New Lakeville Superintendent Sets Tone For District

In what amounted to one of the first public opportunities to talk in depth about the Lakeville school district, set a new and clear tone for the district.

“Part of what I’m here for is to help this fine organization go from good to great,” she said. “And while we have reason to be proud, it’s also clear we need to look at education differently.”

Snyder spoke for nearly 45 minutes to the roughly 200 guests on hand at restaurant for the annual State of the School luncheon on Wednesday afternoon.

She was happy to lay out the many areas the are doing things right, but in a departure from speeches from her predecessor, Snyder was brutally honest as she outlined areas she said the district needed improvement.

Snyder hinted that the most recent strategic plan, approved by the board in 2008, is nearly obsolete.

“Education is changing rapidly,” she said. “(The strategic plan) focused on academic achievement—and it’s a key measure—but we know that it’s broader than that.” She said the community needs a “more comprehensive view of our district.”

And that, Snyder said, requires collaboration.

“It needs to be a collective vision, not Lisa Snyder’s vision,” she said.

But Snyder outlined a number of “opportunities” that, in her estimation, are areas for needed improvement. Those areas included the need for to entice more community connectedness, the alignment of systems through shared autonomy, better cultural literacy, fiscal transparency, and more broad assessment data for 21st Century skills that will help students enter the business world.

On the other hand, Snyder was also prideful of the strengths the district has, such as a strong universal curriculum with academic rigor, wonderful gifted programming, a highly experienced staff, strong leaders, and involved parents.

“We have a lot to be proud of,” she said. “But we can do better.”

Snyder said staff and the board will be working hard to develop a new “District Dashboard of Quality Indicators” which will help get a “comprehensive view of organizational effectiveness.”

And while nothing is set on how to improve, Snyder said improvement is a necessity.

“We have great students and wonderful teachers,” she said. “But we can improve.”