By Vicki Greene, Contributing Writer
Photo/submitted
Marlborough – Michael Bergeron has been part of the Marlborough Public Schools administrative staff for approximately five years but is nearing the end of his first year as superintendent. Bergeron developed an extensive entry plan with input from all school constituencies – teachers, parents, elected officials and administrative staff – about what they felt were the biggest issues that needed to be addressed over the next three to five years and what he could do to help tackle those issues. He presented his eight key findings to the School Committee last month and said he is planning to work with school staff at all levels over the summer to help prioritize the top issues.
The eight findings in Bergeron’s entry plan included frustrations and challenges with the following: leadership turnover, how individual student behavior is addressed in the classroom, technology support district-wide, standardized curriculum teaching methods among the elementary schools, class size, pre-K program space constraints, graduation and dropout rates among certain populations, and the need for more extracurricular activities at the elementary level.
“The goal of my entry plan was to talk to as many people as possible,” Bergeron said. “I met with staff at all seven school sites (including the Early Childhood Center) and additionally I met with select groups of parents like PTO members for their input and did an online survey for any parent or staff member who couldn’t attend a meeting and I feel like we got a good sample of people of the community.”
During the group meetings, Bergeron asked people to identify the strengths of the school system, the opportunities moving forward and the things that absolutely shouldn’t be changed.
Bergeron started as superintendent last July after having served as assistant superintendent of finance and operations for over four years. However, he said, stepping into his current role involved an entirely new set of responsibilities. Bergeron has been part of of the New Superintendent Induction Program (NSIP). This statewide voluntary program is made up of approximately 40 superintendents who, Bergeron said, started in their roles at approximately the same time as he did.
“That represents turnover in many districts across the state and with 40 colleagues, that’s one-eighth of all of the jobs in the state,” he said.
Part of the NSIP program encouraged entry planning “as a way to learn and become a member of the community that you’re joining,” Bergeron noted. “It’s a little different for me because I was already here but I really took it as an opportunity to learn.”
With regards to the issue of administrative turnover, Bergeron said that during his five years in the Marlborough School District he’s seen the turnover in the principal position at every school, but as far as his future is concerned, he said he isn’t going anywhere.
“I’ve committed to the School Committee that I want to be here. I live here and this is my community,” he said.
Prior to his work in Marlborough, Bergeron served in business operations positions in the Pentucket Regional and Amesbury school districts.
Bergeron is married and has no children but said he tells people, “I have 4,700 children on any given day and there’s a lot of demand with that,” he said. “I often refer to a Latin phrase that translates to ‘in the place of the parent’ because parents trust us so we have to be there for parents and their kids.”
Now that the entry plan findings have outlined the issues, Bergeron said it’s time to discuss how to prioritize and look to improve on or solve the issues.
“We have problems and we have dilemmas and they’re different,” he stressed. “A problem may have an actionable and timely response while a dilemma may be something not so easily solved.”
According to Bergeron, the entry plan has been a six-month process and once it is reviewed and prioritized, the next step is the development of a strategic improvement plan that is implemented over a three- to five-year period. He said the goal is to have the strategic improvement plan in place before next year’s budget season so they can allocate the appropriate resources for the projected needs of the district.
Bergeron expressed a deep passion for his work and the people he works with.
He said: “We have caring educators doing the right thing and having a major impact on students and for me that is always number one.”
