Elia asks SED staff to become 'problem-solvers' for districts

On Board Online • October 12, 2015

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

The Board of Regents has approved a series of administrative appointments that signal renewed emphasis on helping local school district leaders cope with the burgeoning demands of myriad education reforms and other operating challenges.

"The changes made in this department support the field," Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia told the Regents when she recommended half a dozen appointments at the September board meeting. "These are people that have had experience and can reflect and be problem-solvers as we move through the next phase of improvement in New York State."

The new members of Elia's team include a mix of staffers promoted from other roles within the department and fresh faces from elsewhere, including several who, like Elia, have district-level experience as public school superintendents and administrators.

Charles Szuberla, a State Education Department (SED) veteran, has been tapped to lead a shift in the department's culture. He will head the new Office of P-12 School Services as a deputy commissioner.

Szuberla said he plans to conduct a "satisfaction survey" of district leaders to help SED officials determine where they most need to improve and gather suggestions.

But he said he doesn't need a survey to know that school district officials can be frustrated when they contact SED with a set of interrelated questions. They often get referred to multiple offices in the state agency, Szuberla said. He said he has experienced the phenomena himself when calling from the road.

To achieve the goal of "high-quality customer service," SED needs to emulate the helpfulness and responsiveness of popular retailers like L.L. Bean and the Rochester-based Wegmans supermarket chain, he said. "If you walk into a Wegmans and you say, 'Can you tell me where the olives are,' the guy stocking the shelves doesn't say, 'Buddy, this is the ketchup aisle . You need to ask someone else about olives,'" he said.

"I really see our role as to help support you folks, help you navigate some of the issues you've got," he said at a meeting of the state Council of School Superintendents. "If I don't know the answer, I'm going to make sure you're going to get to talk to somebody who does."

Szuberla, 62, joined SED in 1986 as an associate architect in the Facilities Planning Office and rose to become chief of facilities planning, assistant commissioner for school operations. In recent months, he was acting deputy commissioner for P-12 education.

In his new post, his areas of policy responsibility will include oversight of school operations and facilities, charter schools, the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) teacher evaluation system and student support services.

Other appointments made by Elia are:

Jhone Ebert, most recently chief innovation and productivity officer for the Clark County School District in Nevada, will be Elia's senior deputy commissioner. According to SED, Ebert has extensive experience with curriculum and professional development; technology-enabled systems of teaching and learning; aligning standards, assessment and instruction; improvement of data systems to aid instruction; student, parent and staff engagement; and career and technical education. She also has been a teacher, chief technology officer and assistant superintendent for curriculum and professional development in Clark County, which is the nation's fifth-largest school district.

Cheryl Atkinson, the "chief ombuds officer" for the Syracuse City School District, will be assistant commissioner for the Office of Innovation and School Reform. Her work will be focused on struggling schools identified for state receivership, Elia told the Regents. Atkinson previously was superintendent of the DeKalb County School District in Georgia, superintendent of Lorain City Schools in Ohio and deputy superintendent of Vance County Schools in North Carolina. She began her career as a teacher in Vance County. Before coming to Syracuse, she was vice president of the Success for All Foundation, founded at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, which encourages the use of high-quality, research-proven educational programs to raise student learning and achievement.

Angelica Infante-Green will be deputy commissioner for the Office of P-12 Instructional Support. She has been associate commissioner for the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages, overseeing policy and initiatives to increase services for English language learners and their families. Previously, she was CEO and executive director of New York City's Office of English Language Learners. She was a regional instructional specialist for the city and school director at the Early Childhood Center at George Washington High School. Infante-Green began her career as a teacher and, next, as a dual language project director in New York City schools.

Lissette Colon-Collins, the senior fellow for English language learners at the Regents Research Fund, will be assistant commissioner for the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages. She also has held several positions with the New York City Department of Education's Office of English Language Learners.

Peter Swerdzewski, a fellow for assessment with the Regents Research Fund, will be assistant commissioner for the Office of Assessment, Standards and Curriculum. Previously, he was an assessment consultant and adjunct professor for assessment and public policy at James Madison University, where he worked with the university's Center for Assessment and Research Studies on higher education assessment and accountability initiatives.

SED has had several high-level departures including deputy commissioner Ken Wagner, now state education commissioner in Rhode Island. Other recent departures included Cosimo Tangorra Jr. and Ken Slentz, both P-12 deputy commissioners. Both took superintendent positions in upstate school districts in the last two years.

Former Commissioner John B. King Jr. is now at the U.S. Department of Education and will become acting secretary of education in December.