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District 11 Veteran to Lead Many Local Schools

By HEATHER HADDON

While the school bureaucracy has been slashed, parents will still have to learn the names and faces of many new school officials. And in Norwood and Bedford Park, local parents should learn one new name in particular-- Gail Davis. 

As of this month, Davis and 112 other local instructional supervisors assumed their positions, overseeing clusters of 10 to 12 schools under the new Instructional Division system. The supervisors are charged with "direct supervisory responsibility over the instructional programs and principals of the network schools," according to a recent Department of Education statement. 

Many local schools-- including PS 46, PS 54, PS 56, PS 94, PS 280, and MS 80-- will be under the watch of Davis, the former deputy superintendent for neighboring District 11. Davis was one of 12 instructional supervisors appointed by Irma Zardoya, District 10's former superintendent and the new regional superintendent for Division 1 (which lumps together former Districts 10 and 9). 

The networks are just one component of the Bloomberg administration's vast 
reorganization of the city school system, announced last January. The plan aims to cut through bureaucracy, add uniformity and centralize many aspects of the education infrastructure. Key components include a standardized curriculum, "learning support centers" for parents and the dismantling of the community school boards.

Though the boards will cease to exist by the end of this year, the community school districts will technically continue on. As stipulated by a legal settlement last month, each district will still maintain a district superintendent-- essentially an instructional supervisor doing double-duty. Davis was selected as Division 1's superintendent.

But far more emphasis is being placed on the new building blocks of the Bloomberg school plan, including the school networks. Establishing the networks involved a process of weighing many interests. "The networks are a mix of elementary, middle and high schools that are not in just one district area," said Jacquie Wayans of  insideschools.org, a Web site that reviews city schools. 

The resulting networks intended to avoid the phenomenon of "super districts," or pockets of high performing schools, as Wayans calls them. "This is so no one can accuse [the Department of Education] of favoritism," she said.

While most networks have a mix of elementary and middle schools, many of Division 1's high schools are lumped together in one or two networks. Wayans attributes this to the small, theme-based New Visions high schools that were launched, or soon to start, in the area. "I hope these supervisors are specialists with high schools," she said.

In principle, the supervisors will offer some local understanding of the greatly expanded districts (Division 1 swells to over 90,000 students and 109 schools). "Our new [supervisors] will be working every day with the principals and coaches in their assigned schools to import best practices from around the city," said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in a statement. 

Those duties are very similar to what Davis was doing in her previous capacity as a deputy superintendent. The Department of Education had not granted permission for the specialists to speak publicly by press time. 

But those who previously worked with Davis at District 11, in the east Bronx, spoke kindly of her. "We're very sad to be losing her," said Al D'Angelo, a member of the District 11 School Board. "She's a class act."

Board President Chris Higgins, who worked with Davis in her four years at District 11, is also impressed by her work. "Gail is non-stop," he said. "You can always get the information you want from her. If she doesn't have it, she'll get it."

One area Davis especially focused on in District 11 was middle schools, according to Higgins. "Middle school improvement is extremely difficult," he said. "She was a leader in  . . . developing programs that have improved the performance of our middle schools." 

District 11's test scores generally fare better then those in District 10. In the 2003 state English and math exams, District 11 ranked roughly in the middle of the 32 districts, while District 10 was in the lower third. 

Higgins also complimented Davis' ability to work with parents and the community. Her response to a particularly traumatic issue-- when a student was abused by a teacher at PS 78-- was exemplary. "She developed a committee to help alleviate the anger and frustration over the situation," he said. "The program was very successful in establishing closer ties between the district and the community."

And according to D'Angelo, she excelled at working with principals-- one of the big responsibilities in her new role. "She was able to go around to the schools, conduct evaluations, and talk to the principals about what needed to be done," he said. 

Ed. note: The Norwood News will continue to profile the new instructional supervisors in upcoming issues. Parents can receive the quickest answers to their education questions by calling the Learning Support Center in their division. In Division 1, the Center is at One Fordham Plaza (where the District 10 office was located). To contact them, call (718) 741-7090.