THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506020250
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
There are at least two ways to regard the School Board's choice of Joyce H. Trump as Suffolk's next school superintendent:
(1) If the best candidate already worked in the system, why spend a nickel, much less about $2,000, of taxpayers' money to conduct a national search?
(2) But without the search, how could the board know that Trump stood above the crowd of 32 who wanted the job?
While there surely were those, besides the board, who felt that the local candidate should earn points for in-depth knowledge of the system, there just as likely are those who question whether an insider can continue the push to better prepare Suffolk students for a place in the academic and workaday worlds.
After all, Joyce Trump has been in the system so long that any of its deficiencies must be borne, in part, by her. How, though, do you blame any educator for problems that reflect more on society in general than the school system in particular?
Better - and fairer - then, to focus on what she can do to raise Suffolk public schools' standing in Hampton Roads and, even more importantly, in the eyes of Suffolk leaders and the community.
While there are documented deficiencies in standardized test scores and even in student behavior, the problems may not be as profound as the perceptions.
That's where Joyce Trump has appeal in spades. She's an impressive public relations force for Suffolk schools. She speaks with conviction because she isn't overwhelmed by the challenge; she knows Suffolk schools have a long way to go, but she also knows the difference between the school system a decade ago and now. She has been part of the significant, positive change.
Anyone who has worked with her knows that she focuses on solutions. Knowing that the needy often enter school with failure inscribed on their report cards, she's pushed early intervention to boost their success. And knowing that Suffolk is behind many systems in technology and academic studies to challenge the brightest students, she's worked for advanced-placement and gifted-and-talented programs.
Knowing that not every student is bound for Yale, she's been part of the planning to see that students leave Suffolk public schools ready to find employment they can handle.
There's still plenty to be done. What Trump has prescribed is continuous improvement: building on the successes of what's in place and searching for ways to improve instructional and vocational offerings.
Nothing recommends Joyce Trump better for this job than the fact that she is, above all, a teacher. She tells of dreaming of being nothing else.
Teachers in the Suffolk system, then, can look to her for understanding - that they can't boost sagging test scores overnight; that they need the proper tools to get their job done; that every minute they spend on administrative make-work is time away from teaching.
Joyce Trump is not just a moving-up school administrator looking to get another line on her resume so she can apply to the next-sized system. She has a long term investment in this city, in everything from the Chamber of Commerce to her church.
She knows the problems that will come with the growth just now taking hold in Suffolk and the costly construction she will be asking the people of her hometown to finance.
Joyce Trump is a unifier, exactly what Suffolk needs at this stage. Anyone can focus on the problems. Look for her to continue saying that the system is already good and bound to get better. And, as she expects, hold her to it. MEMO: Comment? 446-2494.
by CNB