One day after he was approved as Cincinnati Public Schools' new superintendent, Steven J. Adamowski defended himself against community leaders' criticism Wednesdayand promised to continue reforms the district already has initiated.
"If there's any message I want to send, it's continuity," he said.
Mr. Adamowski, 47, associate secretary of education at the Delaware Department of Education, is expected to start in early August. Contract details have not been settled; a contract is expected to be approved June 8.
His hiring prompted criticism from some community groups, including Parents for Public Schools, Cincinnatians Active to Support Education and the Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater Cincinnati. They complained he did not have enough urban experience and seemed more ideas-oriented than implementation-minded.
Wednesday, Mr. Adamowski defended his record, saying he has worked with diverse, distressed districts in Connecticut. In Delaware, he oversees twice as many students as CPS enrolls. And his record of reform has been praised by many past colleagues.
"He's only been here 17 months, yet he has been an integral force in education reform in Delaware," saidMargaret Tansley, president of the Delaware Congress of Parents and Teachers.
Some community members who lobbied for CPS Assistant Superintendent Rosa Blackwell as superintendent said she was the best person to follow through with the district's fledgling Students First reform plan, which she co-wrote. Students First was adopted last year as a strategic plan to give schools more decision-making authority. Mr. Adamowski said he fully supported the plan.
He applauded the district's "team-based schools" initiative, in which students stay with teachers for longer than a year.
But other strategies, such as changing school programs and aligning teaching and testing, are key in raising dismal proficiency scores -- especially among the district's poorest students, he said.
"There is not a silver bullet here, but I have a great deal of optimism that if you can get results with a holistic approach," he said.
He dismissed the NAACP-Cincinnati branch members' claims -- made last month when they reopened their 24-year-old desegregation case -- that poor performance indicates a lack of concern for minority students.
Instead, he blamed low scores partly on poverty. About 64 percent of students are from families receiving public assistance.
Before assuming his Delaware post, Mr. Adamowski worked as senior fellow and deputy director at the Hudson Institute's Modern Red Schoolhouse project, a conservative think tank in Indianapolis. He also was superintendent of Clayton Schools in St. Louis, Chatham Schools in Chatham, N.J. and Norwich Public Schools in Norwich, Conn.
