Marblehead teachers check back into school

MARBLEHEAD – Nearly 300 teachers, administrators and guests packed the Marblehead High auditorium Wednesday morning to kick off the 2007-2008 school year.New Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac empathized with the teachers.”You’re asking yourselves, ‘Why am I listening to Paul? My head is back in my classroom,” Dulac told them at the start of his remarks. “I understand that your head’s not all here and it shouldn’t be.”Dulac went on to tell them how proud he felt to be in Marblehead in what will probably be the last superintendency of his career, how he chose to come to Marblehead because when he visited the system, “The right answers came my way.””You do so many good things – you’re amazing,” he said. “You should be really proud to be here.”He added some personal notes – three of his five grandchildren have been born since he took the Marblehead job eight months ago, his new home is on Manataug Trail, a street without a street sign and a new neighbor tricked him into sitting at the 60-plus table at his first Rotary Club meeting.”I’ll get him back,” he said.His five-year, four-point plan for student achievement includes teacher teams which will form in the next month, assessment-led instruction and focuses on non-fiction writing and creative thinking – but he assured the teachers that his plan is not about what they do but how they do it.”This is a challenge to teach kids how to think creatively,” he said. “And you can do it any way you can.”He supported his plan with a showing of the YouTube video “Do You Know?” and by pointing out that outsourcing affects many professional jobs, like accountants, lawyers and scientists, who can be found cheaper in China and India than they are here.For their part, 10 teachers showed him and their colleagues the results of a week-long puppet-making workshop in which colorful giant-size puppets of George Washington, Ben Franklin, various students and a muse of inspiration. The skit showed Dulac how the group of puppets found a way to get to their first day of school despite a flood on the Marblehead Causeway.”The superintendent will love this,” the muse told the other puppets. “He’s big on team-building.”The puppeteers included Robin Feins, Holly Osgood, Pascale Queval, Faith Hall, Mary Miles, Melissa McGuinnes, Joan Kavanagh, Caroline Oestermeyer, Tori Valeri and Randy Guthartz.