Four more years

DINGMAN TOWNSHIP - Popular wisdom says if you’ve got a good thing, stick with it, and that’s what Delaware Valley school officials did last week. Meeting at the Dingman-Delaware Middle School, the District Board of Education on October 20 approved a four-year contract extension for Superintendent Dr. Candis Finan. Finan, who is currently paid $145,000 annually, will receive five-percent increments through the 2009-10 school year. Board president Sue Casey, who admitted that she had not voted to approve Finan’s last contract, this time predicted (and got) a unanimous board approval. “We’ve got a lot of places to go in the next four years and I’m pleased that Dr. Finan will lead the charge,” she said. Responding to the board vote Finan outlined her plans for the district and summarized the challenges she sees ahead. DV will have to add staff, programs and quite possibly a summer session, she said. “Economic, technological, informational, demographic and political forces have transformed the way people work and live. These changes, and the rate of change, will continue to accelerate. Schools, like businesses, communities and families, must adapt to changing conditions to thrive. Today’s education system faces irrelevance unless we bridge the gap between how students live and how they learn. Schools are struggling to keep pace with the astonishing rate of change in students’ lives outside of school. Students will spend their adult lives in a multitasking, multifaceted, technology-driven, diverse, vibrant world — and they must arrive equipped to do so.” Other board members added comments of endorsement. Bell Smith noted that other districts found themselves repeating mistakes, “over and over again,” after a change at the helm. Retaining Finan provides the district with a strategic focus and continuity, she said. Jack Fisher, an accountant, noted that there is “a bargain here,” in that Delaware Valley gets two Dr. Finans, the superintendent and Dr. Tom Finan, who is the district’s head of secondary education. “They are the eyes and ears of the district daily,” he said.