By Whitney Vickers
FAIRBORN — Children of Fairborn will be heading to bed Tuesday night earlier than they have been in recent months, as the school bell, signaling a new school year, will make its call bright and early Wednesday morning.
The Fairborn City School District has been dealing with a number of moving parts within the last year, including working toward establishing new facilities and welcoming its new superintendent, Mark North, who said he is ready to “move the district forward.”
“I think there’s many areas we can get better at, but I don’t like to use the word ‘fix’,” North said. “We can provide a better environment and greater opportunities for our students. I really don’t see myself as ‘fixing’, but working to pull staff and community members together so we can work together to simply make improvements for our kids.”
Each day of the week will see North making stops at each of the schools and transportation facility. Although his contract became official Monday, Aug. 1, he moved to the area and spent time getting to know the community throughout the summer months.
FCS staff members will hear from North on opening day in relation to how he’d like to see day-to-day operations handled. First on the list of things to discuss, North said, is about how Fairborn kids will come first. He said doing so will move the district forward.
“We have to move forward from every aspect of our education — curriculum to assessment to instruction,” North said. “We have to work together, be consistent and move forward from where we are.”
He will address the district’s practice, or philosophy during day-to-day operations. Staff members will hear about how he doesn’t wish for staff members to blame others, complain or defend themselves when things go awry. Instead, North wishes to see staff operate above the line.
“That’s something we’re going to start working on as far as a practice in our district,” he said. ” … Operating above the line, that means everything we do is going to be intentional, on purpose and it’s going to be done with skill.”
Upon implementing this practice into a daily routine within the schoolhouses, district officials will begin tackling specific items they wish to see changed such as including classroom aids more often and focusing on their professional development.
“That’s what we’re going to focus on this fall — building our culture to move forward,” North said.
