The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Michael Spencer, Norfolk public schools' chief operating officer and a former Maury High principal, is one of three candidates to be headmaster of The Williams School, a private school in Ghent.
Spencer confirmed Friday that he is a finalist for the job. "Like any professional, I look for opportunities, and this is an opportunity," he said.
The other finalists are Melanie Bird, Williams' interim head of school, and Bill Perrine, an administrator at Friends Academy in Dartmouth, Mass.
Michael Anderson, a Williams trustee who also works for The Virginian-Pilot, said a final selection could be made as early as next month or as late as the end of the calendar year.
Williams, which has 189 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, was founded in 1927. It has a teacher-student ratio of 7 to 1 and is governed by a board of trustees.
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Admin at the top
Look at the jobs page on the Norfolk Public Schools website. Six top admin jobs are posted. Something is wrong when so many people leave, good or bad in your opinion. Pilot, it is time to do some investigative reporting on why the mass exodus.
Williams School would do very well to hire Mike Spencer.
Mike Spencer was my daughter's principal at Waters Elementary in Portsmouth years ago. He was a great adminsitrator then, and it was Portsmouth's loss when he left to go to Maury. The kids loved and respected him there, and when she played tennis years later for Wilson, there he was at Maury for the Wilson-Maury matches, cheering on his Maury team and the Wilson players whom he rememebered so well. Now it will be Norfolk's loss if they cannot keep him, and Williams School's gain.
more disappointing news for Norfolk
Mr. Spencer would be a wonderful addition to the Williams School. For Norfolk, it's possibly more sad news. There's been a mass exodus of experience at the top, and while change can be good, if your ENTIRE admin. changes as quickly as Norfolk's has, sustained and incremental improvement is difficult. This seems to be proven by recent test scores. Norfolk appears to be a system in flux, instead of building on the success they were enjoying 5 years ago. As a resident of Norfolk, this makes me sad, because I love my city. When a School Board and an administration changes as much and as quickly as Norfolk's has, it generally means an unhealthy environment. Students & teachers are the ones who suffer the most from this. Hope I'm wrong!
admins
Many of the administrators who have left recently were no great loss. This is different. Mike Spencer has always been that very rare species-- a fair, rational school administrator more interested in doing the right thing for the students as well as teachers than in promoting himself or some personal commercial agenda. It's our loss, but I wish him well.
I'd be careful taking the job...
...if I were Mr. Spencer. Williams likes "yes men" who will stick to the status quo without question, and as a whole, the faculty, staff, and parents don't like change. The last headmaster was let go after a brief stint mid-year in a decision that was said to be mutual, and perhaps it was, but he was driven out nonetheless. He landed firmly on his feet, assuming a better position at a very well known and exclusive private school in Pennsylvania, so apparently, the issue was not with him. If Mr. Spencer has job security and any sense of job satisfaction he might wish to stay where he is, although Norfolk Public Schools do appear to be a sinking ship at times. At least with NPS he can have some sense of autonomy.