Blind Brook School District eyes Tri-State Consortium membership
April 11, 2024 at 1:46 a.m.
Evaluating one’s own school district can get difficult, said Blind Brook Middle School Principal Seth Horowitz.
“When you’re in your own district, you’re limited,” he explained. “You only see what’s in your walls from the inside.”
To expose Blind Brook Schools to outside perspectives and input, the district has made steps toward joining the Tri-State Consortium.
The consortium comprises a group of 54 school districts in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Each year, members visit one another to provide feedback on certain aspects or programs. Neighboring districts, such as Harrison, Mamaroneck and Rye City, are already established participants.
“It’s described as a ‘Critical Friends’ model,” Superintendent Dr. Colin Byrne said. “We’re working together to try to help us all move up to the next level.”
Joining the consortium is something that Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Michael Curtin has been advocating for since he joined the Blind Brook School District administrative team, as he had previous experience with them.
A year after starting their trial membership in the Tri-State Consortium, a group of 54 school districts in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey that strive to advance together through district visits, the Blind Brooks School District has begun the application process to formally join the association.By David Tapia
“I was very involved in my former position in Edgemont,” he said.
“When I got here two years ago, I mentioned to Colin (Byrne) that I thought it would be a really good way for Blind Brook to support our planning and growth.”
The district originally allocated money for the $7,500 annual membership fee in the 2023-24 school budget, but it was one of the several reductions made after the community dramatically voted it down.
Though the district couldn’t formally apply to join the consortium, Curtin, Byrne and Board of Education member Samantha Smith met with Martin Brooks, the executive director of the group, to explore other options. From there, Brooks invited the district to join as temporary members, waiving the fees for the year and allowing them to experience the benefits membership may bring to educators.
After a year of experiencing what the program is like, participating faculty have come to a clear determination: The benefits are well worth the fees.
The ‘Critical Friends’ model
The primary function of the Tri-State Consortium is its interdistrict school visits. Several times per year, representatives from each affiliate are invited to perform a three-day-long site visit and assist administrators with their desired focus.
“The hosting district creates essential questions for the visit,” explained Curtin. “They can ask if a new program they’ve set up is meeting stated goals or how they can overhaul a program. Tri-State visitors come in and help inform their growth.”
The visits are open to any district staff member who is interested in participating. “The trips really have a cross section of all kinds of personnel,” Horowitz said. Groups can consist of central office level administrators, building principals and teachers. “It doesn’t matter who has their own office or what their role is, we’re all educators here to give feedback to a district to help them move forward.”
During each trip, guests are presented with a box of “artifacts” from the host district, which can be student work, teacher rubrics or other curriculum materials. Additionally, they’re invited to interview staff, students, school board members and parents and observe classroom instruction.
At the end of each day, the cohort compiles and reviews their observations and develops feedback.
While the hosts receive comments on how to improve as a district, they aren’t the only ones benefiting from the visits.
“It gives an opportunity for teachers and administrators to go out to other districts and see what’s going on,” Byrne said. “They can get a sense as to what works and what doesn’t and bring it back to Blind Brook.”
Curtin added since many members of the consortium have high performing schools, they may face similar situations Blind Brook does.
“With Tri-States there’s more of a shared frame of reference than other areas,” the assistant superintendent said.
Blind Brook’s ‘free trial’
When Blind Brook was offered the chance to test what membership would be like, Curtin opened the door for employee participation.
“We invited anyone who was interested,” he said. “We wound up with a group of a dozen administrators and teachers.” Those volunteers attended sessions on how to observe and provide feedback in a productive way.
“The way we have to convey our report is important,” Horowitz said. “The way it’s done here is such a positive and supportive way. We’re not focused on pointing out deficits but giving out guidance and suggestions.”
Blind Brook School District staff have gone on several trips throughout the year. Byrne visited Somers to evaluate its embedded honors program, Horowitz traveled to Edgemont to see the student-centered learning initiative and Blind Brook High School Music Teacher Brian Lotze took a trip to the Darien School District in Connecticut to observe the music, arts and drama program.
Each educator found their visits to be positive experiences and discussed value reaped in ways apart from their intended assignments.
“Something interesting I noticed while talking with parents (in Darien) is that they felt the district’s value of arts and music was reflected directly with communications sent out to families,” Lotze said. “Even though we saw the district put a lot of resources into it, some parents felt disenfranchised because of the lack of publicity.”
He said it led him to think about how parents see Blind Brook’s own music program based on district communication.
In that same vein, Byrne said his trip to Somers inadvertently caused him to consider how the district handles non-academic scenarios.
“When I was there, we had a lockdown because something happened and I got to experience how Somers does a lockdown,” he laughed. “And I got to see one of their triumphs. Their football team had just won the state championship and they had everyone line the halls to cheer for the players as they passed by.”
Both Horowitz and Lotze lauded Tri-State Consortium as the best professional development they’ve experienced.
“Even apart from the school observations, I’ve made a network of people in the industry that I can go to,” Horowitz said.
“I came back with tons of more ideas for music after talking with colleagues from other districts,” Lotze added. “We’re keeping up with what we’re doing with our classes.”
Curtin said it’s a sentiment that every one of the dozen participants share. “They’re all unanimous that this is something we should continue to do,” he said. “And it was almost shocking because you almost never see unanimity in a school about anything.”
Byrne said the district has begun the application process to formally join the Tri-State Consortium next year, with its fees accounted for in the $187,000 staff development line in the 2024-25 budget proposal.
Though Blind Brook wouldn’t have to plan to host a visit for another three or four years, Curtin feels it will be an eye-opening experience.
“We haven’t really talked about it, but we know there will be a year of self-study,” he said. “It’s going to be an opportunity to talk in great depth about something that’s important to us.”
Horowitz feels a Tri-State visit to Blind Brook could open new avenues of thinking, regardless of what the district decides to focus on when the time comes.
“It really allows the sharing of ideas,” he said. “It’s three days of educators solely focused on what is best for children.”
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