Marblehead interviews Maass for superintendent

MARBLEHEAD – School superintendent candidate Gregory Maass, superintendent of Green Bay, Wis. area public schools since August 2008, gave the School Committee an idea of what his tenure could be like during his interview Monday night.Asked what Marblehead schools would be like three years from now if the committee hires him, Maass hesitated, smiled and said, “It will be ‘kumbaya.’ People are going to love working with me and for me, for my accessibility and creative spirit, and we will have some new programs or restructured programs.”School Committee members were scheduled to quiz Stan Mack, executive director of the Minnesota Board of School Administrators for the past nine months and former superintendent of the Robbinsdale area schools in New Hope, Minn. from 2000-2009, tonight at Marblehead High at 7 p.m.Maass, a 31-year educator with a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, currently oversees a district with 20,000 students, 3,000 staff members and a budget of $270 million. Marblehead has 3,230 students, a staff of 548 and an annual budget of $28 million – but Maass pointed out that he has also overseen smaller districts during his career and reminded the committee members, “A classroom is a classroom. A 5 year old is a 5 year old. Everyone needs to know what their targets are and teachers rise to the occasion.”Among his district’s achievements is a middle school that was recently named the best in Wisconsin. He also pointed out that he campaigned hard in his first year for a school construction project that was defeated in a referendum election 65-35 before he arrived and the project passed 65-35 the second time under his leadership.He told the committee that one of the factors that attracted him to Marblehead was the town’s “willingness to be greater.”He said he was willing to begin foreign language schooling in third grade, he wanted to hire a central curriculum coordinator, he was enthusiastic about technology for staff as well as students and he stressed the need for planning for building maintenance, teacher evaluation processes and the implementation of an International Baccalaureate program at Marblehead High.Asked if he had done his homework Maass cited an informal telephone survey of local people which yielded 80-20 results in favor of the local school system. “That’s strong support,” he said.He told the committee that if he is hired his relationship with them will be based on communication as a way of building trust. “You will never be surprised,” he said.