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WPCNR White Plains World Telegram. By John F. Bailey. April 17, 2002. 4:30 PM EDT. Larry Geiger of the White Plains Board of Education said Wednesday that the efforts that Timothy Connors, the “Superintendent-Select of the White Plains Schools” (announced Tuesday), made in addressing the achievement gap, which impressed Geiger about Mr. Connors was Connors’ ability to involve minority parents in the Danbury schools and keep them involved.
Mr. Connors is leaving his position as Superintendent of Schools in Danbury, Connecticut, to take over for outgoing White Plains superintendent, Saul Yanofsky, in July, pending a successful introduction to the community next Tuesday evening.

Speaking to WPCNR by telephone from his New York office, Wednesday, Mr. Geiger said he was “delighted we have an excellent candidate for the new Superintendent of Schools.” Asked about Mr. Connors’ Danbury district’s track record at improving minority test scores and Connors’ efforts at improving minority achievement, (one of the Board of Education’s chief criticisms of Dr. Yanofsky), Geiger said he had never seen all the Danbury test scores.

Impressed with Connors’ “all student plan.” Motivation of Minority Parents.

Geiger said what impressed him about Connors was that “He’s talked about a push of an all-student plan, where you try to evaluate what things can be turned around, what teachers are doing well to make a student to be more successful. He feels test scores can be a helpful tool for each individual student to indicate what it is we need to do to help (students).”

Geiger said Connors was successful at involving minority parents in his schools on a continuing basis, inviting them and getting them in to the school to participate actively in their childrens’ education, and motivate the parents with individual plans to help their children. Geiger said, the difference was that Connors was able to motivate these parents to show sustained involvement over a period of time.

Impressive candidates.

Mr. Geiger said the Board was “faced with different candidates at different places in their careers, at different levels of experience, in different kinds of situations, and all were very impressive. We heard from all of them about the strategies they followed, the tactics they employed, the way they interacted with staff. The Board found it a learning experience interviewing them.”

Connors experience a clincher. His city a “fit.”

“But, the match between Mr. Connors experience, he’s an experienced superintendent, and probably has seen and been through many of the situations a superintendent is likely to come across, and some of them are hard to predict. He’s been a superintendent in three different situations. He’s (now) in a system which is in fact bigger than White Plains in terms of students and staff. But, it (Danbury) is a small city school system It has a diverse population with a range of academic skills and needs. So that’s very competitive.”

Moved into New Towns Before.

Another factor in the Board’s decision, made after listening to the City Committee members’ comments after they had interviewed the final two candidates, Geiger said was that Connors has moved into this kind of situation before, he knows what to do to come into town and win the confidence of a community all over again:

“He somewhat has made the transition to become a new superintendent on a number of occasions (at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Bloomington, Minnesota, and Danbury), which is something we looked for as well.”

Geiger said he did not know a lot about Connors’ stay in the Bloomington, Minnesota, Superintendent position, but that Connors told them he left to come back to Danbury to be closer to his 86-year old mother.

Geiger summed up Connors’ strengths as a people person:

So he knows how to listen well, and understand the culture of each community and work within that culture, not to impose a new culture, and use that culture of a particular location to magnify the effectiveness of learning. That combination of factors seems to make him the right person for the White Plains job.”

Will he stay beyond 3 years?

Board of Education President Donna McLaughlin has been reported has saying that the Board is anticipating a 3-year contract with C|onnors. This would allow Connors to negotiate the new teachers contract which is up in 2003. WPCNR asked Geiger what he expected.

Geiger said first of all, the board does not have a signed contract yet, that the board has to go through that process, but that Connors has made a commitment to take the position.

“I don’t want to speculate, normally he’s there three to five years. The expectation is he will honor whatever the initial contract is. I don’t know how long he’ll stay. I don’t think he knows. I don’t think you can predict that. I think the expectation is that it’s going to be a long enough period of time to make an effort to build on the strength we have.”

Connors Made Geiger feel Comfortable.

Asked about a special chemistry between the Board of Education and Connors, Geiger said,

“I think we all felt very comfortable (with Connors). I can’t speak for anyone besides myself. My feeling was that Connors is the kind of person, who will come in…he’s a very genuine and sincere person. A very outgoing person and those qualities I think will enable him to come into the district and make that connection he needs to make with teachers, all levels of staff, with administrators, with students, with our diverse community, the city government, as well as the community leaders.

A “Connector.” A Reach-Out kind of guy.

“He seems to have an ability to do that. And, he’s proud of that. He basically demonstrated that potential when we talked to him,” Geiger explained. “He has a very good sense of, a keen awareness of the importance of P.R. (public relations) in the most positive sense which is to make sure people are fully aware of what’s going on in the system and appreciate the depth these forces might have. He’s a very “hands-on” kind of person. He told us he likes to go to one school every day. He gets to know the students. They get to know him. They get to know him as a person who is for them, on their side. You get the feeling this is the kind of person you want working for White Plains.”

Geiger said in reaching out to other organizations discussing Connors, he got the feeling that “what you see is what you get” with Mr. Connors., “ You get this friendliness, this openness, this caring about the students, the commitment to the job, the working real hard at it, liking it loving, getting the sense of wanting to wade into the job and the community.”

Involves all parents.

Geiger said Connors wants to reach out to parents, who just as a cultural thing want to stay away from school, and involve them deeply and is committed to that.

Citizen Committee interviewed final two candidates for 3-1/2 hours each. Shared extensive views on the two with the Board

Geiger said the Citizens Committee selected by the Board of Education to interview the final two candidates, the third candidate withdrew from consideration because of a health problem.

Jerry Gorski, President of the White Plains Teachers Association, a member of that Citizens Committee said the other candidate that was not selected was a woman. Mr. Gorski also said that the Citizens Committee interviewed Connors and his co-finalist for 3 and ½ hours each on April 10 and 11 and shared their comments on each Finalist with the Board of Education in a “Debriefing.”

Gorski told WPCNR today that, in his opinion, the Citizen Committee felt the two were equally strong candidates and did not make a recommendation to the Board of Education as to a preference.

Nancy Smith, CO-President of the PTA Council, another member of the Citizen Committee reviewing the “Final Two,” declined to comment on her feelings about Mr. Connors’ selection.

Geiger says he is running again.

In a final news morsel, Mr. Geiger told WPCNR that he has decided to run again for another term on the Board of Education at the May 21 election. He and Stephen Sules, the two incumbents, will run against Maria Valentin and Robert Tuck. Petitions are due at
Education House by May 1 to run for the two vacant School Board seats.

WPCNR Midnight Extra. By John F. Bailey. Special to WPCNR from Michelle Schoenfeld. April 17, 2002. UPDATED 1:30 AM EDT: The White Plains City School District announced Tuesday the Board of Education and a City Screening Committee have selected Timothy P. Connors, 62, an educator of 36 years’ experience, and retiring Superintendent of the Danbury, Connecticut schools, as their “Finalist” to succeed Dr. Saul Yanofsky and run White Plains Schools.

THE MAN FROM DANBURY:Timothy Connors, Danbury Superintendent of Schools, coming to White Plains.
Photo by Tim Wheeler, Used with Permission, Courtesy of the Danbury News-Times(c)

Described by Tony White, Night Editor of the Danbury News-Times as a “wizard with the public,” with a record of uplifting Danbury’s test scores on the Connecticut Mastery Tests, Connors is as beloved in the Danbury School District as Saul Yanofsky has been in White Plains.

According to the official news release from the School District, Mr. Connors will visit White Plains on Tuesday, April 23, to meet the staff. That evening, the public will have an opportunity to meet Mr. Connors at 8 PM in the Assembly Room at Education House.

“A Wizard with the Public”

According to Tony White, Night Editor of the Danbury News-Times, which broke the story of Mr.Connors resignation in Danbury and his going to White Plains, Connors’ “strong suit” is his “ability to charm the patrons.” White said Connors is leaving for White Plains for a salary of $197,000, which is $66,000 more than he is being paid now as Superintendent at Danbury ($131,000).

In a follow-up story, Ms. McLaughlin is reported as expecting Mr. Connors to sign a three year contract with White Plains.

Editor White reports to WPCNR that Connors sees coming to White Plains, in the editor’s words, “a challenge. It is a bigger budget and a bigger district, bigger salary.”

Connors cites need to “shore up” his retirement as reason for resigning

In the story reporting Mr. Connors announced retirement over the weekend from the Danbury district, News-Times reporter Eileen FitzGerald writes of the retirement vice that Mr. Connors was in. She reports Mr. Connors is the latest in the drain of topflight administrators from the Connecticut school system, who leave the system close to retirement because of the way their pension is computed.

In the Connecticut school system, she writes, a teacher working 35 years in the state, receives a “retirement package” worth 70% of the average of their three highest salaries. However, in Mr. Connors’ case this would be substantially less. Mr. Connors has worked in Connecticut as Superintendent of the Danbury schools for five years, and in Connecticut for an additional six years.

Connors is reported in the News-Times article as telling the Danbury Board of Education over the weekend that he made the decision to resign after analyzing his retirement package. He did not, according to the news report, appear to reveal he was leaving for a new position. The News-Times reports him as indicating his “options for his next move are open.”

Editor calls him “very good.”

Mr. White, the News-Times Night Editor, in an interview with WPCNR, described Mr. Connors as “very good at dealing with the city council which decides his budget,” and “a very capable guy,” not a “yes man,” who, Mr.White says, “will stand his ground,” but is also very “diplomatic, knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.”

McLaughlin of White Plains says Connors will continue tradition

Donna O. McLaughlin, in the official news release of the White Plains City School Board, said that Mr. Connors has the experience and record of success the Board is seeking.

“The White Plains Schools have been blessed with outstanding leadership over the years,” McLaughlin said, in an official statement, “and we are confident that Mr. Connors will continue that tradition.”

McLaughlin is quoted by the News-Times last night as saying of Connors, “We’ve seen that he’s done a lot of terrific things for Danbury. We are looking for him to bring us to the next level.”

19 years’ Superintendent experience.

Mr. Connors, who is married and whose wife teaches in the Brookfield, Connecticut school system, has been a School Superintendent for 19 years in Bloomington, Minnesota (a district close to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul), and Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he was named 1990 Rhode Island Superintendent of the Year. He presently is President of the Western Connecticut Superintendents’ Association, and the Connecticut Association of Urban Schools.

Danbury in arms over his loss

The city of Danbury appears to be going through the same shock White Plains experienced when our city first learned that Dr. Yanofsky’s contract would not be renewed last September.

Connors is described as a Superintendent enjoying the same popularity Dr. Saul Yanofsky has enjoyed in White Plains. Connors, like Yanofsky, is known by children throughout Danbury and in the classrooms as the superintendent, and they shout his name when they see him in parades and when he visits their classrooms.

“Man of Action.”

The former Chairman of the Danbury Board of Education who hired Connors five years ago, described Connors, in the News-Times as a man of action, and his experience is a striking parallel to Dr. Yanofsky’s last 4 years:

Danbury Voters passed two bond packages, paying for new roofs and boilers and a new science wing and track at the high school. Presently he has been honchoing plans for an elementary magnet school, funded by the state and a new elementary school.

Though White Plains enrollment is predicted to be stable for the next few years, three of its elementary schools are aging, and any increase in enrollment will need a new elementary school. Connors’ familiarity with problems White Plains is facing now and might face in the future appear to be a good fit.

Connors calls White Plains ‘a great opportunity’.

The News-Times in a report filed by Eileen FitzGerald last night quotes Mr. Connors as describing White Plains as “looking to make sure all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Professionally, it’s a great opportunity.”

Ms. FitzGerald also reports that the White Plains City School District will pay into Social Security, something that Connecticut does not pay educators. She reports Connors as saying “That’s a significant enhancement, and I will position myself better financially for retirement.” Connors is reportedly going to resign from his Danbury position April 24.

Achievement Gap Closer

In his five years with the Danbury schools, Mr. Connors is credited by Thomas Murphy, of the Connecticut Department of Education in Ms. FitzGerald’s article, as having been “doing good work around closing the achievement gap.” The Mayor of Danbury, Mark Boughton, who taught under Mr. Connors, said Connors made the School District working environment better and inspired teachers to become more enthusiastic.

Thirty-six years in education, with teaching experience.

Mr. Connors, reports the City School District, is a graduate of Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, and has a Masters Degree and Certificate of Advanced Studies from Harvard. He was a participant in the Urban Superintendents Program at Harvard. Mr. Connors taught social studies, and as been a Superintendent of Schools for 19 years. He was Superintendent for 10 years in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, 4 years in Bloomington, Minnesota, and 5 years in Danbury, Connecticut.

One of Two Finalists

The City School District, in their official announcement said that the search firm of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates had considered candidates from nine states and Washington, D.C. After interviewing a short list of six candidates, the Board selected a final three candidates. They were then interviewed by a City Citizens’ Committee, made up of the presidents of the Civil Service, Teachers and Administrators and Supervisors Associations, a representative of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, the PTA and the community at large.

McLaughlin said she hoped many members of the community and the School District staff would come to the community forum on April 23. The District, in a statement, said that, if the site visit and contract formalities “go as anticipated” Mr. Connors will be Dr. Saul Yanofsky’s successor.

For the complete Danbury News-Times reports on Mr. Connors, WPCNR urges you to go to the News-Times website, at www.newstimes.com.