‘Principled, prosperous and meaningful lives’ : New Morris superintendent maps district path

'THE WAY FORWARD' : New Morris School District Supt. Mackey Pendergrast, pictured in July 2015, is promoting 'blended learning.' Photo by Kevin Coughlin
'THE WAY FORWARD' : New Morris School District Supt. Mackey Pendergrast, pictured in July 2015, is promoting 'blended learning.' Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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'THE WAY FORWARD' : New Morris School District Supt. Mackey Pendergrast, pictured in July 2015, is promoting 'blended learning.' Photo by Kevin Coughlin
‘THE WAY FORWARD’ : New Morris School District Supt. Mackey Pendergrast, pictured in July 2015, is promoting ‘blended learning.’ Photo by Kevin Coughlin

By Kevin Coughlin

Mackey Pendergrast, who took over as superintendent of the Morris School District in June, gave himself a homework assignment over the summer.

The result, a plan called The Way Forward, maps an ambitious vision that blends technology and traditional classroom instruction. It aims to produce graduates “poised to live a principled, prosperous, and meaningful life,” where they see their “connections and responsibilities to local and global communities.”

“We want to be innovative, we want to take risks, and continue to improve,” Pendergrast told MorristownGreen.com as he was formulating the plan.

A public forum to discuss this road map is set for Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, at 7 pm at Morristown High School.

Pendergrast cites the book Blended, Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, by staff of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, as a major influence.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan institute near San Francisco was founded by Harvard business professor Clayton Christensen, who studies how markets are “disrupted” and transformed by new services or products that stress the basics.

Blended learning combines brick-and-mortar settings and the internet to forge “a more personalized learning experience,” giving students greater control over “the time, place…and pace” of their education, according to the institute.

Video: ‘Blended Learning’ explainer

As superintendent of the West Morris Mendham Regional High School District, Pendergrast was among a dozen educators invited to the White House last year, after being asked to critique President Obama’s Future Ready technology initiative.

While committed to ensuring students’ access to digital resources to make them “future ready,” he also emphasized “traditional values” in a back-to-school message to Greater Morristown this week.

Pendergrast asked faculty, parents and the community for help in developing students’ work ethic, moral character and a balanced approach to life, so students may live “valuable and dignified lives.”

Among goals outlined in The Way Forward:

  • Providing “rigorous… full-day Kindergarten programs” and “expanded preschool opportunities” for children in the district
  • Preparing each student entering Kindergarten next year to meet or exceed all standards in core subjects by the end of 3rd grade
  • Refining prevention, intervention and counseling to decrease student suspensions by 50 percent in 2016, and to completely halt repeat instances of student bullying an
  • Ensuring that at least 60 percent of students entering 6th grade this year are enrolled in Honors English in 10th grade
  • Ensuring that all students in 6th grade now will pass Algebra before 10th grade
  • Ensuring that at least 55 percent of current high school freshmen pass at least one Advanced Placement test before graduating in 2019
  • Providing “seamless access to WiFi, digital technologies and devices to ensure the possibility of learning anytime, anywhere” for every student
  • Creation of a “digital canvas” that connects teachers and students on “intuitive…user friendly platforms.”
  • Fostering online citizenship, responsibility and leadership among students

HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING

The Morris District serves about 5,700 pupils from Morristown, Morris Township and (for high school only) Morris Plains.

It’s a diverse district– minorities comprise more than 40 percent of students at the high school, and more than a quarter of MHS students are classified as economically disadvantaged.

Pendergrast inherits labor peace. A four-year deal, retroactive to last year, was reached with the 750-member teachers union in March.

The superintendent succeeds Thomas Ficarra, who retired last year after a dozen years leading the district.

Pendergrast hit the ground running in his new gig. By the time classes ended in June, he said, he had met all the school principals and visited all 10 schools, setting foot in 57 classrooms and introducing himself to mayors, police chiefs, church leaders, and presidents of all the Home School Associations in the district.

Less than a month into the job, he spoke  at Morristown High’s commencement. Administrators also gathered for a three-day summit. Pendergrast said there was much discussion of Blending, which they all read prior to his arrival.

Meanwhile, construction proceeded over the summer on a $13 million expansion at Morristown High School.

Expansion construction at Morristown High School, July 2015. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Expansion construction at Morristown High School, July 2015. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

And the Frelinghuysen Middle School got an administrative makeover. A new principal, Joseph Uglialoro, was hired from South Orange. He was joined by new “house” administrators Matthew Fabricant (House of the Phoenix house), Ashley Adams (Tiger) and Aixa Garcia (Dragon). The Woodland School also has a new principal, Jennifer Connors.

As the new school year begins, districts across the state await results from the first round of the controversial PARCC standardized tests. About 20 percent of students in the Morris district opted out of taking them last spring.

Pendergrast acknowledged that parents don’t want their kids used as guinea pigs in educational experiments. Yet he considers PARCC a better gauge of college/career readiness than prior tests, and said the testing process will be smoother and less burdensome this year.

“It’s really a big national experiment, a big national debate. And debate is great. You never want to be experimenting so much that we’re hurting children. But I think it’s a better test, that provides better information to help schools, and it will be implemented in a better way each year,” he said.

‘SACRED DUTY’

Pendergrast views Morris as a “lighthouse” district, a “model school district for a changing world.”

It was forged by court order in the early 1970s, to foster racial integration. Today, there is a strong emphasis on technology. Every school has wireless internet access, and every pupil in grades 6-12 gets a Chromebook.

Pendergrast said one of his challenges is making sure these machines enhance learning, and are not simply “expensive notebooks.”

And that, he said, relies on the most vital classroom resource of all: Teachers.

“You can never replace the wisdom of the teacher, in my opinion,” said Pendergrast, who spent 15 years as a history teacher.

“We want to be the model school district in the entire nation for providing the greatest support for our teachers. That’s where it happens,” he told Morristown Green.

Mackey Pendergrast, second from left, was on the job less than a month when he spoke at the Morristown High 2015 commencement. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Mackey Pendergrast, second from left, was on the job less than a month when he spoke at the Morristown High 2015 commencement. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Teachers share one thing in common, he said.

“We want to make a difference, we want to make an impact. We all want to do something significant. The problem in education sometimes, the burdens are so great, the responsibilities, the workload, these get in the way of making an impact on students.”

But making that impact is crucial, Pendergrast said. Morristown played a key role in the American Revolution, and the Founding Fathers grasped that an educated population was essential for democracy.

 “That still holds true today. We can never lose sight of that. Education is the vehicle by which our nation is going to thrive, how our businesses are going to thrive,” the superintendent said.

“The nation was founded on the principle that we’re all equal. We’re the best bet to create social justice in the nation and the world, the public schools.

“We have children from all walks of life. We can empower all of them to live full and productive lives. It’s our sacred duty. It’s not easy.”

Video: Mackey Pendergrast addresses MHS Class of ’15

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