Dennis Dearden's 20-year history of teaching experience includes time as a teacher, a middle school principal, a high school principal, an assistant superintendent in Fairfax County, Virginia, and a superintendent in Arizona for three years.
Dearden spoke of listening to board members, teachers, community, support staff, students and "constituents" during the first few months on the job to develop a plan people would buy into.
Asked about vision for the district, Dearden said, "A vision is a saying or a slogan until it gets into the heart of the community. Unless it's in there it's just a slogan."
Dearden continued that the vision must be articulated clearly and carried throughout the system from top to bottom. Asked the vision in Arizona, Dearden said, "World Class Education for Tomorrow's Leaders."
On leadership Dearden said, "A leader is a visionary. A leader can inspire. A leader sees beyond the first step." He went on to add that three critical traits of a superintendent are: great people skills, political savvy, and common sense.
As for establishing partnerships with local businesses and higher education institutions, Dearden said that in Arizona, "I didn't ask (businesses) what they could do for the school district, I asked them what could the school district do for them."
Dearden said that working in Fairfax County, a district of 166,000 students representing 150 nationalities and 100 languages, gave him great sensitivity to promoting and understanding diversity and different cultures.
Regarding the WCS strategic plan, Dearden said, "I think you've got a good strategic plan. What I don't know is do people understand the strategic plan at the school and community level."
Asked about the greatest criticism of him by his critics, Dearden said, "I think that for some people that were in the 'comfort zone' -- we're already a good district -- that (change) was uncomfortable for them . . . I would say that's probably also what they would compliment me on now that it's over."
In a follow-up question Dearden was asked if he viewed himself as a "change agent". "Yes," he answered. "But not change for change sake."
One of the most critical issues five years down the road Dearden said would be funding along with some changes in No Child Left Behind.
Dearden, currently a senior VP with the Partnership for Excellence, was most recently a superintendent with the Marana Unified School District in Arizona -- a post he resigned effective June 30, 2008. Dearden cited only personal reasons and devoting more time to being a dad to his three children in a story from the Arizona Daily Star dated April 2, 2008.
Asked why he was looking to return to a superintendent role, Dearden said, "I'm looking for a special opportunity. I want to be a part of a unique district that says, 'I want to be better than just good.' . . . Williamson County is attractive to me because it presents this potential to be an absolutely great district. . . . This is one of the few districts in the country that can pull this off. I really believe that."
During his interview, Dearden also cited passage of a budget override and tax increase to increase funding in Marana schools -- an override that had failed twice previously -- as examples of his leadership. The additional $6.3 million in funds were used to hire teachers, nurses, and other instructors according to an Arizona Daily Star story from May 17, 2007.
Something Dearden wasn't asked about and didn't discuss during the interview was that he was also recently a finalist for the Washoe County School District Superintendent position in Nevada. Although he was not chosen for that position, he was a candidate as late as June 7, 2009 according to a KTNV report on that search. Perhaps Dearden's candidacy there explains why he wasn't available among the first batch of candidates presented by Ray & Associates earlier this year.
Dr. Heath, when asked his views on leadership and his own leadership skills said, "I think I have a lot of traits that a leader possesses. Probably the biggest trait is my ability to look at a problem analytically and have others see it rather simply . . . Not all problems we face are complicated."
In terms of visibility within the schools, Dr. Heath said he would ideally visit each cluster (a high school and its feeder schools) every other month for a day for a total of 4-5 visits to each cluster every year.
In response to a follow-up question about setting goals and whether it's better to set higher goals and let the public see you miss or to set lower goals and let people see you reach them, Dr. Heath said, "I think we can't afford to set the lower goals anymore."
In regards to narrowing identified achievement gaps, Dr. Heath stated, "If we teach standards and test standards then students will achieve and those gaps will be found and remediated along the way."
Asked to define what criticism his greatest critic might have of him, Dr. Heath said, "That I say, 'No', too much."
As for the most critical issues facing the Williamson County School System in the next five years, Dr. Heath said that getting every child to pass Algebra II would fit that category. Rapid changes in information and scientific discoveries also offer critical challenges in terms of how to teach that information.
Towards the end of his interview, Dr. Heath turned his attention to the district's goals and the future.
"Until we can prove to people that there is a benefit to focusing on goals as a district then we can't get to the greater goal of being the best system in the country," he said. "We are never going to be the best system anywhere but Tennessee if we don't change and develop focus on goals."
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