OPENING DAY ADDRESS

September 2, 2003

Jeffrey M. Young

Superintendent of Schools

Good morning. I hope you enjoyed breakfast as well as the opportunity to renew friendships with your colleagues.  Let me take a moment to thank the people who made this assembly possible: Mary Burns, Cheryl Kelley, Dede Reade, and Tim Keefe, the head custodian here at Newton North.    

Each year toward the end of August I like to visit the school buildings and inspect the various summer renovation and cleaning projects.  And every year I come away impressed with the dedication and professionalism our school custodians bring to their work.  To Tim Curry and the entire custodial and maintenance staff, we all say a mighty thank you.

The main reason we are able to get back to work in an orderly manner is the extraordinary effort of our secretaries.  These people, whose jobs during the school year run the gamut from assistant principal to surrogate parent, and from crisis counselor to part-time psychologist, keep the system moving.  To Bette Lupo and all the secretaries and support staff ... we’d be lost without you.

            The key to the excellence of this school system is people.  Let me take this moment to recognize the professionals who have given our schools the reputation for excellence they truly deserve.  First let me recognize our twenty-one school principals whose leadership enables teachers and students to do their best work every day.  If you have worked in Newton for 20 years or more, please stand so we may thank you for all you have done and still do every day with students.

The world just seems to come to some people.  From the outside, it appears that some folks have it easier than others, or maybe they just have better luck than the rest of us.  When it comes to sporting events, my son Jon, for whatever cosmic reasons, just seems to be one of those people.  Over the past few years, I have told stories of his exploits at Fenway Park, and I know that many of you think I make this stuff up.  This year, as summer wound on, and we attended our usual handful of Red Sox games, nothing unusual occurred, which got me worried, because now I have raised expectations for these opening day speeches.  So I resolved to tell you what happened when we went to the Fleet Center for a Celtics game last spring..

            [FLEET CENTER story]

            Why do I tell you this story?  Well, aside from keeping my record intact, it really did strike me that the world does seem to come to some people.  As educators, we see this all the time.  Some students just seem to “get it” faster.  Others appear to have all the friends they could possibly desire.  A few look like they lead almost charmed lives. 

            Of course, we know there is always more than meets the eye.  Nothing is as simple as it seems, for children or for adults.  In my work, I often refer to statistics like “11,300 students in our schools” or “nearly 2000 members of our staff” to illustrate the size and complexity of our school system, but I know, as do you, that every one of those 13,000 human beings is a case study.  Each one of us has our private and public successes and struggles.  They are, after all, what makes us human.

Now, as we all know, there are cynics out there who think our professional lives are easy, or that the world just comes to us.  They assert that teachers work short hours or short years, that they get paid too much, or that they are not accountable.  Not only is there more than meets they eye here; nothing could be further from the truth. 

I know the enthusiasm all of you feel for your work because I share that feeling with you.  You know the importance of what you do with children every day, but coupled with that knowledge is a sense that society expects so much of you.  The testing and accountability movement further raises expectations for parents and communities.  Still, 80% of America’s teachers say guidelines for what students should learn helps improve academic performance.  Moreover, a standards-based environment, along with personal attention and innovative practice, is key to narrowing the long-standing achievement gap

As Newton teachers, you believe in high standards—I know this, and I ask you to hold true to these standards, even as you never lose sight of the 20 or 25 individual lives before you in your classroom. 

Consider the diversity in your classroom and think about its implications for your professional work.  The only thing the kids in front of you have in common is their age.  Beyond that, you are faced with it all.   You have the doers and the dreamers, the compliant and the disruptive.  Every day you teach the gifted and the alienated, the disorganized and the studious, the apathetic and the passionate. 

We are so proud of being an inclusive school district, where everyone who comes through the schoolhouse doors is given the opportunity to succeed.  But your labor takes its toll, I know.  The work is exhilarating yet exhausting.  To those who claim the world just comes to us in education, I say, Get a Life!   Walk into a school.  See for yourself.  Watch our staff teach children how to read, compute, think and reflect at the same time we teach them how to tie their shoes, push themselves to their limits, understand their unique place in the world, and respect human differences.  Friends, you are a gift to this community, and I want you to know how much I appreciate your devotion to our extraordinary profession.

No, there is nothing easy about what you do.  On top of the challenges of teaching that transcend the decades, we must adjust constantly to a changing world.  Two years ago I spoke to you in this room on this date, and a week later came September 11.  What will happen this year?  Who dares to predict the future?  Listen to the voices of three purported American visionaries:

“There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.”  So said Robert Millikan, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist in 1920.

Or what of Henry Warner of Warner Brothers Pictures, who in 1927 remarked, “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”

Ken Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corporation in 1977 attempted to foretell the future by observing, “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.”

Consider this simple fact: silicon is the chemical element more abundant in nature than any other except oxygen.  Yet as philosopher Debashis Chatterjee asks, “ Who would have thought that the humble dust we know as silicon would resurrect itself from the sands of time and pave the way for our information revolution?”

How can we possibly keep up?  Beginning this Thursday, when your students arrive, the pace will once again accelerate.  Demands will reach you from all quarters—from your students, from their parents, from your principal, from your colleagues and probably from me.  In this setting, where the world truly does not just come to you, and where the rapid changes of life get played out on the stage of the school, how can we hope to keep centered?

I offer this thought to you today.  To confront the challenges before us, we must have trust and balance. 

First, trust yourself.  If you are new this year to Newton, know that you have been selected from several thousand applicants for teaching positions in our school system.  You are the best of the best, and we have great confidence in your ability to teach.  On the other hand, if you have been in our system for a while, you have developed the wisdom, the skills and the instincts to be successful.  Every one of you should bring to your work every day a strong sense of professional confidence.  I know that you believe you can make a difference in children’s lives

Let us also trust one another.  Each of us has a part to play in making our schools excellent, and no one part is more or less important than any other.   We should trust one another’s ability and willingness to fulfill our responsibilities effectively.  Most important is our communal integrity.  We must trust one another to put the interests of children first, especially when tough decisions have to be made. 

            Finally, let us seek balance.  These days, the seas of society are storm-tossed.  The economy, war, terrorism, fear, stress—all these factors and more make our jobs even more daunting.  Schools must be the safe harbor for children.  We must steer a course that balances individual needs with the general welfare of the community, whether that community is in the classroom or in the city at large.  We need to balance our personal views with those who disagree with us and acknowledge those differences with dignity and respect. 

Always, our rudder remains our core value of respect for human differences— everyone connected to the Newton Public Schools, child and adult, has the right to be themselves and to feel safe in our schools.   Our beacon, of which we must never lose sight, no matter how foggy or stormy the conditions, is the well-being of the 11,300 individual young lives that will be placed in our hands this week.

So you see, while it may appear to some that the world just comes to us, indeed it does not.  Our challenges are plain, our goals are clear.  Trust and balance are our tools.  On the other hand, it doesn’t hurt sometimes to have a little magic to add to the mix.

            So, allow me a minute to tell you one more tale…

A few minutes ago I told you a story about the Fleet Center.  For the past few months, I was comforted knowing I had that story to tell you, because as Jon and I went to Fenway Park for our usual 3 or 4 games this season, all through May, June and July, nothing unusual happened.  Until last week…..

            [FENWAY story]

            I wish all of you a happy, productive year and look forward to seeing you in your school in the coming days.   I also hope you catch a little magic.