Savannah School Super held town hall and shared 100-day plan status
At Herman W. Hesse K-8 School last Wednesday, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) Superintendent Denise Watts, Ed.D, held the first of her Community Conversation Town Halls. The listening sessions are part of an effort by Watts to “learn about the values, expectations, and goals of the community.”
District 1 School Board Member, Denise Grabowski hosted the event. Her district encompasses Charles Ellis Montessori, Heard Elementary, Hesse K-8, Isle of Hope K-8, J.G. Smith Elementary, Savannah Arts Academy, The STEM Academy at Bartlett Middle School and White Bluff Elementary. Grabowski began the evening by welcoming the crowd of roughly 80-90 attendees, many of whom were district employees and teachers. She then introduced Watts.
“Her [Watts’s] way of thinking, of communicating and really understanding the complexities of a district and connecting the dots to me that's what really was one of the things that resonates the most,” said Grabowski.
Watts started by connecting the dots of her personal and professional life. She shared about her family life growing up in North Carolina in a single-parent home. She talked about how she thrived at school because, “Teachers and coaches often saw more in me than I could see in myself.” She had support from educators from the third grade on.
She then shared that her sister did not have a similar educational experience. Her sister ultimately struggled through life and passed away at 31. Watts shared her story to underscore that she is “100% clear education is a difference maker.”
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Superintendent’s 100-Day Entry Plan status
Wednesday night’s event was part of her 100-Day Entry Plan, about which she provided a few updates. She outlined her desire to be the “lead learner" in the district. She is closing in on the 75-day mark on Oct. 23 with day 100 landing on Nov. 30. She plans to provide the following key deliverables during Phase Four of her plan at the beginning of December:
A full schedule of opportunities for continuous feedback, collaboration, and engagement
A comprehensive summary report of the key findings, observations, and information gained from my “listening and learning” engagement activities
A presentation to the Board and other stakeholder groups
A schedule for another round of engagement opportunities to inform additional strategic plan development
Immediate actions/solutions on issues that warrant short-term resolution
She expressed that she understood that the school board hired her to do more than “spend 100 days listening and learning. Somebody expects me to take action.” She had established three key priorities:
Maintaining a relationship-building and learning orientation;
Advancing literacy as the “North Star;” and,
Establishing the organizational conditions, culture and structures to optimize district performance.
Community's thoughts
SCCPSS Chief Public Affairs and Administrative Services Officer Kurt Hetager led the audience through series of real-time surveys. Questions covered thoughts on how to increase student academic outcomes, and what leaders should focus on as key priorities. Then newly hired Deputy of Strategy, Innovation and Performance, Stacy Taylor, and other district administrators lead breakout groups. The groups discussed what assets they felt the district possessed as well as what aspects might be barriers to improvement.
Watts asserted, “There are things and problems to work on, but I am going to do that from a positive orientation.” She explained that she will work with the district’s assets rather than only looking at its deficits.
SCCPSS assets from the community’s perspective ranged from STEAM programs to career-preparedness opportunities. Concerns covered everything from need for more school resources (particularly related to the budding Hispanic community and students with disabilities), to teacher retention, use of federal government funds (such as CARES Act grants) and equity across neighborhoods. Equity discussions related to resources and teacher quality throughout the district, but also in regard to the choice school programs. One group member wondered aloud if choice schools were even legal under Georgia Law, especially if current SCCPSS transportation policies essentially eliminated choice schools as an option for certain families.
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More opportunities to connect
The Community Conversations Town Hall was the first in a series of chances to connect with the superintendent and other district leaders. Upcoming Community Conversations event information can be found at SCCPSS’s events page:
6 p.m., Oct. 18, at Islands High School, 170 Whitemarsh Island Road, for District 4 schools
6 p.m., Oct. 25, at Jenkins High School, 1800 E., Derenne Ave., for Districts 2 and 3 schools
6 p.m., Nov. 6, at Beach High School, 3001 Hopkins St., for Districts 5 and 8 schools
Grabowski stated that even though the Community Conversations Town Halls have been broken down by Districts, they are open for all to attend. For more information, community members can call (912) 395-5538.
Watts connects with READ Savannah taskforce
Another component of her 100-Day Plan is to engage with community partners. Ahead of her Wednesday night town hall, Watts also met with Mayor Van Johnson’s READ Savannah Taskforce on Tuesday. She provided an overview of how literacy is the district’s top priority. She emphasized the need for community, parental and school leaders engagement for literacy initiatives to be successful. She also reiterated her assertion from the SCCPSS Literacy Kickoff that book rallies are positive events but not going to address literacy development of students, especially in homes where adults are literacy challenged.
Watts left members of READ Savannah with three key follow ups. One was to “keep doing the work that you have been doing as it is does help.” The work Watts referred to was not made explicitly clear in the meeting.
The second action would be to allow Watts time to complete interviews and the hiring process for the Literacy Effectiveness Officer. The new role will oversee all literacy training and literacy curriculum development for SCCPSS.
Lastly, Watts asked READ Savannah members to dig deep into the science of reading if they were not already familiar with it. She also encouraged them to attend the public screening of The Right to Read on Nov. 13 during Chatham County Literacy Week as it highlights literacy challenges facing the nation as a whole.
READ task force chair, Zelonia Williams, and the other members seemed energized by Watts’s vision. They discussed being an effective community partner by assessing their impact, thus far. Williams said, “We’re done with setting up tables and simply reading to children. We’re ready to do what we need to do to make the community literate.” All parties left the meeting with the intent to regroup in a few weeks on next steps.
The READ Savannah Taskforce was formed in Oct. 2021 by Johnson. Its mission, as articulated by Williams back in 2021, is “to provide collaborative opportunities and resources to facilitate effective and measurable outcomes in literacy among Savannahians.” The Savannah Morning News has requested and is still awaiting an official update on what those resources and measurable outcomes might be.
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at jschwartzburt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: savannah superintendent held town hall with 100-day plan updates
