our students in the best way possible.  A good example of that was at the last (Lansing) board meeting where we had a couple of students that are attending one of the BOCES schools.  They talked about how it is life changing for them. 

You can't argue with that.  You can't put a dollar amount on a program that is literally changing someone's life.  So when you see positive programs like that you know that your money is well spent, and it is a good match for that student. 

LS: What are you looking forward to the most about coming to Lansing?

SG: Meeting the people.  Spending the time there to get to know the people behind the names, the personalities.  Especially the students and their dreams and ambitions.  I benefit the most in terms of satisfaction with the relationships I have with people.  Then watching them progress, and measuring individual success and organizational success, and knowing that I've had a hand in helping realize those achievements. 

It's the difference between watching a state semi-final soccer match between two teams that you don't know anybody on, versus watching the team that has the girsl or the boys from your school, and you've known them for five years.  This creates an emotional response that's not there when you're watching people that you don't know.

Getting to know kids and their parents, and people in town so that I can begin to enjoy their successes -- that's what I'm looking forward to.

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