CHICOPEE — Superintendents often say one of the hardest parts of their job is to decide when to cancel school in bad weather.
For the city’s newest superintendent, that task should be a little easier, since Marcus Ware holds a bachelor’s degree in meteorology. He wanted to work for the Weather Channel and be a storm chaser before he turned his sights on education.
In June, the School Committee signed a contract with Ware making him the city’s next superintendent and ending an embarrassing chapter in the city’s history that started in April 2022 when Superintendent Lynn Clark was arrested for lying to the FBI over her alleged attempt to sabotage the police chief’s search by pushing her former lover, a law enforcement captain and candidate in the search, to withdraw.
On top of his degree in meteorology, Ware holds a doctorate in educational leadership and administration from Harvard University.
Back to the Valley
Although his last five years have been in eastern Connecticut, where he worked for the Windham Public Schools in Willimantic as executive director of strategic initiatives, Ware’s roots are in Springfield, where his mother still lives and works as a senior volunteer for the city’s school district.
As a teenager, Ware’s plan was to work in the trades. He studied carpentry at Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School. By then, vocational schools were preparing students for college as well as a career, so Ware took Advanced Placement courses and earned college credits through the dual enrollment program at Springfield Technical Community College.
He then went to Curry College in eastern Massachusetts. While studying meteorology, he tutored and did some substitute teaching in Springfield. “They said you are good at this and I liked it, so I thought I would give it a try,” he said.
Marcus Ware is the new Chicopee Superintendent of Schools. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 7/27/2023
After graduating college, Ware was hired at Eagle Hill School in Hardwick as a chemistry teacher. As with most small private schools, educators do other jobs as well, so he coached and worked as a dorm monitor.
In 2012, he had an opportunity to go back to his hometown and served as head of school for the private Springfield Commonwealth Academy from 2012 to 2018, when he went to Connecticut.
Listening mission
Ware left his position with the Windham Public Schools in early June, with the support of his boss, so he could spend time visiting Chicopee’s schools to meet principals, teachers and other staff before the end of the academic year. He also had lunch with students at each building.
“I was just listening and I mean it as simply as it sounds. I was listening with the intention of collecting information,” he said. “I did not come in with an agenda. I did not come in with data (on test scores).”
He said he spent 90 minutes to two hours at each school, starting with a sit-down with principals simply asking them to tell him a little about their school, their strengths, challenges and goals.
Some of the challenges, like recruiting and retaining staff, is a universal problem. One of the things that came up several times was staff saying they would like to expand partnerships with other organizations, businesses and colleges, Ware said.
Staff and students were welcoming. Preschoolers made him laugh by presenting the superintendent with a cape they made. He appreciated the fact that middle and high school students were brutally honest when answering his questions.
“One of the high school kids wanted to talk about sports,” said Ware, who played soccer and volleyball in high school and is always up for a chat about athletics. “He said he had the opportunity to play in leagues when he was younger because his parents could pay the fees, but he said ‘I wish we had formalized middle school athletics.’”
The idea is a good one and Ware said he will explore it. He also pledged to look at the partnerships staff believe will benefit students.
In the middle schools, he talked to a girl about the availability of counseling. She said she felt there was plenty of help for students and talked a little about a room set aside to give students a place to go when they need a break, he said.
At Sgt. Robert Litwin School, Ware said he was called out by the children for not having any fruits or vegetables on his plate. A boy went to get him candied apples. Even then, the children questioned the value of those, saying they weren’t as healthy as regular fruit.
He has spent hours talking to all the school’s department heads, such as the director of transportation, the homeless liaison, and the coordinator of English language learners.
First acts
Since taking over, Ware’s first move has been to rebuild the administrative team since the two assistant superintendents left at the end of the school year. Alvin W. Morton, who had served as interim superintendent since April 2022, took over as head of the Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, while Matthew Francis was hired as Palmer Schools superintendent.
Since then he has hired Jennifer Bellville, a former principal in Uxbridge, and Carol Kruser, the Chicopee High principal, as assistant superintendents. He also hired principals for two schools.
Ware said he is happy to be back in an urban setting and next door to his hometown. He said he is looking at the senior volunteer program his mother is involved in to see if it can be emulated in Chicopee.
He is also excited to use his bilingual skills more. Ware said he learned a lot of Spanish by being exposed to the language as he was growing up and later took classes. He has spent time in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to visit friends.
He said he is excited to join a district with a career technical program, saying he may have decided against becoming a carpenter, but can still build some pretty nice shelves and frame a door.
He said he is continuing to focus on making sure open positions are filled, including the Chicopee High School principal job that was vacated with the promotion of Kruser.
He is also hoping to move past the COVID-19 shutdowns, followed by the arrest scandal.
But long term?
“I don’t know. I still don’t. I’m still probably 30% in the know,” he said.
Every time he talks to someone and learns something new, Ware said it leads him into the intricacies of the 6,800-student school district. He isn’t ready to create a strategic plan until he has a lot more knowledge. “We have to go slow to go fast,” he said.
