An Italian-born educator assumes the top job in Fulton County Public Schools on Wednesday, promising to end the revolving door to the superintendent’s office and to be a champion for all students.
Robert Avossa, who is Fulton’s seventh school superintendent in 14 years, spoke with staff writer Nancy Badertscher. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Q: You’ve spent some time in recent weeks in the school system. What do you view as its greatest strengths and weaknesses?
A: I think it's early to sort of call out weaknesses. But, generally, I liked what I saw in the schools I visited. I saw engaged teachers and principals who were building culturals of ownership and excitement about learning and teaching. I think Dr. [Cindy] Loe has really focused on curriculum and instruction over the last three years [as superintendent], and I was excited to see a sort of renewed energy around learning and teaching, which should be the top priority.
Q: You heard some concerns about the long-standing perception of inequity in both academic achievement and funding between the south and north sides of the county. What's your response?
A: Whether it's a perception or not, I don't know that. It's my understanding that some of the folks are upset about disparities in student outcomes, SAT scores. I like the fact that folks are focused on the college-going metrics. Whether or not there are funding issues -- it appears there are not. It appears it's formulaic. As I listen and learn, I want to keep that top of mind. I want to understand how financial resources are distributed. Are we making the best use of our dollars? We’ve only got a couple of resources at hand. And it's our responsibility to make the best use of those dollars and to leverage them to help all students. We really need to focus on the achievement gap. And we can’t do it alone. We need to have the parental community engaged, and the community in general engaged.
Q: You've mentioned getting faith-based groups involved. How would that work?
A: In Charlotte, what we did was we listened to the faith-based community. It started out as an opportunity to engage them around the calendar. Then it was volunteering and adopting schools. We trained folks so there was never a perception of religion or trying to change people's religion. We never ever had one issue about that that I can recall. We had a Jewish temple that adopted a predominantly African-American school, provided backpacks and school supplies and, more importantly, partnered with kids and they mentored and they tutored. I think that's the way to go if the community is interested. Just because we tried things in Charlotte doesn't mean the community here will be interested.
Q: I know some school board members have thought that the pace of academic achievement hasn't moved as quickly as they would like. What do you think?
A: I need to sit down and look with a little more specificity at the trends and what's happening vs. the other large urban districts. But in general, I would say the pace is slow. The expectation of the board is to do better. I'm going to spend the first 90 days on the job listening, and seeing what's working and what's not and where I need to focus my attention and energy. We did a deep dive in Charlotte and found reducing class size by two wasn't really a huge advantage for us. We reallocated resources, and let principals and schools decide how to leverage their dollars, and they found more creative ways that showed greater student achievement.
Q: What do you think of the possible move to a charter school system?
A: We would need to flesh out some of the ideas a little more broadly. We've not had a public conversation about that, but we're planning on doing that pretty shortly. I am excited about the opportunities there, but I am reserved about it because there are no other large districts in the state that have tried it. But I am cautiously optimistic. I am a bit of a calculated risk taker. But there's nothing wrong with thinking outside of the box. We may need to think a little differently about school ownership and governance.
Q: Where are you on pay for performance for teachers?
A: My personal opinion is top performers ought to be paid in a differentiated fashion.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
A: I am a teacher and coach at heart. I try to work with folks, encourage them. If some are very capable and delivering results, I need to find opportunities to get out of the way. Others who aren't producing results and supporting schools the way they ought to be, my style will be different and much more hands-on.
Q: What are your expectations for yourself?
A: I have three goals for the first 90 days. They are to: establish an efficient and orderly transition of leadership that keeps a focus on student achievement and effective day-to-day operations; develop a productive and collaborative relationship with staff, community and the school board; and create opportunities to listen broadly to multiple community and stakeholder groups.
Fulton County School Superintendent Robert Avossa
Born: Naples, Italy; moved to U.S. at age 4
Age: 39
Most recent job: Chief strategy and accountability officer, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Charlotte
Fulton contract: $238,000 a year for three years, an $800-a-month car allowance, moving expenses, a housing allowance for six months and about $40,000 in retirement benefits
Education: Bachelor's degree in exceptional education and behavioral disorders and master's degree in special education, both from the University of South Florida; specialist's degree in educational leadership, Nova Southeastern University; current doctoral candidate, Wingate University.
Personal: His wife, Kellee, is a former high school chemistry teacher. His two children will be enrolling in Fulton schools -- one entering kindergarten, one third grade.
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