No one needs to tell Kent County Schools Superintendent Karen Couch how difficult it is these days to run a rural school district. After completing her 12th year as superintendent of the Edgewood-Moriarty School District in New Mexico, Dr. Couch has seen it all, from the boom years with high enrollment and large budgets to the aftermath of the recession.
Nonetheless, the Superintendent radiates a certain quiet confidence when discussing her approach to strategic planning and management style, as well as making hard financial decisions in order to keep the most dollars in the classroom.
In this interview, Dr. Couch begins the first of a series of periodic chats with the Spy on the status of the public schools in Kent County. She highlights the similarities and differences between school districts, her aspirations of the “Common Core,” and how she would like to engage with the community.
The video is approximately eight minutes long
Holly Geddes says
I am very impressed. As a retired teacher, I heard a number of statements that sang to my hear. The use of a core curriculum is very important to me. In Montgomery County, the breadth of objectives was staggering. I never understood the need to teach “opportunity costs” to third graders. Years ago when I started teaching, we had “key objectives” and “extended objectives”. Then they got blended together. What a mess! I found that the students who could not do fractions were the ones who, in 5ht grade, had mastered (?) “opportunity costs” but did not know their multiplication tables. So to hear Karen Couch talk about core (key) curriculum is music to my ears.
She also talked about personal connections with the staff and students. For me, that is the essence of the “art” of teaching. The mechanics can be there, but if the student does not feel the connection to the teacher, they will resist learning. The same is true for the parent who will resist the program and the teacher who will resist the administration. The personal connection is vital.
I wish Dr. Couch all the best and want to extent an offer to help in any way I can.