Assistant superintendent reflects on first year with Somerville

By Jack Nicas

Dr. Vincent McKay, assistant superintendent of the Somerville Public Schools, finished his first year with the city in June. And despite student rallies in the state house and city schools’ continual struggle to meet ‚Äúadequate yearly progress,‚Äù he stands ardently behind the MCAS.

“I think we owe it to our kids,” he said, “to have all students achieve that standard.”

McKay grew up on the south side of Chicago before moving to Newton, where he resides today. Although he sends his children to public schools in Newton, he prefers the Somerville system.
‚ÄúI love the size of our district. We’ve got 5,000 kids and the resources to really make a difference,‚Äù he said.

‚ÄúI love the size of our district. We’ve got 5,000 kids and the resources to really make a difference,‚Äù he said.

His education has remained local; he went to high school at Newton North, received his bachelor’s degree in biology at UMass-Boston, his master’s in teaching from Tufts University, and his doctorate in Curriculum, Instruction and Administration from Boston College in 1998.

That doctoral degree is now being put to use, as his job entails overseeing the city schools’ curriculum, instruction and assessment. He said the job involves deciding what is taught, how it’s taught and how students’ achievement is measured.

McKay started his teaching career in 1987 at Brookline High School and remained there for 10 years.  He then became associate principal at Burlington High School until 2003, director of instructional services at Freetown-Lakeville Public Schools until 2006, and assistant superintendent of Bedford Public Schools until 2007.

McKay then applied for the Somerville job after Bob Snow, assistant superintendent for 14 years, retired in June 2007.

McKay said he strongly believes in three areas for a successful school system: high academic achievement, a culture of collaboration, and accountability for all.

The first, he said, means setting high expectations for all students, “and all means all.” The second is “how [the staff] functions as a team.” The third is keeping the students accountable for their work through testing.

Almost everything he does, McKay said, is directed at improving these three areas.

What if the budget was limitless? McKay said his first venture would be “investing in better data systems to be able to share student data with all teachers by giving them desktop access.”

He said he is an advocate of technology and has been actively pursuing a desktop network, which would continuously update student files so they could be accessed anywhere at any time. “We have a high mobility rate among our students,” he said, “so, we have to be more nimble and quicker to be able to get real student data in front of our teachers.”

McKay said he learned a lot from speaking with community leaders prior to his start as assistant superintendent. He said there’s a certain intensity about the city’s traditions and schools.

‚ÄúPeople tend to stay here, or they might move out to a cheaper town, but a lot continue to work here, and they still care immensely about the schools,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúYou don’t often see that sort of commitment."