Schools

Q&A: Parkway Superintendent Says Boundary Adjustments Needed

Keith Marty shares his experience with redistricting as a parent.

 new superintendent Keith Marty took over the reins officially on July 11, though he's been visiting the district regularly since his hire was announced in January. 

Patch talked with Marty this week about what's coming up in the district and how's been settling into his new role. about developing a strategic plan for Parkway's facilities and beginning ongoing testing. 

Find out what Marty thinks about early childhood education and the upcoming adjustment of elementary school boundaries in the north and central areas of the district.

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Patch: What do you see as the role of early education and programs like Parents as Teachers? How do those fit into where Parkway is going?

Keith Marty: I'm a really big promoter of early childhood education, and I'm really excited about Parkway's commitment to that with the early childhood center. I'm really excited of course about the . I don't know a lot about the Parents as Teachers program, but parents play a key role.

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If, through our early childhood and kindergarten programs, we can emphasize the parental role, and get parents involved and engaged, that's only going to pay dividends throughout the child's education.

I know that kindergarten teachers are starting to meet next week to really make sure we are using the extra time to its full advantage, that we have common curriculum and common assessments. We're going to be doing common assessments in kindergarten as well.

But I think a major piece of that is also how are we engaging the parents? How are we making sure the parents are excited about their children's education, that they're engaged, coming to activities and involved? What kind of suggestions and recommendations can we make to support their work at home? Such as reading lists or nutrition help. And it's not just us telling them, it's also parents giving feedback to us.

Patch:  some of the boundaries in the north and central part of the district with regard to elementary schools. Have you been through a redistricting process before?

Marty: Yes. We planned it in '08-'09 and implemented in '09-'10. There's a saying among superintendents that when you're real serious about redistricting, you better get your resume in order. (Laughs)

In all fairness, I went through redistricting as a parent in the district I came from back in the '90s. And I had two children—one was a first-grader and one was a fifth-grader. Both of them went from this school that we loved and adored, and worse yet, most of their friends were staying behind.

Now I was the assistant superintendent, so I couldn't say too much. But we were very concerned. There were a lot of meetings and I went, but simply because I was with the school, I couldn't yell at my superintendent. But it was concerning to me.

What's good was that the new principal had open houses and invited the kids in. 

I went home early that first day of school in the fall. I wanted to see the kids get off the bus. A little bit of me wanted them to come off crying. And they both come off with smiles on their face. "Oh," my son goes, "It was just great! I met so many new people there." And my daughter was as happy as a lark. Well, the lesson for me in that was, this is an adult issue. Most of us like our schools. We like our PTOs. We like our teachers, our principals. It's comfortable. And then somebody comes along and says oh we're going to switch you over. I know that's pretty traumatic.

So, in (Parkway's) planning—and I've been involved in some initial discussions—we have to make sure that we're making good decisions; that we make sure we put a plan in place that will last for the time that those children are in school, so we're not jerking kids around.

. If you don't make those corrective actions—and I came from a district that put it off for a long time, and it got worse and worse. We just put it off because frankly many of us didn't want to go through it because we knew it'd be traumatic.

But I think districts have to go through it, especially districts this size—there's demographics and neighborhoods that change. We just have to be patient and have good rationale.

More importantly, after the decision is made, we need to really welcome the students. The district I came from, there were a lot of tough meetings, but when we put in plan in place, they were welcomed. Then when school started, there wasn't a peep. I remember going to schools in the new year and visiting PTOs. I'd say, "Well how's the redistricting going?" And they'd say, "Oh, fine!" when a year ago, they were ready to run me out of town!

So it's just something we'll go through. I understand because as a parent I went through it, and boy, it bothered me so much. But I learned that young people are so much more easygoing. They make friends quickly. They're much more flexible.

Check back tomorrow for several more answers from Marty.


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