|
Thursday, July 3, 2008 6:14 PM EDT
Superintendent’s first day is about opening doors
By JEFF SHAW
Olean Times Herald
|
| Olean City School District Superintendent Colleen Taggerty talks about her first day on the job July 1 at her office in the high school. Photo by Darrell Gronemeier |
|
|
| |
|
OLEAN - The superintendent’s office at Olean High School is wide open, and inside you’ll see a lot of chocolate and Mickey Mouse.
Colleen Taggerty started her first day Tuesday as superintendent of the Olean City School District. It didn’t take her long to re-arrange the furniture in the office for more open space, and to make sure the door to a main hallway at the school was propped open for people to stop in and say hello.
“I want the office to be open and inviting,” Dr. Taggerty said. “I want people to feel welcome and safe. My biggest hope is that the door is open and students come in. I want to know them and who they are.”
A bowl of candy is also available to encourage people to visit, she said. Another notable décor change took place Tuesday - many of the decorations are centered around the cartoon character Mickey Mouse.
“I started collecting Mickey Mouse as a kid,” she said. “It just stuck with me.”
Dr. Taggerty was previously assistant superintendent at Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES. She replaced Mark Ward at the Olean position, as he started as Ellicottville Central School superintendent Tuesday.
Mr. Ward served as Olean superintendent for four years, and Dr. Taggerty commended him on his work.
“The state of the school district is in good standing,” she said. “Mark Ward in the last four years has moved this district in a positive direction. He’s left me in good hands.”
Although she worked out of town for the last nine years, Dr. Taggerty grew up in Portville and has lived in Olean for nearly 20 years. Due to the hour-long drive to her previous job, she also had an apartment in Chautauqua County - another reason the Olean job appealed to her.
“It’s nice to be living in one place,” she said. “That five-minute drive to work (Tuesday) was refreshing.”
Her first day was a reassurance that she made the right career decision, Dr. Taggerty said.
“Walking in here this morning was a feeling of being … it felt like home,” she said. “It felt very right. It felt like this is where I belong.”
But she said she knows the job won’t be easy, and the summer will be spent getting to know the district, its administration and what needs to be done.
“The learning curve is going to be large,” she said.
Dr. Taggerty said she wants to meet with leaders in the district and develop a strategic plan for how to continually improve Olean schools.
“The major emphasis will be preparing for the capital project (that was approved June 17),” she said. “That will be the biggest part.”
Dr. Taggerty described part of her job as supporting the administrators in each building, and said she wants to arrange student councils at each school building to let people have a voice in what happens to the schools.
“My hope is that I can arrange with each principal some time to go to each building,” she said. “We really need to function as a whole.”
The staff and community have been very welcoming, Dr. Taggerty said. Employees at the school were already helping rearrange her office Tuesday.
“When I get here first thing (Tuesday) morning, they were already in here moving the office around,” she said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s been a great first day.”
 printer friendly version
 e-mail this story
Reader Comments
There are No comments posted. comments to this story.
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bradfordera.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
|
