Educator Sees Good Start: New Superintendent Confident About Improving Student Performance in Troy
By Kenneth C. Crowe II, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
Aug. 16–TROY — With only weeks to go before the first day of school, the city’s new school superintendent, Fadhilika Atiba-Weza, is confident he’s leading a district that will be at the top in the Capital Region.
Atiba-Weza took the helm of the district July 1, leaving his post as superintendent of the Central Islip Union Free School District in Suffolk County on Long Island.
“I am leading a district that wants to do the (things) that I want to do. We have to meet the levels of expectation,” Atiba-Weza said.
He wants to empower, encourage and set an example for those the district educates and employs.
That means continuing to make improvements across the educational spectrum, particularly at the Doyle Middle School and Troy High School, where efforts have been made to better student performance as identified by the state Education Department.
Test results released in May showed improvements in student performance at the two schools.
“We have to actualize the positives,” the 53-year-old superintendent said.
Atiba-Weza has spent this summer making the transition to an urban, upstate district from the suburban schools he led on Long Island’s South Shore.
It’s meant learning about the district’s finances. He likes the shape the district is in.
And it means adapting to the cultural differences. On Long Island, it was “Mr.” and “Mrs.” when staff addressed each other at district headquarters. The informal, first-name basis favored in the Troy schools surprised the new superintendent.
“There’s a sense of community,” Atiba-Weza said.
He says there is a role in the community for him as well. The city school district’s first black superintendent, he feels there is greater opportunity to make an impact in the Capital Region than on Long Island, where 10 of the 120 districts are led by black superintendents.
Atiba-Weza plans to strengthen the district’s ties with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and other institutions.
“We want to be partners with them,” Atiba-Weza said, emphasizing there must be a mutual benefit.
Atiba-Weza hasn’t decided where he and his family will live. He will be completing his doctoral studies in organization and leadership at Columbia University in New York. He is a graduate of City College of New York and has a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Brooklyn College and a master’s degree in administration and supervision from City College.
Perhaps matching Atiba-Weza’s passion for education is his thirst for jazz.
“I’m a jazz collector: all LPs,” he said. Of course, he also has jazz for his MP3 player, which he uses for background music while working.
“So far, everything has been going very well,” he said. Kenneth C. Crowe II can be reached at 454-5084 or by e-mail at kcrowe@timesunion.com.
—–
To see more of the Albany Times Union, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesunion.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.