Archive: Around Town

Mark LewisAfter three "permanent" Superintendents of Schools who turned out to not be at all permanent, plus three periods where Dr. Tiffany Phillips filled in as Interim Superintendent while the Board of Education conducted searches for permanent replacements, Lansing finally has a new Superintendent that residents and school officials hope will stay a while.  Dr. Mark Lewis started in Lansing at the beginning of January, jumping into the proverbial frying pan with both feet as the Board of Education seeks to define and get public support for a $40 million dollar capital project.

Dr. Lewis is engaging and personable, and a good listener.  Divorced, he has moved to Lansing with his three dogs.  He has two sons and four grandchildren.  He is just beginning to look for a house in Lansing, while attending many meetings and getting to know the faculty and staff in the district.

We thought our readers would like to get to know Dr. Lewis, so the Star interviewed him last week. The transcript of the interview will be split into a three part series.  In this week's segment the Star asked him about his education and experience, and the path that led him to Lansing.

Lansing Star:  Where did you grow up?

Mark Lewis: I'm a native of central Pennsylvania, Susquehanna Valley, North of Harrisburg about 50 miles or so.  Sunbury, PA is the name of the town.  It's a town of about, well, now it has about 15,000 (people) I guess.  I grew up there.  Graduated from Shikellamy High School.

Lewis (right) working with Board of Education member Dan Brown (left) and President Bonita Lindberg (center)

ML: S-h-i-k-e-l-l-a-m-y.  That was a native American chief in the area and when some towns merged there they changed the school district name from Sun Valley to Shikellamy.  I graduated in '69 and went to Penn. State.  I graduated from Penn State in '74.  I took a year off.  After my junior year the Agnes Flood hit Pennsylvania back in '72, and I went to work at Red Cross Flood Relief for a time and then went back to school for my senior year, because the whole area was devastated as you probably recall.

When I got out of school I worked for Warner Lambert Company for a year as a manufacturers representative.  I didn't go right into teaching English.  In my year in the private sector I just felt this pull toward education, because that's really what I felt my calling was, and I felt like a fish out of water being on the private side.  After about six months in the manufacturers rep. world I started looking back towards public education.  

In '75 I got a job back in my home town, teaching 6th and 7th grade English.  Well, I had some connections.  My father was a principal in Shikellamy.  He was a chemistry teacher and then a principal, so I had that connection.  (Laughs) It certainly didn't hurt.

I've seen every one of my assignments as learning and growing.

I taught for a couple of years there and a few years after that I went to the High School and taught High School English.  While I was working at the High School I enrolled at Bucknell University for my Masters degree.  I got my Masters degree in administration, because in Pennsylvania you don't have to get your Masters degree in your field and then go after your administrative certification.  That satisfies your advanced degree requirement and you can become an administrator.  I happened to like that idea, especially in this era of administrative shortages.

LS: You had an interest in administrating at that time?

ML: Yes.

LS: Was that a goal from the beginning?

ML: No, not really.  My father was an administrator and my uncle was a principal down in Maryland.  I had another uncle who was a department head and I just kind of came by it naturally.  My Father was a big influence on my life, and is a big influence on my life.  He's still alive, thank God.  It was just kind of a natural progression.

I remember when I graduated from Bucknell and I had my administrative certification I was all set to remain in the classroom, because I really enjoyed it.  I loved teaching.  I absolutely loved that period of my life and I never intended to leave it.  But when people start saying to you, 'well you have that administrative certification and you have certain qualities that are strong.  Maybe you ought to pursue it.' So I thought, 'maybe I'll just go on a couple of interviews and see what happens.  Just to see... for my own edification I interviewed in four different places and lo and behod, one of them, Canandaigua, New York called me and offered me the position of Assistant Middle School Principal, a Junior Academy Principal,  back in 1981.

I weighed the options, talked to my wife, and I thought it would be kind of exciting to move to a different area.  Obviously the Finger Lakes are gorgeous.  As soon as we drove up into the Canandaigua area we felt it would be a great place to live, a great place to raise our children.  So I accepted the job.


I was 29 years old then and I was Assistant Principal.  I stayed there for four years and in the process started working on my Doctorate.  On and off I worked on my Doctorate at Syracuse University.  One of my professors called and said, 'If you're interested I've got a great principalship for you.  It's in the Catskills, it's a small school.  You'll learn everything.  You'll learn everything about being a principal because you'll be doing everything and you won't have much help.'  It was a little district called Jeffersonville/Youngsville, which is now Sullivan West.  They merged.

I interviewed and took the job in 1985, a 33 year old principal of grades 2 through 12.  I was there for two years, but I was driving back and forth to Syracuse three days a week working on my Doctorate.  It got kind of old when it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and I knew I'd have to jump in my car and drive 150 miles one way for a three hour class, then turn around and drive back.

As much as I enjoyed it there I talked to my wife and said, 'maybe we should look for a place closer to Syracuse.  It's either that or I have to curtail my program, because it's just not going to work with a 300 mile round trip three days a week.'  

LS: It's brutal.

ML: It's brutal, it's not fair the the school and it's not fair to my family.

I saw the position of Assistant Superintendent in Central Square had opened up, and I interviewed for it.  Gee, it was great chemistry.  I hit it off with the community and the people on the Board of Education.  I was shocked -- they offered me the job!  I remember the evening.  I think I jumped four feet in the air, because it was just so gratifying to be 35 years old and be offered an Assistant Superintendent job in a 5,00 student school district.

Then I stood back and said, 'Wow!  What do Assistant Superintendents in 5,00 student school districts do?'  (Laughs)

But I learned.  I had a great mentor in the late Paul Besser.  He was superintendent there for 10 years.  He just passed away a few years ago.  It was great being back in the Syracuse area, because it was a 15 minute drive to campus.  We built a nice home just off of Oneida Lake and had a wonderful five years there where I really learned central office district administration with the help of Dr. Besser.

My fourth year I talked to him and I said, 'You know I really feel like I want to pursue a superintendency and I'd like your blessing.'  He certainly was supportive.  He was constantly supportive of me.

It's like words and music.  It's curriculum and instruction on one side and the financial piece on the other side.  When they both come together, then you have a comprehensive perspective on the school district operation.  You know what questions to ask.

So I went on a couple of interviews and I missed out on a few of them.  Then Leroy, New York came up.  It was the birthplace of Jello.  You probably know that.

LS: I didn't know that.

ML: It was the birth place of Jello.  So I was called for an interview with the Board of Education, was called back for a second interview with various committees.  I got a phone call from the Board President offering me the position back in 1991.  I was 39 years old.  I knew we'd have to move again, but I took the position in Leroy.

It was a great, again, another learning position.  I've seen every one of my assignments as  learning and growing, and that certainly was.  I remember the Vice President of the Board, who is a good friend of mine.  You probably will know the name when I mention it, because he is the CEO of Tomkins Trust Company now.  His name is Jim Fulmer.  Jim was the Vice President and I remember talking with him... I was a little concerned because I didn't have a business official, and I had very little background in the business side of schools. 

I remember him saying to me, 'Mark, we have faith in you.  You'll learn it.'  I appreciated that.  And I struggled with it for a couple of years, but I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to learn the financial side of the operation, because it was the last piece of the puzzle.  

Some of my colleagues who don't have their background in the financial side... it's like words and music.  It's curriculum and instruction on one side and the financial piece on the other side.  When they both come together, then you have a comprehensive perspective on the school district operation.  You know what questions to ask.  If people ask you on the street about the budget you can converse with them, where I couldn't before.

I was also able to make sure the way we structured the budget meant we were able to were able to fund the priorities as the Board of Ed. saw them.  It just was a credibility builder all the way around.

Meeting with State Senator Nozzolio and Lansing Town Superviser Steve Farkas along with Board of Education members and school administrators

I said to myself, 'This is a great assignment and I love Leroy, but I'll probably only be here a couple of years and then I'll move on.'  But I fell in love with the town, the people... it was just a phenomenal area.  I spent seven years there.  I spent seven wonderful years there, and I look back on my time there very fondly.

We had a couple of construction projects while I was there. We had to renovate the buildings.  One building was built in, I believe, in 1909 and the other in 1925, so they were due.  And since I left they built a new High School, a $14 million dollar school I believe it was at the time that I left -- it would be a lot more now.

In my sixth year there I talked to the Board of Education.  You're constantly getting phone calls from head hunters, because there is such a dire shortage.  It's not because I have any great skills or talent, but there's a grave shortage of superintendents out there.  It's only going to get worse.

LS: Is that part of a way of life for administrators now?

ML: Yes and no.  In terms of ascendency to superintendent, you mean, or moving around?

LS: Moving around.  Getting these calls.

ML: Absolutely, because whether or not you want to remain in a community, which I do now.  Especially in my time of life, I'm not looking to move.  I'm 54 years old.  I've said to this Board of Education and this community that this is my last superintendency.  I would hope that my tenure here will be as long as my other two superintendencies, if not longer.

So when head hunters call now I'm out of the market.  But especially for those superintendents or assistant superintendents and principals who are in their late 30s, early 40s, who really are quality people -- they're being besieged, these days, by head hunters.  'Please, can I through your hat in the ring?' etc.

I had my first Superintendent's meeting here about three weeks ago and at one time, when I'd look around the table, I was the youngest person at the table.  I look around the table now and I think I'm the oldest.  (Laughs)  One of the older if not the oldest person at the table.  So time flies in that regard.

LS: What brought you to Brewster, where you were before coming here?

ML: I had recalled seeing the ad for the Brewster superintendency in one of the journals and my brother, who lives in Manhattan, had a weekend home in Connecticut.  I used to drive over to see him and I drove through Brewster one day.  I looked at the schools, I looked at the community, I talked to some people.  My son was also living in Manhattan.  So I had my brother in Manhattan, my son in Manhattan, my other son was intending to move into Connecticut.  So I thought, 'well gee I have an opportunity to be close to my two sons and my brother.

I interviewed for the position, and they offered me the position.  I spent seven years there.  It was seven great years.  We doubled the size of the High School -- I'm saying 'we' because certainly that's a team effort.  It takes the support of the community and it takes a visionary Board of Education and a committed staff to be able to do those things.  In those seven years Brewster ended up being a great school district.

And the thing that impresses me, the thing that really won me over in wanting to come to this area was the engaged people here and the friendliness of the people here.

But I always had this yearning to come back to the Syracuse area.  It kind of hit home...  I hadn't been in Syracuse for a number of years, and I went to Syracuse for a conference back about nine months ago, and I drove through this area, you know, up through the lake.  Up through Skaneateles.

I recall it was late in the day.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun shone on Cayuga Lake.  I thought 'this is really a beautiful, beautiful area and maybe it's time for me to consider relocating.'  Because seven years in one position, and looking back on all that was accomplished... you want to always leave a winner.

LS: I saw an article in an on-line Brewster paper and I got the impression from it that you were thinking of leaving.  I don't know whether it was because you were interviewing here...  It said you had put off your contract negotiation until January...

ML: The Board was starting to change.  You could see the priorities of the Board of Education were changing and my vision of what the district should be and the majority vision... you could see that we were going in opposite directions.  You know, when you forecasted that too far down the road it didn't look good.

Before you get into that position where you're at polar odds with the governing body of the district you want to sit down with them and say, 'look, maybe it's time for me to leave.  I'd ask your blessing in that.'  And they did give me their blessing.

There  were only two original board members left of the seven who had hired me.  And I could see there was a divergence of perspective on the way the district should go.

LS: So with that experience was that one of the things you were looking for in a new district?  In terms of sounding out our school board on their philosophy and directions they saw the district going in?

ML: I did a lot of research on Lansing.  I looked at the Web site.  I toured the town.  I talked to people.  You know, 'What's the school district like?  What's the community like?'

And the thing that impresses me, the thing that really won me over in wanting to come to this area was the engaged people here and the friendliness of the people here.  They have made me feel so welcome and it couldn't be nicer.  That's a nice position to be in, it really is.  I look forward to getting to know the community in a far greater fashion than I do now.

So with respect to Brewster, I could see there were storm clouds looming.  After so many years it's a good thing to keep your options open and that's what I did.

Next week Dr. Lewis talks about his first weeks as Lansing Superintendent, technology in the classroom, dealing with rising costs and long-term leadership.

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