Last night at a special Davis School Board Meeting, the Board formally voted to accept the resignation of Superintendent James Hammond, in what is most likely his final board meeting as Superintendent. While the board jokingly threatened to vote no on the resignation, and the community lamented the loss of their superintendent, everyone involved understood and appreciated that this was something that Dr. Hammond had to do for his family and himself.
We will have to wait until June 21, 2010 to find out who the interim Superintendent will be, but the smart money right now would be on Kevin French, Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Secondary Education. In a Vanguard interview with Ingrid Salim, that will be published later on, she told the Vanguard that the teachers had mixed feelings on a move only because Kevin French has been such an outstanding advocate for teachers and from what we have heard has an excellent relationship with the classified staff, which has not always been the case.
On Wednesday night, a number of members of the education community as well as the community at large came to speak in honor of Dr. Hammond. Among the more notable names was Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, Supervisor Jim Provenza who was on the board that originally hired Dr. Hammond and on that search committee, Police Chief Landy Black, among many others.
A couple of former students came to speak as well. Katie Wynne, the Student Representative noted that when she was in 9th grade, James Hammond had attended one of her classes, he sat through the entire class. She said that the students took note of that, they had never seen a Superintendent do that before. He was a Superintendent that interacted with the students, knew many of their names, and the students took notice and many expressed disappointment that he was leaving. Her comment was he was the kind of guy who got the attention of high school students.
It was a common theme as a parent got up and expressed her appreciation for his efforts. Board President Tim Taylor noted that his son was angry at him for allowing or somehow causing Dr. Hammond to leave. He noted that Dr. Hammond was probably the first and only Superintendent many of the kids had even heard of.
Boardmember Sheila Allen told the story which is one of my favorites, the moment that I realized that James Hammond was the real deal. He had just become Superintendent and the district was being forced to consider nearly $6 million in cuts, which caused them to consider closing Emerson Junior High, shutting down or reducing the size of Da Vinci, cutting music and art classes, among many other things.
A large crowd of parents and students had gathered in the park with signs and they were coming down to the district office. Instead of hiding out in a bunker, James Hammond grabbed a megaphone and addressed the crowd.
While he could not promise the public much, he was opposed to the closures. In his first eight months, months which were tough as any one could imagine, he felt that he was clashing with the board quite a bit and was uncertain about his future.
However, forged from these difficult times was a strong relationship. The board very much and very clearly not only respects Dr. Hammond for his work, but to a person both on the board and in the community, respect him for the person that he is.
One person told me that they do not know how this community will replace Dr. Hammond, he has the rare ability to take people with deeply divided interests and positions and bring them together, not just reluctantly with enthusiasm. Dr. Hammond made it possible and even easy for the teachers to accept concessions.
The hope that many expressed is that while Dr. Hammond is leaving too soon, the school district is in far stronger shape than when he first arrived. This despite the fact than the general fund has gone from around $73 million when he arrived now down near $60 million. Without the hard work of Dr. Hammond and his staff, that might have been a crippling blow.
Make no mistake, education both in Davis and the rest of the state is in crisis mode and they need young, strong, and energetic leaders. Several on the board noted that they took a chance on a young Superintendent, Dr. Hammond as he leaves is just 39. But given his credentials and his qualities, it was not much of a leap of faith.
There will be many challenges still ahead for the district, but the hope is that because of the work of Dr. Hammond the last three years, the community will be better able to meet them.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Why do you think Kevin French?
It’s what multiple sources told me.
It was impressive to see students (current & former) come forth to speak highly of Hammond. I would expect a school principal to maintain some level of contact and connection with students, but I never expected a superintendent to do so. In Hammond’s case, it was clearly genuine, and it appeared to help him focus his leadership on what was important — how the students are doing.
For the future, if the state legislature doesn’t make any further cuts to K-12 education, then the district will still be responsible for addressing whether/how to sustain positions & programs paid for by one-time money (i.e., DSF fundraising), at least $1.5 million. The board is considering when to run a parcel tax renewal, whether to raise the parcel tax, and if so, by how much. Originally the board considered running a parcel tax this coming November, but now they’ve decided to postpone until May 2011. It will certainly make for anxious times in next year’s budgeting process.
At last night’s school board meeting, Winfred Roberson, DHS principal, was chosen to replace Hammond as superintendent.