New Superintendent Focused on 'Building a Strong Foundation' for Successor

Thomas Elliott knows he didn't take an easy job.

Port Chester is in for a rough budget season – taxes are going up, positions will almost certainly be slashed, and taxpayers will have to decide between a pair of budget plans that both raise the tax levy.

At the same time, Elliott's hiring was controversial. For months, as former Superintendent Donald Carlisle's departure , the central debate at school board meetings focused on . Community members fell into two main camps–those who wanted to promote one of the district's two , and those who wanted to keep those administrators in their jobs and hire from outside.

When the school board with a controversial 3-2 vote, the debate didn't end, and as of the latest school board meeting, weeks after Elliott was hired, some taxpayers .

Elliott, whose education career spans 37 years and six school districts, isn't immune to the criticism.

"I certainly understand and appreciate the fact that there's some concern in the community about using an outside interim superintendent as opposed to working internally," Elliott said, "but I can tell you that it has not distracted me from the work that needs to be done in order to build a strong foundation for the next superintendent, and that's really what my focus is on."

The key piece to that foundation, Elliott said, is a realistic school budget that will see the district through tough economic times while preserving the many programs the district offers to its students. Although the economy has shown sporadic signs of improvement in a financial malaise that dates back to at least 2008, this year is arguably the toughest of all. New York State's government, infamously slow to respond to changing conditions, is finally drawing its purse strings shut since Andrew Cuomo succeeded former Gov. David Patterson.

For Port Chester, that means a $2 million reduction in state aid, a $550,000 reduction in federal aid for special education salaries, and an extra $200,000 that the district will have to cough up for special ed summer curriculum, as the state shifts more of the financial burden back to local districts.

The first budget presentation is slated for the Board of Education's next meeting on March 10, but preliminary figures indicate the district would have to raise its budget by almost $5 million–and its tax levy by almost 10 percent–to maintain the current level of staffing and programming.

District leaders know that's a hit local taxpayers can't take, and the rough outlines of two proposed budgets would alternately raise the tax levy by 6.19 percent and 2 percent. The former plan could result in 30 layoffs, while the latter would limit layoffs to about 15 employees.

Elliott won't be here next year, and to lay the groundwork for his unnamed successor, "a big piece is having a successful school budget for the next person coming in" and addressing immediate hiring needs, such as the vacancy at Thomas A. Edison School with the retirement of Principal Eileen Santiago.

In the meantime, another immediate challenge for Elliott is getting to know his new district. Learning about Port Chester in the abstract is what attracted Elliott to the district, he said, including the challenges of a bilingual student population, the recent academic successes which resulted in a pair of Blue Ribbon awards, and the reputation of the district's administrative talent.

On Jan. 27, the day after the school board voted to hire him, Elliott took a tour of Port Chester's schools. After meetings with principals and key staff, a second round of visits are focused on the kids.

"My first day on the job, I visited all six of our schools, and since then I've gone back and I've had in-depth visits and gone literally into each classroom," he said.

He's returned to Park Avenue and King Street schools for more-lengthy visits which included introductions to the students, and last week he spent a day at Port Chester High School.

"They were anxious to share with me what they were working on," Elliott said.

The high school has been a recurring concern among parents and community leaders, who say they want to see the success at the elementary and middle school levels duplicated for Port Chester's older students.

Elliott pointed to a current effort to earn accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a process that "requires a hard look at student and achievement data." The progress, he said, is measurable on its own merits, and not on a separate set of standards for schools with unique challenges.

"We're at a point now in Port Chester where we can stand up to many of the highest-performing schools in Westchester," he said.

Elliott, who most recently served as superintendent of the Pocantico Hills in Mt. Pleasant, will turn his attention to the budget hearing, which is less than three weeks away. He's quick to point out that decisions haven't been made yet, and the public will get several chances to weigh in before heading to the polls on May 17 for the final budget vote.

Elliott said a primary goal is to figure out ways to meet financial demands without cutting services and programs for students. Among the challenges facing Elliott and the school board are unavoidable costs, including $2.5 million increases in pensions for retired district staffers and healthcare premiums. Those challenges are identical to those faced by municipal leaders, who do not have control over previous contracts that guarantee benefits to current and retired workers.

Along with the initial March 10 budget presentation, the school board will present a budget update on March 30, followed by a "line-by-line" look at expenditures on April 7. The associated public meetings promise to be heavily-attended, and if previous meetings are any indication, highly contentious.

Elliott says he's prepared.

"I can tell you that we're taking a critical look at every aspect of the budget," he said, "and the board will be asking not only for recommendations, but they will be publicly considering what options they have."