Keep Dr. Starr for the children

Dr. Joshua Starr has made large strides in putting programs into the school that are uniform throughout the district. There are no longer over 100 reading programs, the new math program is one that repeats information letting students succeed even if it does not register the first time. Science and Social Studies are much more hands on now than ever before. We believe that he does have a vision and that Stamford schools are becoming more successful because of that vision.

What we don't believe in is that Stamford needs to keeps turning over Superintendents left and right and therefore continually changing these types of programs. We think that the children need Dr. Starr to stay where he is and complete his vision and hopefully this would lead to more continued success of our students. Children and schools needs the consistency of a standard curriculum across the district and the only way to achieve this is to keep the superintendent. Any changes at the top will take almost 5 years to reverse current policy and/or implement any new policy's.

Finally, that Stamford Schools suffer more from a public relations crisis rather than a real crisis of education. We have numerous success stories every day across the district in every school. Speak to most parents and they will tell you how they love their teachers and love their building administrators. Of course there will be exceptions, but I am always amazed at how happy most parents I speak with are about their schools. This says that we are doing something right. This is what we should be promoting in order to improve the overall image of our district

Nancy and Jeff Herz