Saugus Super hopeful wants to help

SAUGUS-Superintendent candidate Donald Ciampa told the School Committee Thursday he was ready to roll up his sleeves and face the challenge of turning the School Department around.Ciampa, a high school principal/assistant superintendent from Tyingsborough was the first of two finalist interviews the committee is undertaking on the path to finding a replacement for the retiring Dr. Keith Manville.A 53-year-old former math teacher who progressed career-wise to high school principal/assistant superintendent, Ciampa said he is energetic and likes to think outside the box. He said he is also hi-tech kind of guy and admitted that finance, special education and curriculum, other than math, science or technology are not his strong suits.Committee members peppered Ciampa with questions ranging from what he viewed as his greatest achievement to how he would define his relationship with the committee to how he would tackle the budget.Ciampa said he believed that the committee, as well as the School Department on the a whole, had to be on the same page in terms of values and direction. He said he would also work to coordinate curriculum across the district on the elementary level and would spend time in each school on a regular weekly basis.In looking at the current budget and needs of the schools Ciampa said he found the textbook situation alarming. He said he understands there are a number of financial constraints but the department still needed to deal with at least one issue at a time.”You can’t keep band-aiding,” he said. “You have to prioritize your greatest needs and address them. If you band-aid too long, you die.”Addressing the number of students that have left the public school system, Ciampa said he would also work to change the perception of the schools one day at a time by achieving small goals.”It’s about little achievements, visibility and open doors,” he said. “I believe a new superintendent will have to visible and certainly recruiting.”Ciampa said he would use the schools websites as well to better reach out to the public and let them know what was going on within the schools.When pressed for personal achievements he is most proud of Ciampa discussed undertaking a restructuring of the high school that he said was seamless. School Committee Chairman Joseph Malone also called on Ciampa to explain his creative solution to over crowded classes and user fees.The classroom issue involved breaking the high school into and upper and lower house. In addressing user fees Ciampa essentially went for volume over cost. Ciampa said he noticed that students were participating in fewer and fewer activities so he introduced a flat fee and saw not only students getting more involved but more students getting involved.Ciampa wound up his hour long interview by saying he hoped to be sitting with the board again soon.”Saugus is real people it’s a good community with a real opportunity to bring about change and I would love to be a part of turning this around,” he said. “I would love to work here.”The committee meets for its last finalist interview Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Roby School.