Upton replaced; Scot Graden to serve as interim superintendent through end of June
Scot Graden
Scot Graden, superintendent of Saline Area Schools since 2008, was named as interim superintendent of Manchester Community Schools, replacing Kevin Upton, at a special meeting of the MCS Board of Education last Monday night.
Upton’s contract with the WISD, which was scheduled to extend through June 30, was terminated as of April 6, 2020.
A lifelong Washtenaw County resident, Graden has served with the Saline district since 1995, beginning in the community ed department; in 2000 he became the director of community education. He has also served the district in various capacities such as interim athletic director, alternative high school principal, and executive director of community services.
“I took a rather non-traditional path to this position,” he says, laughing.
His path continues to be non-traditional as he is taking on the responsibilities of directing the Manchester district at an extremely challenging time. Since school was cancelled for the remainder of the school year due to COVID-19 health concerns, by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on April 2, there is an immediate push to get a “continuity of learning” plan rolled out for the district. With a deadline of April 28 to have each district’s plan to the WISD for approval, Graden says that the “structure of the plans is in pretty good shape.” From that standpoint, however, he says he is cognizant of the challenges in Manchester with lack of broadband access for many students.
“I’ve been working with Mike, the tech director,” he explained. “In Saline, we have developed hotspots outside of our buildings and we are working on a plan to get at least one in a building in Manchester. That way, families without access can make an effort to move forward.”
The state is not waiving days like they did last year when schools were closed due to sub-zero temperatures. “We need to provide instruction for our students, and we are trying to manage those hurdles,” Graden added.
Obviously, under normal circumstances, a busy superintendent of a large district would not have had the time to simultaneously help out a smaller, neighboring district. But when Manchester’s search firm principal, Tony Hollow, called him to talk about helping out in the short-term for our district, Graden thought he might have a good fit to offer Manchester at this time, and with his strong connections over the years, he thought there might be some “shared synergy” that could benefit both districts.
“I am available to the Manchester community and staff,” he said. “I know they need to feel supported among so many uncertainties.” By Thursday, he had already conducted virtual staff meetings and learned that Manchester has “passionate, talented, and caring staff. I’m just providing guidance,” he added. “They know what the families in the district need.”
He sees his support extending to the school board and allowing them to get back to the important task of finding a permanent superintendent.
“It’s going to be extremely important to the district that they find the right person, the right leader,” Graden said. “And that person needs to be able to find the right team members for their team.”
School board vice-president Chris Fegan commented that the search process is proceeding, and the search committee will learn more from a meeting Monday night with Hollow and Linda Blair about its direction, but they’ve indicated they have some solid candidates lined up. She added that the search is still scheduled to be completed by June 30.
“As a board, we thought the timing was right, for us to get a seasoned superintendent to lead us through this very challenging time,” she said. “Scot is a good fit for right now. It has been a whirlwind.”
The next regular school board meeting, set for April 20, will also be a virtual meeting. Directions for public who wish to attend are on the district website.
Graden will also help guide the district in budgeting, including planning for how to restructure both the Athletic Department and the Early Childhood Center, both of which had administrative positions cut at the March 30 meeting.
And as the roll out of the continuity of learning plan continues, he will help the staff determine the need to do a certain amount of “reteaching” to get where the students need to go by the end of the coming school year.
“We don’t want to overwhelm families that are already stressed and struggling,” he said. “It’s not about replicating what they would have learned in a face-to-face situation. We need to prepare them for fall and beyond. Those classes that are stacking/sequential, we need them to stay engaged.
“We know there will be an impact (from the school closure),” he concluded. “The concept is to mitigate that as quickly as possible. It can’t be a lasting impact. We need to work on this challenge and move forward to the next level.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login