Schools

Superintendent Candidate Interviews: Meet Shawn Lewis-Lakin

The current superintendent of the Manchester Community School District answers interview questions from the Royal Oak school board.

, superintendent of schools, Manchester Community School District.

About 11 people, including parents and administrators, filled the board of education meeting room Tuesday night as two candidates were interviewed for the Royal Oak Schools superintendent position. On Monday, were interviewed.

Why did you apply?

Lewis-Lakin, 51, said his current position is going well, but Manchester is small and he is looking to become a part of a team. “I am ready to be back in a larger team environment,” he said. He also said Royal Oak’s reputation as an outstanding school district prompted his interest. "The achievement that I think I bring to this point in my life, I thought, 'this is good match' and the fit between your needs and what I think I can bring to the district were what motivated me to apply,” he said.

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Budget process

“Students, classroom come first,” Lewis-Lakin said, adding whatever can be done to protect instruction and student learning is his core principle. In terms of the budgeting process, Lewis-Lakin said he involves as many stakeholders as possible and fosters transparency and conversations. Lewis-Lakin said in his experience, he has been the person developing the budget. He said guiding the priorities and doing the projections comes out of his office. Lewis-Lakin said he has planned four budgets. He said Manchester Schools had to cut over $1.1 million out of an $11 million budget, over the past four years.

Collective bargaining

Lewis-Lakin said he spent yesterday as the lead negotiator for the board because he has been the lead negotiator for the past four years in all of Manchester’s contracts. “I have a fairly extensive background,” he said. Lewis-Lakin said that he is very proud to say that this year Manchester hasn’t had any Level I grievances throughout the district. He said there have been issues, but he’s worked to develop good relationships. “For me there are two core principles in labor relations: common respect, common purpose,” he said. “If we can develop a relationship where we respect each other … and where we can acknowledge that we both care deeply about children and their education, then we can get someplace and go together.”

Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Promoting student achievement

Lewis-Lakin said he’s talked about his core mission being the classroom and students, and student achievement is the product. Lewis-Lakin said he articulates the vision for student achievement and then makes sure there is strong accountability throughout the process to make sure students achieve.

Experience eliminating a program

"We have been working hard to keep cuts away from student programming, but we haven’t kept them totally away,” Lewis-Lakin said. He said he has seen the media specialist position in Manchester go from two, then one-and-a-half and then one. Lewis-Lakin said the issue came up again this year where he had to decide between increasing class size or eliminating the final media specialist position, which happened. Lewis-Lakin said the Manchester district is now looking to form a partnership with the community’s library.

How do you define a well-rounded student?

Lewis-Lakin said he places key emphasis on the whole child, including emotional, social and academic. “There are many dimensions that make us who were are,” he said. Lewis-Lakin said he would want to make sure Royal Oak nurtures children and he is very excited about the exploration of the middle years IB program. Lewis-Lakin pointed to the importance of the district’s Fresco project. “That to me is what it means to be educating the whole child,” he said.

Supporting building administrators and teachers

“One of the things I think I can do for building administrators is to help them be as effective as possible in their role supporting and holding teachers accountable,” Lewis-Lakin said. He said there are points in everyone’s journey where they need directive support and other times when they need affirmation and it is important to provide both.

How would you spend your first 100 days on the job?

“One of the things I will be doing is asking a lot of questions,” Lewis-Lakin said. He said one of the items he would ask the board is to tell him where are the places to be to make the best use of his time? He said he would also plunge whole-heartedly into the community. “One of the things I’ll do, is I’ll be here,” he said. Lewis-Lakin said one of his phrases the board will hear is, “help me understand.”


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