Olson plans to bridge gaps
Published on April 18th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham's newest superintendent of schools has little doubt that he has many gaps of mistrust to bridge when he replaces veteran administrator Dr. Joseph Connelly in the district's corner office this July.
According to current Westborough Asst. Supt. Les Olson, who was selected to lead the town's school system in a controversial 4-1 vote earlier this month, he is well aware that a number of long-time teachers and community members disapprove of his selection as superintendent of schools.
School Committee member Maureen Soley, the only dissenting vote in the choice of Olson as the district's next leader, couldn't be reached for comment by presstime.
When Olson was chosen by the School Committee over veteran Stoneham High School Principal Thomas Ryan, who was considered by some to be the front-runner for the post, teachers walked-out of the meeting in protest.
In addition, a number of local parents, teachers, and concerned residents have since espoused their disapproval of the School Committee's decision in recent Letters to the Editor.
"It's never an easy process. You need to sit down and listen to the people who may have been disappointed and prove you have the background and experience [to get the job done]," Olson said, during a phone interview in his Westborough office this week.
According to School Committee member Marie Christie, she believes that Olson has the ability to heal that divide.
Explaining her support of the Newton resident, the School Committee veteran argued that given the turnover of personnel in the central office, she believed that the town needed a proven leader who could "hit the ground running".
The district's top three administrators, Connelly, former Asst. Supt. Joseph Casey, and Business Manager Greg Zammuto, have all departed the school system in the past six months, leaving a veteran leadership vacuum.
According to Christie, while she has little doubt that any of the finalists seeking to replace Connelly would have eventually stepped-up to become an effective superintendent, she felt that the town's precarious financial state called for someone with a wide-range of administrative experience, who could get the job done immediately.
The most-tenured member of the education board also recognized that Olson may face some upset faculty members when he assumes the superintendent's post this July, but believed that Olson's professionalism will carry him through those potentially tough first days.
"I saw that he had a vast amount of experience, the skill sets that I thought Stoneham needed. He was experienced in contract negotiations. And he was experienced in budgeting and has contacts throughout the state," Christie commented.
"I was looking for someone with well-rounded experience. That's not to say the others couldn't develop into a great superintendent. But I needed to go with the here and now."
"When you don't have that many administrators, those you do have need to be able to take over any function necessary," the school official concluded. "It was a very difficult decision, but I needed to go with who I thought was the best for Stoneham schools."
According to Olson, who has been Westborough's Asst. Supt. for the past 14-years and has close to two decades of total experience within that municipality's school system, he has eyed a potential superintendency for quite some time, although such was not always his goal. Recalling a significant turnover within Westborough's administrative staff, at a time when the town was overseeing several school construction projects, the Newton resident felt he needed to see things through before moving on. But now that his longtime place of employment appears more secure, he welcomes the challenge of coming to Stoneham, especially the opportunity to rebuild the citizenry's trust in the system's budgetary process.
"There were a number of things that kept me here in Westborough, while other people may have moved on. But things were very stable here for me [when I decided to apply for the Stoneham job]," Olson recalled. "One is definitely my knowledge of the state financial process for education," the veteran administrator responded, when asked to list some of his biggest strengths. "Even for people who deal with that information on a regular basis, you need to develop a clear and simple message to bring forward to the people who are capable of making changes." According to Olson, informed about some of the division and mistrust that has developed between the municipal and educational sides of government during recent budget crunches, that faith can only be rebuilt over time. And while Stoneham's newest Supt. readily admits that he has never weathered a financial storm as severe as the town's current crisis, he does have some experience in building trust and consensus during troublesome fiscal times.
"As a very strong advocate for students and teachers, I also need to have a very strong awareness of what the town can afford," said Olson. "One thing that is critical is creating a vision for the entire district. You need knowledge of the entire program, the special education, the curriculum, so that as you put the budget forward, you can make the necessary determinations."
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