October 8, 2009

Super schooling
Mark Conrad takes reins of Nashua school district
By Jeff Mucciarone jmucciarone@hippopress.com

New Nashua Superintendent of Schools Mark Conrad is hoping to bring some stability to the district. After spending a decade as Nashua’s business administrator, he took a job as chief financial officer in the Bedford school district in 2006. Now, following Chris Hottel’s departure, Conrad is back in Nashua. After conducting an open search this past spring, the school board picked Conrad for the post in June. Conrad, 50, also spent six years as business manager in the Topsham, Maine, school district.

Q:How’s it going so far?
I think it’s going very well. We had a very good opening of the school year and the enthusiasm has carried over into the beginning of the year.

What are some areas you’re trying to focus on this year?
I think there are a number of areas for focus. The board of education...just approved a new five-year strategic plan for the school district. At the same time, the administration over the last three years has begun a number of education initiatives … things like strengthening pathways for student achievement at the high school level, developing strong teacher teams, being able to use data to identify improvements in instruction that students may need before they fail, really use teacher collaboration to raise students’ expectations of student achievement. ... We have a number of significant education initiatives, a literacy initiative that we’ve been pursuing for a year. Students who may be less than proficient in literacy areas are beginning to see some of these initiatives provide results for us. We’ve seen a significant reduction in our dropout rate at the high school. I think the focus will be on integrating our instructional initiatives into our strategic plan. I think there’s a good degree of alignment between the two.

[Conrad touched on the school district’s budget issues.]
I think the second focus of this year will become our budget process. Certainly we’ve had significant difficulties. We had a budget shortfall going into this year. We’ve made some difficult decisions to cut the budget to reduce the projected budget shortfall. We continue to have a shortfall of $850,000. The board of education and the board of mayor and aldermen are working to identify funds for that. We’re also anticipating a very difficult year coming up for Fiscal Year 2011. Our challenge will be to work with very limited resources…. [Conrad also mentioned the district needs to develop a plan for maintaining its technology infrastructure, specifically its 3,000 computers.]

Of course communities statewide are having tough times with their budgets, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, does it?
Right. I think our strategic plan was very important to us. ...it allows us to understand the things we do want to try to protect and identify places that are less critical.... It is a challenge. It’s a challenge for us as a district that begins its cost per pupil significantly below the state average. And the student body is becoming ever more diverse with ever more diverse needs.

What drew you to come back to Nashua?
It’s really an amazing district. It’s a district that has not only a talented and dedicated staff, but a staff that works in the spirit of innovation to look at ways to improve education. It’s a district that enjoys tremendous support from the community. You see that in parent volunteer hours. You see that in active PTOs. You see that in the business community.... It has all the right elements to become a high-performing district. When you couple that with the diversity and needs of the community, it truly is a position where you can make a difference. And it’s the community where I live and where I raise my children.

Looking at yourself, what are some attributes you have that will help you succeed?
I think we have all the elements for success. I want to create an environment of collaboration where good ideas can rise to the surface for discussion. I think at this point in time the district requires stability so it can stay focused on the task at hand. I think I can bring that stability. In any endeavor of this nature, you need to be able to communicate a clear vision and I think I have the communication skills for carrying forward on that vision.

With the diversity in the district and the community, it would seem you have an interesting opportunity ahead of you.
I think it does. ... there are many different types of diversity, there’s ethnic and racial diversity and there’s also socioeconomic diversity. I wanted to raise my children here because it reflects the microcosm of American society. [Conrad mentioned a recent news article that focused on a high school soccer team in Nashua on which seven or eight nationalities are represented.] You can really bring the world into the classroom with all the different perspectives. I think that’s very exciting. It also presents challenges …. We have many English language learners. Many come from challenging environments and they bring certain needs into the classroom. That’s where we can make a big difference. ... The fact is all of the students can be successful regardless of their backgrounds. It’s a matter of making sure every student meets their potential …. — Jeff Mucciarone