Naugatuck's New Superintendent of Schools is Already Hard at Work

Naugatuck's new Superintendent of Schools has hit the ground running.

Sharon Locke, 47, was hired in April and technically did not begin the position until Interim Superintendent James Connelly finished his tenure at the end of June. However, before school ended for the year Ms. Locke spent an entire school day in the borough. She toured almost every school in the borough with each of the building principals and then attended a reception with Board of Education members and members of the community. She attended Awards Night at Naugatuck High School and the Foley Award Dinner honoring David and Sandra Heller. She returned to her district-to-be in order to sit on the stage of the Palace Theater in Waterbury during the 2014 Naugatuck High School graduation on June 24.

The new Superintendent lives in Durham with her 17-year old son and is engaged to be married. Her late mother was a high school math teacher and her father served as a coach, and she always knew that she wanted to work with kids.

She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of New Hampshire and a master's degree from Central Connecticut State University. While she was working on her master's degree, Ms. Locke did an unpaid internship at Conard High School in West Hartford as a guidance counselor. She returned to Conard HS as a guidance counselor after earning her master's and she also coached boys swimming and girls lacrosse at the school.

Ms. Locke spent three years in Old Saybrook Elementary School in the guidance department and worked closely with the principal. She did many in-class lesson during her tenure there and was nominated by teachers to be named Teacher of the Year. "I feel that I am a teacher in my heart," said Ms. Locke.

After completing her administrator certificate at Southern CT, Ms. Locke became the guidance director at New Britain High School for the 2005-2006 school year. She was promoted to vice principal of the high school the following year.

While Ms. Locke's late husband attended University of Iowa for a theater degree, she worked as a principal at an elementary school in Iowa City. In 2008 the couple moved back to Connecticut and she returned to New Britain as the district coordinator for testing and program evaluation. She earned her superintendent certification at Central CT. She  took on the job of director of district improvement for kindergarten through fifth grade and then Chief Academic Officer, essentially the Assistant Superintendent, for the New Britain school district. Of the two Assistant Superintendents, Ms. Locke was in charge of academic matters. This was the position she held when she applied for the Superintendent position in the borough and one other Superintendent position.

Naugatuck's new Superintendent wanted to lead the Naugatuck schools because of the borough's status as an alliance district and its smaller size as compared to the system in New Britain. She told me that immediately after her interview that was conducted by the Board of Education members she knew that she would be a good fit for the position. She also feels that the job is appropriate for a first-time Superintendent.

During her research on the borough and its schools, she visited each of the school's websites and began to formulate her entry plan. She presented this plan during her first official Board of Education meeting on July 10 at the Tuttle Building. The BOE made it very clear to the superintendent that they wanted her to improve communication with all stakeholders and to be visible in the community. In fact, both of these requirements became apparent during the focus groups that were held with BOE members, administrators, teachers, parents and community members before the search for a new leader began. By all accounts, she has already begun to fulfill these requests.

During the summer months, Ms. Locke will be very busy ensuring that all the district schools will be ready for the upcoming academic year. She will work at building relationships, developing a cohesive strategic plan and developing a collective district vision. A Superintendent's cabinet has already been established and includes Christopher Montini, Assistant Superintendent and proud father to a second son Jack who was born on July 1, Bob Butler, the Director of Finance, Jim Lawlor, the Director of Human Resources, Laura Cyr,  the Director of Pupil Services and the Director of Information Technology, Alan Merly. She believes that the more heads in the room, the better it is for problem-solving and the cabinet will meet twice every month. Her slide presentation included the acronym CEO standing for collaborative, evolving (forever learning and growing) and open. She hopes to become a "champion for the district."

At the BOE meeting, the new Superintendent spoke of the small town feeling of Naugatuck and mentioned the tremendous welcome that she has received from the borough. Other observations she shared was a strong cohesive administrative team, the caring and supportive community and the strong values in the fabric of that community.

In order to reach out to as many members of the community as she can, Ms. Locke is in the process of planning three opportunities to meet parents, students and community members. She met with the members of the Parent School Council on Monday and they will be sponsoring two dates for the new superintendent to meet with the public. Jen Stone suggested that the first  be held before the weekly summer concert on August 5 on the Town Green from 6:00 to 7:00pm. The second will be held on August 20 before the Family Movie Night sponsored by the Park and Rec Department from 7:00 to 8:00pm. Another meet and greet will be scheduled to reach out to high school students and their parents. The Superintendent also plans to meet faculty and staff members at a back to school reception sponsored by the three unions that represent the district's employees.

Soon to be unveiled will be a Naugatuck Public Schools Facebook page and Twitter account, as well as a combined calendar on the district website. Ms. Locke also has scheduled two BOE workshops during which they will collaboratively develop a district strategic plan.

Ms. Locke is very interested in how the money allotted to the school district is being spent and will now require that she sign off on any purchase order over $2500. When she begins to construct the budget for next year, the superintendent plans to categorize the amounts by school and look critically at the amounts spent on each. If cuts need to be made, they will be determined according to the priorities in the strategic plan.

Thank you to Ms. Locke making time to meet with me to discuss her entry plan. I look forward to working with her.