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2nd go-round as school chief

Mark Wolkow leads school board into 2009-10 academic year

BY RACHEL KONOPACKI

Posted 9/02/09

For his second go-round as president of the Harford County Board of Education, Mark Wolkow faces a tougher economic picture, which he says isn’t going to make his job any easier.

“There isn’t any money this time,” Wolkow said Tuesday in a meeting with members of The Aegis Editorial Board. “It’s a little more challenging.”

He also elaborated on a number of other issues facing the school system, including meeting increasingly stringent federal No Child Left Behind standards and the ever contentious matter of redistricting.

Wolkow, who was appointed to the school board in 2002, was tapped by the other board members to serve as president for the 2009-10 school year after Patrick Hess resigned from the board in July. Hess was entering his second year as board president.

Wolkow previously served as board president from 2006 to 2007.

Non-teaching positions

Although economic times are rough, the school system has continued to hire multiple assistant principals for some schools. It also pays a number of senior teachers to mentor younger teachers, rather than to actually teach students.

Wolkow said, however, that Harford’s administrative ranks are much thinner than those at other school systems in Maryland, even systems with smaller enrollments.

The Harford school system has just over 38,000 students, and its total enrollment has been either declining or flat for several years. The school system’s operating budget is $417.5 million, the same level as a year earlier.

Thirty of the school system’s 53 schools operate with either one assistant principal or none. The remaining 23 have multiple assistant principals, up to three in some high schools.

For the 2009-10 school year, there are 145 principals and assistant principals in the school system, 26 more than in 2004-05 when there were 119. Nine of the additional positions are at Patterson Mill Middle and High School which opened in the fall of 2007.

Wolkow said the number of principals and assistants at each school depends on the school’s programs and needs.

As for the non-teaching instructional facilitator and teacher mentor positions, Wolkow said with so many younger, inexperienced teachers in the system — many right out of college — they need guidance and support from a teacher with experience, which is where the instructional facilitators come into play.

Left behind

When it comes to meeting the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which strives for all students in Maryland to score either proficient or advanced by the 2013-14 school year on the Maryland School Assessment, Wolkow says most schools in Harford, as is the case nationally, will not be able to meet that goal, unless the law is re-authorized with different parameters that make it less punitive and more supportive.

“There are a lot of parts of No Child Left Behind I don’t like,” he said, while also pointing out the law has had many positive effects.

With the No Child Left Behind law focusing on four areas of academic testing with strict guidelines to meeting progress goals each year, Wolkow said every school’s energy is channeled toward passing the tests.

Focusing so much effort on the tests takes the “American part” of school out such as music and art, according to Wolkow, which robs the students of the opportunity to be free thinkers, artistic, creative and well rounded.

Although there are aspects of the law Wolkow has problems with, he said it has forced public school systems to look at every child and not just go by overall numbers.

“The good part is we can’t hide behind overall averages,” he said. “It’s the appropriate way to address all of our children.”

While it is hard to generalize the improvement Harford’s students are making on the Maryland School Assessment, Wolkow said the scores are increasing across the board.

“We are closing the achievement gap,” he said.

Communication

Wolkow, who estimates he spends 20 to 40 hours a month on school matters (School board members do not receive a salary), said one of his priorities is to improve communication between the school system and the county council.

He said he and other school officials underestimated the current council’s desire to be involved in key decisions, like the elementary school selection last fall that the council overturned. (Please see related story Page A11.)

Wolkow said he asked board Vice President Leonard Wheeler to serve as the board’s liaison to the county council; Wheeler is scheduled to meet with council members monthly.

Wolkow also said he will let the council or county executive know of any agenda items that may be of interest and seek their thoughts on those matters.

Redistricting

With comprehensive elementary redistricting in the school system’s near future, Wolkow said he is also ready to manage any complaints or heat he may get from parents.

Meaningful redistricting historically has proven difficult for the school system to accomplish. Many parents in the northern and central areas of the county don’t want their children sent to schools in the southern part, which have excess capacity, but are perceived as inferior schools.

Wolkow, an Edgewood resident whose grown children attended Edgewood area schools, said he and the school board will do what they feel is best for the system as a whole.

“I’ve been a parent and I’ve worked with parents almost all of my adult life,” he said, adding that he has already received phone calls from parents who want something and didn’t get it.

“As long as I know I am doing the right thing then I can sleep at night,” he said.