Olson begins his tenure at head of schools
Published on July 4th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Replacing long-time veteran Supt. Dr. Joseph Connelly, Newton resident Dr. Les Olson knew he not only had some big shoes to fill, but a whole wardrobe to step-into when he agreed to assume the place of the 40-year educator.
Olson, who served as Westborough's Asst. Supt. for 14 years before making the jump to Stoneham's top school administrator, arrived in town this Monday to serve his first formal workday in the school system's corner office.
Well appraised of the precarious budget situation this spring, Olson admits that he partially dreaded coming to work for his first day, especially since the failed override question on June 19 brought with it wide-reaching cuts across the district.
But the Selectmen's 3 to 2 vote last Tuesday to impose a $200 per household trash fee, coupled with the School Committee's decision a day later to restore a number of items, including high school athletics, made the rookie Supt.'s first day very enjoyable.
Following his first day, during which he informed many staff members that their positions would remain for another year, Olson took some time out to reflect on his experience with The Stoneham Independent.
Excerpts from that conversation follow.
SI: How was your first official day as Stoneham's new Supt. of Schools?
Olson: I was better than I thought it may have been. The vote of the Selectmen to reinstate the trash fee and the School Committee's vote to restore a lot of academic and extra-curricular programs allowed me the very pleasurable activity of sending out letters to staff welcoming them to another year. So a lot of the actions last week were very encouraging. Even though it's been a very tough spring, budget wise, it was very encouraging to move forward on my first day.
SI: Could you describe what your first day was like?
Olson: It was a great day to just get involved with the workings of the central office. It was a quiet day being a holiday week, and many other administrators are off. As I said before, I also started the critical task of moving us forward and restoring some of these positions that had been left in the bubble.
SI: Knowing what was at stake, what were your feelings on the recent override election results?
Olson: It was discouraging that it didn't pass. It was not necessarily a surprise, but it was an extremely close vote. A lot of people put in a lot of hard work. It would have been a leap forward for the town. Clearly the impact of the loss of the override was such that many people knew that the cuts should not stand. Through the whole process, I realized that the School Committee and the entire administration was going through a well thought-out budget. So the cuts would be very devastating, but they were put forward in a manner to minimize the impacts. There are still a number of things that aren't where the administration or the parents think they should be.
SI: What will be your top priorities as you start to become more familiar with the district?
Olson: My top priorities are to get out and meet as many of the key players in town as possible. I'd like the opportunity to sit down and have more in-depth conversations with them to get a sense of the strengths [and weaknesses] of the district. I'd also like to get in touch with parents and lend them my support and encouragement for the job they do, often behind the scenes. Two things we haven't mentioned are the work that started today to bring a new administrative team back into place. We also need to do everything we can to sit down at the table to look at contractual issues. Hopefully we can work those out as well.
SI: You briefly touched upon the significant turnover of administrators in the central office, as well as in the high school and middle school. Have those losses made it more difficult for you to become accommodated to the school system as quickly as possible?
Olson: There's definitely a void given the years of experience that's leaving at this time. But there are also a lot of veteran teachers and program leaders who have stepped in. So everybody is pulling us together to move forward.
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