First year provided challenges, surprises for Daeschner

Stephen Daeschner has spent 44 years as an educator.

But his first year as superintendent of Indian Prairie Unit District 204 had to be one of the most unusual of his career, with heated and long-running debates over boundaries and the eventual location of Metea Valley High School.

Daeschner recently met with the Daily Herald to reflect on his first year in District 204, dissect the Metea controversy and discuss his geographically varied allegiances to professional sports teams.

In the first of a two-part series, Daeschner recounts some of the challenges of his first year on the job and whether his initial perceptions of the district matched reality.

Q. How did you come to be superintendent of District 204?

A. This is probably my 44th year in education and I have been a deputy superintendent or a superintendent for 31 years. This is really the fourth place I've been where I've been either a superintendent or a deputy superintendent.

Some of the places, like Anchorage, Alaska, and Louisville were larger. Cedar Rapids was smaller. So every one of those communities has had a different set of variables, different set of needs.

There isn't a lot I haven't seen, but there's certainly a lot I haven't seen in terms of combinations, OK?

I've certainly been superintendent in one of the richest districts, which is dollars behind the kids, in Anchorage. I've been in one of the poorest in the inner city of St. Louis. I've been urban. I've been suburban.

But I don't know that I have worked any harder in the last 15 years than I have this year.

Q. Why is that?

A. I think it's a combination of stuff that we've initiated and then on top of that, the whole Metea lawsuits certainly had a bearing. But even without that I wouldn't hesitate to say that the activities we've been engaged in have been very exciting.

There's probably seven major things we've engaged in from new technology plans to all-day kindergarten to intervention strategists to site-based decision making. It's been hard work.

As I say that, I don't know that I've worked any place where the staff has been any more professional. We've really got some good staff members here. (We've got) great principals, good teachers and a good central office all in a combination that's as good as any place I've ever been. And that's one of the reasons that we still come to work: we're still a people business, for what it's worth.

Q. What was your perception of District 204 before you accepted the job?

A. My perception generally was based on me talking to the board before they hired me and doing my own investigation.

I believed (District 204) was a nice, or good suburban district that kids did appreciably well in. They didn't appear to have any major concerns. I was basically told that all land deals and building of new schools was all great and done and welcomed. All I had to do was work the education side.

Now, that was not what happened. And it feeds back to that which has made this hard work.

Q. How does your initial perception now compare with your experience in the past year?

A. First of all, kids do very well. It's a good education system with large high schools. They're a much more diverse district than my original perception. (There are) pockets of kids that represent all varieties. (There are) schools and kids that qualify for free and reduced lunch. It's a growing population. Kids do extremely well and can get into any college any place they want. So all that is some stuff that I see now.

I'm not too sure the district was immensely data driven, but I don't know that they had to be. I think the district had grown so fast that the systems in place were germane to what was necessary. When you're a great growth district, you've got to worry about the next school, the next boundary. So you spend a lot of energy on that. You have a tendency to homogenize your district. That means "This is the curriculum. This is your budget. This is your staffing" and it's a centralized system.

Generally you see that when you have great growth. Now I think some of the things we're trying to change is because all kids are different. All schools are different. The targets and goals of each school needs to be different.

We're trying to reinforce a data-driven system that puts the authority and responsibility more on the backs of the schools. We need to be site-based and try to ensure the systems for assessment, pedagogy content, professional development, all those things that make up a school are more germane to the population.

Let's let the schools, with their leadership teams, help drive targets and goals and at the same time, hold them accountable. That's the kind of system I think we're trying to gravitate to. So we're trying to not go from a centralized to a totally decentralized but finding the balance.

Q. Were there any other surprises this year, either pleasant or unpleasant?

A. Probably the most unpleasant thing was the whole Metea thing with the lawsuits and division of people when dealing with the boundaries. And the interpretation of information by some people was interesting. Some people thought we didn't need a new high school. Some people didn't want to go to a particular school. All of those things were some of my biggest surprises.

We ended up having almost 14 special board meetings on those topics and that's a lot. That's a year in itself of special board meetings.

Q. What then was the most satisfying aspect of the year?

A. Satisfaction is, I think, the people. We have good schools and good facilities. People care about their kids. The community sends their kids to school ready to learn. That's a very, very, powerful positive.

The board's receptivity to some change - like all-day kindergarten, like interventionists, technology. I'm so very happy with board's receptivity and staff's receptivity to some of those changes.

Coming Tuesday: Daeschner outlines District 204's goals for the coming year.