Articles

The Florida Times-Union: Duval school superintendent candidate prepares mentally for job
By TIA MITCHELL
September 19, 2005

WILMINGTON, Del. -- It has been an emotional week for Christina School District Superintendent Joseph Wise as he confronts the reality that he probably won't be here much longer.

He's reminded of it nearly every second.

A long-time principal chokes up when talking about all Wise has done for the district during his two-year tenure. Staff members half-jokingly beg him not to leave. A parent at a School Board meeting compares him to a child with a toy he no longer wants to play with. He's even been jeered by an anonymous voice in a crowd.

The emotions stirred by his anticipated departure range from sadness to anxiety. But the underlying message is the same. Few people are ready to see Wise go.

Wise has ushered in an era of reform in Delaware's largest school system that has resulted in modernized schools, greater staff efficiency and, most importantly, higher-achieving students.

Now people wonder whether this district of 19,500 students will sustain that progress once their revered leader becomes Duval County's next school superintendent.

Wise, who spent Thursday meeting community and school leaders, will welcome six Duval board members in Delaware today. He is expected to return to Jacksonville Tuesday to accept the Duval County job.

Joseph Wise says he already has ideas for improving the Duval County school system. ---

Making improvements

He arrived as superintendent in the Christina School District in July 2003 from Annapolis, Md., with a mandate to turn the school system around after years of declining enrollment and lackluster test scores.

Wise introduced new instructional programs, purchased the latest technology and moved district headquarters into the city core. He ruffled feathers by shuffling key staff members around and aggressively recruiting outsidresers for key leadership jobs.

Anthony White, director of the Delaware Parents Educational Association, said Wise improved a school system that had become stagnant and will leave behind a district much improved from the one he inherited.

"I'm happy he's here, sorry to see him go, but we're better off," White said.

The Christina school district and Duval County have similar demographic makeups. Both systems are about 40 percent African American and about 45 percent white. Christina is about 10 percent Hispanic, Duval is about 5 percent.

But Duval dwarfs Christina in size and scope. Duval has six times more students, about 129,500. Christina has 26 schools. Duval has about 160.

Nevertheless, Wise is pledging to commit the same energy and resourcefulness to Duval County. If that's the case, administrators, teachers and parents can expect immediate change.

"I'm predisposed to speed. Know that with me coming here," he told the Duval County School Board last week.

In Christina, Wise runs the show, and everyone else, including the local School Board, follows his lead. But Wise acknowledges his management style will likely change now that he's moving to Duval County, where board members take a more assertive leadership role.

Wise set out to transform the Christina district with a bold series of initiatives that included making academic programs more rigorous at the high school level, reorganizing schools and increasing attention to inner-city students.

Joseph Wise bio
Age: 49
Marital status: Single, never married
Currently salary: $161,700
Current hometown: Wilmington, Del.
Jacksonville ties: Grew up here and attended public schools in grades two through 11 (Love Grove and Hogan-Spring Glen elementaries, Southside Middle and Englewood High schools)
Education: Doctorate in education, University of Florida, December 1990
Master's degree in education, University of Central Florida, November 1985
Bachelor's degree in music education, Florida State University, March 1978

Almost immediately, the school district began to change from the inside and the outside.

He sifted through the hodgepodge of textbooks and instructional programs and devised a standardized curriculum. He introduced computer-based assessments that enabled classroom teachers to pinpoint specific weaknesses in students and better equip them for high-stakes standardized testing.

Academic programs were instituted to assist students who struggle the most. General-education level courses were phased out of the three high schools, forcing students into college prep, honors or advanced placement classes.

He struggled to make schools equitable in a district that has two distinct sections, one in the urban core of Wilmington and one in the southwest portion of the county including the town of Newark, home of the University of Delaware, 13 miles away.

Ruffling feathers

Before Wise arrived, all students in the district attended suburban schools except for students in grades 4 through 6, who were in Wilmington. That required nine years of busing for city students, and only three years for suburban students.

Wise shifted schools to the more standard elementary, middle and high school grade configurations, and converted an elementary school in the city to a middle school.

Starting next school year and for the first time in the district's history, Wilmington students will attend school close to home in kindergarten through ninth grade instead of being bused to the suburbs.

Perhaps his most controversial move, and the one that most spotlighted the power struggle between the very different pockets of the county that comprised the school district, came when Wise moved the school district headquarters from Newark to Wilmington.

Wise decided it was the best use of available space and money, but his driving motive was symbolic, too -- shifting the focus from the suburbs to the urban core.

Relocating the school headquarters angered some Newark residents, who said the district was historically based in Newark. Mayor Vance Funk said Wise didn't take enough time to ask members of the community how they felt or to research other options.

"Moving the headquarters of the school district into Wilmington was a very unpopular decision and it was my hope if the decision wasn't moved along quickly then maybe we would have convinced him that it wasn't necessary," he said.

In Wilmington, Wise had to deal with backlash after he announced plans to change Bancroft elementary school to form the district's only middle school in the city. He made the decision based on the recommendation of outside consultants who studied the district's facilities and student assignment patterns.

Bancroft Middle Schools is now viewed as a good change, which allows Wilmington students to attend schools close to home throughout the elementary and middle school grades.

Wise was the featured guest on a recent public access television show hosted by two leaders in Wilmington's African-American community. Though one host good-naturedly took him to task for leaving the district so soon, the other repeatedly praised him for decisions that benefitted minority students.

"You brought it out of the dark ages," said Hazel Plant, a Delaware state representative, and lead host of the show.

Stacy Heller, president of the local teachers union and a participant in his hiring, praised Wise's bold leadership style. She said the last two years have been empowering, because Wise does not waste time and has a knack for finding the right person and program for every situation.

But, the two have had disagreements, mostly when Wise's changes put a strain on teachers who had to adapt to new systems and programs and sometimes even new schools.

"He just takes the bull by the horn and goes, and sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad," she said.

A former Walt Disney World executive, Wise admits he moved extremely fast in Christina, which was in drastic need of a turnaround.

There won't be as much pressure for rapid change in Duval County, because the situation isn't such an emergency, he said.

Plans in mind

Wise must tackle one overriding concern in Duval County: the achievement gap. The district must immediately find ways to help minorities and students from poor families achieve at the same level as white students and those from more affluent neighborhoods, he said.

Wise is formulating a 100-day plan that calls for quickly evaluating the district's programs and key personnel to see if they fit within his leadership vision.

He wants to bring in outside auditors to examine how every dollar has been spent to see if the district is getting its money's worth.

Nothing is sacred, even the America's Choice program touted by former Superintendent John Fryer during his seven-year tenure.

Wise said he will rely on Duval board members to use their political capital and relationships in the community to help push his agenda, especially in the beginning. And he is looking forward to working with a school board that is more experienced than the one he leaves behind in Delaware, Wise said.

"They are no more interested in kids than Christina, they are no more sincere than Christina, but there is a different level of savvy," he said of Duval board members.

It helps that both the Christina school district and Duval County are among four school systems involved in special training sponsored by the Broad Institute for School Boards. A key focus is to make board members understand that their job is to set policy and govern the district, and the superintendent's role is to follow that policy and manage the district.

Duval board members say they are prepared to give Wise room to do his work, trusting he will keep them informed and give them honest and accurate reports.

"I don't think it's going to be that we step out of his way so much as it's we work side-by-side with him," board member Kris Barnes said.

Christina board Vice President James Durr said Duval's board should think long and hard if Wise will be a good fit for it. Wise isn't going to change his style, so that means Duval has to be sure it wants the type of person who is aggressive and innovative.

"He will be a hard-driving, no-nonsense-type superintendent. That will rattle some cages, make people feel uncomfortable," Durr said. "If Duval County is committed to doing what it takes for their kids at the expense of their own personal agendas, that would be my man."