Interview with Mrs. Shanley
By: Nicholas DiRito, '20
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The Falcon Flyer's Nick DiRito sat down with Saddle Brook's new superintendent, Ms. Danielle Shanley to get to know her better:
ND: What are some of your goals and visions for the district?
DS: I think in the time that I've been here, I've come to realize where the areas of opportunity are beginning primarily with raising student achievement. When I say raising student achievement, I mean in a variety of forms including standardized assessments. While standardized assessments are not the only way to measure what students know, they are the way that we are judged publicly. When the state presents those scores, the public wants to know their school system is doing a good job. I know we have a lot of opportunities for growth in that area. Raising student achievement helps a community. When people buy a home in a town, they generally consider “does this community have a vibrant recreational life” and “what do the school systems look like?” When young people want to raise a family, they're looking at the schools. So, unfortunately, it's a necessary evil to try to ensure that our students can perform well on standardized assessments. But then there are other tests such as the PSAT and the SAT; if students can do really well on a PSAT, they could be a National Merit Scholar, and earn scholarships for college. And if they do well on the SAT, they can earn more competitive college acceptances. And so, in raising student achievement, we can help the students to do better when they leave here. So that's one of the things that we need to do. And there are a variety of ways we can do this including offering solid, researched based reading programs, rigorous writing instruction, and inquiry based math instruction. But we also need opportunities for innovation and exploration and places where students can pursue their passions. We need access to quality vocational education, and access to college credits before students graduate. So there's a lot to that. It's huge. I think it's a never-ending goal to always want to do better. I also would love to see passion-led academic programs at the high school and the middle school involving courses that students are excited about taking and their teachers are excited about teaching.
ND: What has been the best part about your job as Superintendent?
DS: The best part: I think the people. I happen to work with an incredibly dedicated group of people in the administrative team and the team here in the office. The Board of Education has been incredibly supportive. I know that the teachers are really working hard to do a great job. I think that the best part is knowing that everybody is committed to the growth of the district and the success of the students. Everybody here is really caring; and I think that if you can work with good people who have good intentions, you can accomplish anything.
ND: What are some of the challenges that you've had so far?
DS: I think some of the challenges come from having a lot of turnover in the Superintendency and in some of the administrative positions throughout the district. There might have been great things that previous Superintendents, Principals or Supervisors attempted to do, but because those people left, those things didn't continue. So, one of the greatest challenges has been not having a defined path that we're on, and creating a path that has sustainability. The other biggest challenge has been the budget, which is not something that I think a lot of people really understand. There are exorbitant costs for a lot of things that are outside of our control, like the cost of health care or the cost of special education services. For us, those costs are not managed by the state, but our budget is fixed. It's a challenge to meet the needs of every child and provide high quality services for everybody within a very tight budget. The bottom line is that money does not solve every problem, but it solves most of them when it comes to running a really great district. Solid programs, experiential learning opportunities, and AP/IB classes all cost money. The challenge has been balancing what I know we can and should be doing, and the funding we have or don't have to pay for it.