Sea Change: A strong, clear and definite change in a situation

Last week’s meetings – the regular School Board meeting and this year’s first joint meeting between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors – seem to signal a sea-change.  A commitment to the students, teachers and citizens of Northumberland was evident in both meetings. 

No longer a tit-for-tat, “who-struck-John” exchange, progress toward accountability, transparency and students’ achievement emerged from both meetings.  County needs were factored as evidenced by the outstanding presentation on how to move our technology gap from standstill to implementation.

Yes, there are still hurdles to overcome but Dr. Dave Curran has taken responsibility for what comes next and has emerged as a leader who seemingly has the will and the ability needed to move from what the school board did wrong to what the school board is doing right. 

His message of ‘we’re in this together’ resonated.  Under his leadership, it won’t be the schools vs. the county – it will be all of us as a community working together to balance  various stakeholders’ interests with education excellence. 

Now comes the hard work – advancing systems, policies and attitudes to ensure that these changes take place.  It won’t be easy or painless and as Dr. Curran rightfully pointed out, patience is required.  As a community, we should remember that only two years ago, none of these opportunities would have seemed possible.

Thanks to engaged and interested community members like you, we are optimistic this next year will bring the change for which we are so ready.

The January 12^th regular meeting can be viewed here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6CtP4S_4lE

The joint meeting can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNMOlQWhtg