By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
BAY CITY — Tom Palmer, superintendent of Vassar Public Schools and Millington Community Schools, answered questions from the Bay City Public Schools Board of Education on Wednesday in hopes of becoming Bay City’s new superintendent.
Palmer, one of five finalists who interviewed for the job being vacated by the retiring Douglas Newcombe, was not selected as one of the final three candidates during a board meeting Thursday.
Palmer told Bay City board members he’s very proud of the Vassar Public Schools’ early-childhood program, adding “I also took a lot of that over to Millington.”
“As you look out there right now with the problem with youth and the testing and everything that’s going on, we’ve got so many kids in our communities that are coming into our districts that aren’t kindergarten ready, so to speak,” Palmer said. “Consequently you spend the first three years trying to catch those kids up. It’s one of the things that I personally feel the governor (Rick Snyder) has gotten right on the dot in the money he’s dumped into early-childhood development programs.”
Newcombe receives an annual salary of $135,000 as Bay City superintendent. Palmer has been the Vassar superintendent since 2008, and last year became dual superintendent of the Vassar and Millington school districts.
Board Vice President Charles T. Hewitt asked Palmer to talk about a time when he had to stand up for what is right in the face of opposition.
Palmer said that due to enrollment declines and state funding cuts “at the same time” since his arrival in Vassar in 2008, the number of teachers has declined from almost 120 to 62. The number of administrators has been reduced from 12 to three — including Palmer — during those seven years, Palmer said.
“We’ve had to make some serious staffing changes along that line, so consequently they’re not popular decisions you’re going to make when you do that, but they’re decisions that have to be made for the good of the student program,” Palmer said.
Bay City school board Treasurer Michael A. Wilcox asked Palmer about a tough budget cut Palmer had to recommend, and the process he developed for that recommendation.
“I’ve got one that’s going right now. I’ve got a problem in the Millington schools,” Palmer replied. “I’ve got two (school districts) I’m dealing with, back and forth. We’ve been able to put some money back from some cuts. The shared-service thing has actually helped greatly, in both districts, to save some money.
“When it’s done at the end of this year, they’ve got some real decisions they’re going to have to make at both districts. One of those recommendations is going to be taking an individual who’s worked there for many years, and that position that they’re going to have is probably going to be eliminated, because the need really isn’t there and it will save the district a lot of money. We have a salary that’s there that’s way out of whack, and it needs to be addressed.”
In 2014, the state labeled Vassar High School a “priority school” — in the bottom five percent of the state’s annual Top-to-Bottom Rankings — due to declining scores on academic tests in a four-year period.
Since then, Vassar Public Schools leaders have created a “teacher collaboration center” in the high school and middle school, Palmer said.
Teachers “get together on a daily basis and they give up their prep time to come in and work toward these common goals of breaking down this aggregating data for the classroom, this aggregating information that’s going to benefit the students and help bring these kids along, and to recognize in advance when these issues and problems may occur, and it’s been a wonderful tool for us this year,” Palmer said.
Palmer asked each Bay City board member to list his or her top concern. Trustee Mark Zanotti said it’s the fact research shows poorer children don’t perform as well in school.
“We’ve got to take a hard look at how we use our at-risk monies and our Title monies and funnel that to help that (preschool program),” Palmer said.
“We’ve got a 70 percent free and reduced lunch (program) in Vassar,” Palmer added. “We are the poorest community in all of Tuscola County, and Tuscola County as a whole is pretty poor. So we have all these kids coming in to us — from single-parent families, dual workers when they are (married) — and the parents are so busy trying to figure out how they’re putting food on the plate that education becomes secondary. …
“It’s our responsibility to help those kids to see the importance of that educational experience for them, because they don’t see it at home in a lot of cases. The mom and dad are just struggling to make ends meet, and so consequently, they’re more worried about — in a lot of cases — where the next meal’s coming from.”
Palmer began teaching in the Clare Public Schools in 1990 before moving to Greenville Public Schools to teach science. He then took a job at Escanaba High School as assistant principal and athletic director, before Bad Axe Public Schools hired him in 1997 as assistant high school principal.
Palmer became Bad Axe High principal from 1998 to 2001, then became director of education for students from sixth through 12th grades at Bad Axe for one year.
In 2002, Palmer took a job as high school principal with Fremont Public Schools. He worked in that capacity until Fremont made him executive director of student services in 2007 before he took the Vassar job in 2008.