On July 1, the Marlboro School Board approved a five-year employment contract with Superintendent Michael Brooks. The annual salary is $212,953 and he receives an additional $5,000 in a buyout of health benefits, as he takes them through his spouse. There is a three percent annual increase built into the contract if the Superintendent meets certain performance targets in a review that is done by the school board.

In an interview with the Southern Ulster Times, Brooks highlighted some of his achievements under his leadership and what he is looking forward to accomplishing in the next few years.

“There are some nuts and bolts accomplishments, obviously our financial status is strong, our academic status is strong, our arts and athletics programs have been and continue to be strong; fantastic things have been going on in all of the three A’s.” he said.

Brooks said much is expected of the staff, the students and the families.

“I think there is a great synchronicity of what the public expects of us and what we expect of ourselves,” he said.

Brooks acknowledged that he came to the district shortly after very trying economic times but after significant scrutiny and careful management of the district’s finances they are in a far more stable condition. He pointed out that the public has supported past budgets as well as the recent capital project of upgrades to the three school campuses. The project is in the final design stage, with construction to begin in about 11 months and significant work being done next summer. It is expected to be finished in the fall of 2021.

“All engines are firing in the right direction and so we’re pretty excited about the future,” he said. “We’ve made quite a bit of investments in this time too. We’ve invested substantially in our technology infrastructure and tools children use for classroom learning and research. We’ve got one-to-one initiatives where all children in grades 6 through 12 have a computer issued to them and use it during their daily instructions.”

Brooks pointed out that the district has received $1.2 million from the Smart Schools initiative, “plus an additional few hundred thousand dollars [e-rate program] and other funds that we were able to qualify for that will go directly towards technology.”

Brooks said they have always been “tax cap compliant” with the annual budgets but have also been successful in finding ways to grow programs and opportunities for the students, “without busting the budget. We want to make sure that anything that we do that adds to programs is also something we can sustain in the long run...Careful sustained proper growth is the right way to approach it.”

Brooks said there is always a “pretty rigorous public debate” when additional programs and/or staffing is being considered, “to make sure that the public and the board are comfortable with what we’re putting in. Sometimes what we end up with is something different that what I thought when we started.”

Brooks said the public wants the district to continually develop programs that work well for children.

“If we can have pathways where kids can excel at their own rate and their own level and in their areas they find most challenging, like strong programs in any of the academic areas like in the Arts or Athletics, we will always support those endeavors. Fortunately we have staff with a passion in each of those areas and those staff members bring some great opportunities for kids,” he said.

When asked how he views the role of his job in the district, Brooks said as Superintendent he must, “first and foremost celebrate our successes and recognize where we need to make improvements. If we’re not doing the best we possibly can for every single child that walks through our doors, those are areas that we need to make improvements on; at the same time there’s a lot of good stuff going on in Marlboro.” He said some students in the district do have personal or academic challenges and the district works hard, “to help them get to a better place in their lives.”

Brooks closed the interview by saying he is very happy in his position in Marlboro.

“It’s a great community and it’s really a gem of the Hudson Valley. The area is beautiful, the people are wonderful and it’s a great place to be, a great place to work and is a great place to learn; it really is,” he said.