Alum Named Superintendent in Greenwich, Conn.

A decade ago, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District in Ohio set out on a daunting task of taking a large urban high school with 2,000 students and breaking it up into five smaller units housed in different parts of the building.

Using a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the district hired a consultant, William McKersie, to work with a group of administrators and teachers who were tasked with researching the best situations for the smaller learning communities. For months, the group met to discuss what the new schools would look like, and held regular sessions with parents and community members.

The process wasn't without difficulties. Current Cleveland Heights High School Principal James Reed who, at the time, was a high school administrator responsible for one grade, recalls that there was push-back from parents who thought the regular high school worked well enough for their children. Others thought the district should set up themed academies, something that other districts around the state had decided to do.

Through it all McKersie, who was recently hired as Greenwich's new superintendent of schools, shared some of his own ideas and acted as a bridge between the Ohio district's superintendent and the committee, Reed said. The group eventually decided to center each of the schools around different instructional methods, such as Socratic seminars and experiential learning.

Read the full article at Greenwichtime.com.