NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle Board of Education is expected to announce that they have hired Brian Osborne to be the next Superintendent of Schools for the City School District of New Rochelle.
Osborne is currently the Superintendent of the South Orange-Maplewood School District, a district with approximately 6,600 students and 500 faculty members.
OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Board of Education Announces Appointment of New Superintendent
In 2013, Osborne was offered the Superintendency of the Ann Arbor, Michigan School District but declined to accept the position citing “a developing family issue,” and concerns about moving his family from the East Coast.
At the time, Osborne said:
When approached about the superintendency of Ann Arbor, I responded because Ann Arbor embodies the qualities and values that originally drew me to the South Orange Maplewood School District (SOMSD), and have made the work there so meaningful. They are both communities that cherish public education, value diversity, and are willing to address issues of race, class, and student outcomes. For our nation to make good on its promise of equal opportunity, all children must be fully challenged and supported, and leadership must ensure that diverse districts like these achieve equity and excellence for all kids.
Brian started out as a Teach for America teacher. You might know what TFA is–it’s a program that takes high-performing college graduates and puts them in inner city schools with only a small amount of training for a two-year commitment. Some of them (most of them, I think) leave teaching after their two year commitment is up. It’s attractive to urban school districts because the TFA teachers cost less. I’m kind of agnostic regarding TFA. For the most part, I think it’s a great experience for the TFA teachers, but may not be so great for the students, who get constant turnover and new teachers. Teachers who are new to teaching are not going to be as good as teachers who have a few years experience.
Anyway, Brian stayed in education. Of the three non-local candidates, he certainly has the most elite (as in competitive universities) background, with an A.B. from Colgate University, a M.A.T. from New York University and an Ed.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
He went through Harvard’s Urban Superintendents program, and he is affiliated with the SUPES Academy. I know, I haven’t had time to write this post yet, but the SUPES Academy appears to be (since 2011) the successor to the Broad Academy that I have written about previously. He is also connected to several people who are affiliated with the “education reform” movement–most notably Joel Klein, whom he worked with in New York City, and Andres Alonso, who wrote a recommendation for him, saying that he “recruited him to be part of the Children First reform.
h/t Ruth at Ann Arbor Schools Musings
South Orange-Maplewood School District — as of October 15 there are a total of 6,625 students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12 as follows:
Columbia High School – 1858;
Maplewood Middle School – 738;
South Orange Middle School – 711;
Clinton Elementary School – 506;
Jefferson Elementary School – 527;
Marshall Elementary School – 511;
Seth Boyden Elementary School – 537;
South Mountain Elementary School – 619;
Tuscan Elementary School – 618.
South Orange and Maplewood School District web site
Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending 2013 – SOUTH ORANGE-MAPLEWOOD
2014-15 South Orange and Maplewood School District Budget Information
JANUARY 15, 2014 South Orange – Maplewood Superintendent Delivers State of School District
Here is a portion of the report, which is available in its entirety online here: “State of the District, January 2014”:
Vision: The South Orange-Maplewood School District will be the top-performing diverse suburban school district in the nation.
Our Mission: To prepare each and every student, regardless of demographic or socioeconomic background, for postsecondary educational success, and to educate all students to be responsible and productive members of the global society at large, and especially:
• caring, collaborative and ethical people
• critical thinkers and problem solvers
• effective writers and speakers
• thoughtful consumers and producers of media
• lifelong learners
Core Values: We measure success by student growth and achievement.
Every student is worthy of intellectual, social, and emotional respect Effective teaching is essential.
Quality education demands genuine appreciation of differences.
We can all learn from each other.
Parents and guardians are our partners.
Demography should not be destiny, academically or otherwise.
All students deserve the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential.
Preamble
These district goals establish the ends by which the district‘s success in fulfilling its mission of educating students shall be measured from 2011-14. Each of these goals, and the underlying objectives, is important and relates to the others.
No objective shall be considered met if its achievement comes through the erosion of another objective‘s baselines.
These goals—specifically their achievement or lack thereof—shall form the primary basis for evaluation of the superintendent by the board. The board presents this document as the primary statement of priorities that shall govern the initiatives, and budget allocations in 2011-12. Each year the board will review and amend these goals by resolution, including resetting and adding milestones.
Lastly, the board wishes to emphasize that the schools of South Orange-Maplewood seek to educate the complete student, utilizing a broad and diverse curriculum that includes art, music, languages, technology, physical education and other subjects that may not be mentioned as priorities in the goals that follow. Although continuing improvement in the quality of language-arts and math instruction is an essential priority (as indicated in Goal One), it is not the board‘s intent that such improvement should occur through a de-emphasis of the arts, humanities and sciences.
Roles
The board has a responsibility to ensure that the district goals reflect community values, to establish the necessary policies to achieve the goals, and to communicate with the community about the goals and progress toward them.
The superintendent is responsible for progress toward the goals, through the management of all staff to achieve clearly stated milestones. The board shall evaluate his performance by assessing success against the milestones on an annual basis.
Definitions
Each of the four district goals has four or five components:
Goal statement. Articulation of the fundamental, long-term aspirations for the schools of South Orange- Maplewood.
Objectives. Major components of the goals.
Indicators. Criteria used to evaluate progress toward the objectives. They consist of types of information, both
quantitative and qualitative, that can reasonably be used to evaluate progress. Baselines. Articulation of the current status for each indicator.
Milestones. One-year targets that serve as the primary basis for measuring the district‘s progress and the chief means among several for evaluating the superintendent‘s annual performance.
Other terms:
Rigorous. Defined by Common Core Curriculum principles as ―robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting
the knowledge and skills that our young people will need for success in college and careers.‖
Differentiated Instruction. Provision of appropriate instructional materials and approaches to facilitate student learning of same curriculum.
Goals: Articulation of the fundamental, long-term aspirations for the schools of South Orange-Maplewood.
1. Student Learning: Promote the intellectual growth of all students.
2. Professional Staff: Consistently and collaboratively lead students of diverse backgrounds and learning styles to learn at or above the appropriate grade-level standards.
3. Engagement and Outreach: Engage parents and students to be partners with staff in facilitating learning both in and out of school.
4. Resource Management: Pursue and achieve Goals 1-3 while slowing the rate of increase in operating expenditures.
Objectives: These 11 objectives are the road map that explains how the district will reach its goals. Each of the objectives has a set of specific indicators that provide a more detailed explanation of exactly what needs to be done to implement that particular objective.
1. Students will demonstrate proficiency on key benchmarks to postsecondary readiness equal to or better than peer districts (District Factor Group ―”I”).
2. Rigorous curricula, differentiated instruction and expanded learning opportunities will enable all students to thrive and fulfill their academic potential.
3. Professional development programs and activities will strengthen district faculty’s ability to contribute to measurable improvements in student achievement.
4. Recruitment and hiring will increase the quality and diversity of the professional staff.
5. A performance evaluation and compensation system will be driven by objective measures that are tied to student learning and school/district goals.
6. A staff recognition program will identify and celebrate excellent teaching.
7. Parents will receive timely information about their children, their schools and the District and be engaged in the education of their children and their schools.
8. The South Orange-Maplewood Public Schools will communicate with the School District community to foster transparency, accountability and community engagement with respect to the development and implementation of District policies.
9. A variety of communications tools will be used to regularly share with parents, students and the South Orange-Maplewood community positive information about our District, schools, staff and students, celebrating in particular the achievements of our students and staff.
10. A transparent, efficient budget that aligns with and supports the attainment of district goals and that reins in spending on budget categories that are rising at a faster rate than the cost of living.
11. Well-maintained and safe facilities that enable focused and effective teaching and learning, and that are repaired and updated in an architecturally sensitive and fiscally responsible manner.
The video of the report will be available on demand by Friday, January 17 at http://somatv.pegcentral.com/
JANUARY 16, 2014: South Orange and Maplewood Superintendent Dr. Brian Osborne gave the annual State of the District address on Wednesday
JULY 23, 2013: Board Votes Superintendent Osborne $220K Salary
APRIL 5, 2009: South Orange/Maplewood superintendent gets new contract
The superintendent, Brian Osborne, was offered and accepted a new four-year contract in mid-March and promptly donated the 3.25 percent raise he is due to the South Orange-Maplewood Educational Foundation.
Osborne came to the roughly 6,000-student district in 2007 after a tenure with the New York City Department of Education. He last served in New York as chief of staff for the deputy chancellor for teaching and learning. He was also a fifth-grade teacher in Harlem.
Osborne, who is writing his doctoral dissertation at Harvard, said he looks forward to the challenge of advancing and improving education in what he called a uniquely diverse district because of its increasingly varied demographics, which lately includes a growing number of Haitian and Nigerian students.
“Our public schools are still struggling to ensure that every kid gets an excellent education,” he said. “So we have an equity mission, in short. And that’s what I’m concerned about.”
UPDATED MONDAY JUNE 2, 2014
Brian Osborne Cover Letter & Resume related to Ann Arbor Superintendency
Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education
June 13,2013
Dear Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education members:
Ann Arbor’s students deserve a leader who has the experience, capacity and determination to create a system that challenges and supports every single student without exception. I would love to be that leader, and believe that Ann Arbor is an ideal fit for me to lead, learn, and serve with you as your Superintendent.
In many ways, I have prepared my entire life for this assignment. My parents raised me in Oak Park, Illinois, because they valued high quality public education in a diverse community. They gauged their high expectations of me as much by the kind of person I was becoming as by my academic achievement.
Teaching in the challenged neighborhoods of Washington Heights and the South Bronx, I developed a passion for teaching and sense of urgency about my students’ futures, and decided to dedicate my life’s work to creating schools that demanded and supported excellence for every child.
Since then, I have grown my leadership capacity through practice and scholarship, becoming an increasingly effective district leader with an unrelenting focus on teaching and learning. Starting a new school in the South Bronx early in my career allowed me the opportunity to build every aspect of an entire school from scratch, and I learned the importance of creating a school culture that refuses to give up on any student. The Harvard Urban Superintendents Program provided the most intensive theoretical and practical training available, as well as the experience of deep analysis inherent in dissertation writing. Leading in tJ1e complex and vast New York City Department of Education during a time of dramatic change gave me an understanding of working at a large scale, and sharpened my leadership, operational, financial, and political skills.
Most importantly, my past six years as Superintendent of School in South Orange-Maplewood School District (SOMSD) has more fully prepared me for Ann Arbor and allowed me to build a track record of demonstrable success. While there is still a tremendous amount that needs to be addressed in SOMSD, we have made substantial improvements across all areas, resulting in a changed culture, one that now more fully challenges and supports every student.
Through sustained and coordinated district and Board leadership, student learning, as measured by state assessments, has increased at the same time as we have strengthened the community’s commitment to programs in non-tested subjects, especially the arts, physical education, and athletics, with creative approaches to expansion through partnership, even during a difficult economic recession.
Student achievement indicators demonstrate a narrowed the racial achievement gap while high end performance has improved substantially, outpacing gains in advanced proficient scores in comparable districts. Suspensions are down dramatically, performance is up significantly, and the percentage of graduates matriculating to college has increased by ten percentage points as a result of our emphasis on college readiness.
Fiscally, we targeted resources more directly to instruction and reduced the year-over-year tax impact while making very real tremendous progress in student learning, minimizing cuts to existing programs, holding the line on class size and honoring our long-standing commitment to the rich array of AP classes, honors classes, arts programs, clubs, activities, and athletics.
All this leads me to apply for the position of Superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools. Ann Arbor is exactly the kind of community that I want to live in, support, and lead. The best of America is when people choose proactively to seek out diversity, raise their children to appreciate difference, and work together to meet the challenges that come with such decisions. Ann Arbor’s fundamental challenge is to build on its tremendous capacity to create the belief system, culture, and opportunities needed to narrow achievement gaps and ensure excellence for all. With the global economy and job market forever changed by automation and outsourcing, the demands on our children’s education have never been greater.
I would be honored to join you in leading Ann Arbor’s quest to meet those challenges and become the place that truly prepares all students for the world they wiJI inherit.
Thank you, and best wishes to you in your selection process.
Sincerely,
Brian G. Osborne
Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Search Information 2013 – FINALIST INTERVIEWS
Trustees selected 2 candidates to bring forward for site visits and final interviews. Dr. Jeanice Swift of Colorado Springs, CO, and Dr. Brian Osborne of Newark, NJ.
On 7/11 and 7/12, Trustees Thomas and Baskett visited the candidates’ home school district to meet with staff, board members and community leaders.
The two finalists will return to Ann Arbor next week for their final interviews. Each candidate will spend one day in the district meeting with staff, touring the community, and visiting our schools. As part of their visit there is an opportunity for the community to attend an evening session with each candidate to meet them and to ask them questions:
Dr. Jeanice Swift
Tuesday, July 16 at 7pm
Skyline High School – Media CenterDr. Brian Osborne
Wednesday, July 17 at 7pm
Skyline High School – Media CenterThe Board will hold a meeting on Friday, July 19 at 5:30pm at the Balas Administration Building, to make the final selection for superintendent. This meeting is open to the public.
Community Q-&-A: Superintendent finalist Brian Osborne in the hot seat by Danielle Arndt (AnnArbor.com)
Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent finalist Brian Osborne will answer questions from the community Wednesday night in a public forum, and AnnArbor.com will be covering it live.
New Jersey superintendent Brian Osborne discusses his 90-day entry plan for the job of Ann Arbor superintendent to the Board of Education on Wednesday, July 17, 2013, at Skyline High School.
Osborne, superintendent of South Orange and Maplewood School District in New Jersey, is one of two candidates who advanced to the final round of interviews in Ann Arbor’s search for its next superintendent. Former Superintendent Patricia Green retired last week after two years with AAPS.
The other finalist, Jeanice Kerr Swift, an assistant superintendent from Colorado Springs, completed her interview and public Q-&-A session Tuesday. The Board of Education is expected to name either Swift or Osborne as the next top official of the Ann Arbor schools at 5:30 p.m. Friday.Osborne spent Wednesday touring the district and meeting with key staff, parents and community members. At 1:15 p.m., he had his final interview with the school board and presented his 90-day entry plan for how he would spend his first three months in the district if selected to assume the role of superintendent.
Read the live blog from this afternoon’s interview and presentation.
The community Q-&-A session with Osborne will begin at 7 p.m. in the Skyline High School Media Center, 2552 N. Maple Road, on the third floor. Follow along with the meeting in the live blog below.
Ann Arbor school board votes to offer Brian Osborne superintendency by Danielle Arndt (AnnArbor.com)
Brian Osborne will be offered the Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent job.
Osborne currently is the superintendent of South Orange and Maplewood School District. He he’s been at the district for about 6 years.
Osborne was selected over Jeanice Kerr Swift, the assistant superintendent of instruction, curriculum and student services for Colorado Springs School District No. 11.Both candidates were narrowed down from a group of six semifinalists and 61 initial applicants to make it to the final round of interviews. The candidates toured the district, interviewed with the board and had several opportunities to meet with and answer questions from district staff and community members Tuesday and Wednesday.
Read the live blog from the meeting to see what board members said while making their selection:
LIVE BLOG: Ann Arbor superintendent search: School board deliberates on next district leader
The meeting started at 5:30 p.m. at the Balas Administration Building.School board President Deb Mexicotte and a representative from Ray & Associates, the superintendent search firm the district hired, will call Osborne Friday night to formally offer him the position. Mexicotte said the board will expect an answer from him either tonight via phone or “within a day or two.”
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Discussion Thread on forum.maplewoodonline.com: Superintendent Osborne leaving?
Maplewoodian Podcast 5 – Superintendent Brian Osborne March 15, 2012
Good Luck Dr.Osborne
We wish you well in your effort to lead the New Rochelle School District. Diversity does not describe New Rochelle Schools, but Pluriversality does. We are from many countries, with varied cultural norms yet we co-exist on the margins in New Rochelle even though we “Latinos” are almost 45% of the school population (much larger than the 5% of the school district you currently work in). I am not sure which of the 20 countries in Latin America you have “experience” in, but I am hopeful that that experience will help us all. We are here to work with you always. Nuestro futuro es su futuro. Bienvenido!
Martin Sanchez