Brower 'Watching, Listening' in First Days as District Leader

Dr. Sandra Brower plans to ride one school bus a month.

When Lacey’s new superintendent was a principal, she used to get phone calls from bus drivers who were returning to school because something happened on the bus. Her typical intervention was to ride the bus herself.

“What happened when I rode the bus was not for me to fix something that was wrong, it was more of me trying to understand what was going on,” she said. “Through that lens, I learned so much.”

Not only did Brower learn who sits with whom but also where the students came from, she said.

“If we don’t have a sense of what it looks like when they’re getting on the bus or getting off the bus, symbolically or literally, I think we have a very limited dimensional view of who our kids are,” Brower said.

It is through the same observational skills that Brower intends to lead the Lacey Township School District.

“These days I’m learning,” she said. “I’m on a major learning plan.”

Back to School

Brower has been on the job for two days now. She was not inclined to share any ideas or potential changes she may make in the future as she is simply “taking it all in,” she said.

“There are some things I’m noticing but I need to understand,” Brower said. “I think it would be disingenuous for me to even begin to suggest just a couple hours in. But I’m watching, I’m listening, I’m taking it all in, I’m thinking, I’m asking questions and I’m trying to do that delicately and with grace.”

by touring the schools. On Tuesday, she toured Lacey Middle School.

“To see those kids and the one-on-one interactions I’ve observed between teachers and staff and students was just amazing,” Brower said. “There was not only a beauty that one sees when you look at the facility but the beauty of the classrooms we were in, the technology that we saw, the active engagement that we witnessed.”

Her first day left a positive first impression, she said.

“I saw a safe and orderly environment. I saw expectations. I saw rapport. I saw teachers who have honed their craft,” she said. “There was just an energy and excitement that I don’t know words can capture.”

On Wednesday, Brower invited school district employees to become members of her transition team.

“It’s going to be a full compliment of people to help me navigate through, for me, what is an uncharted water because I can’t do this alone. These jobs, you cannot do them alone,” Brower said.

Brower has developed a three-phase transition plan focused on developing connections and building relationships. Through the remainder of the school year, Brower plans to interact with students, parents, teachers, staff, the Board of Education and the community.

“On the simplest level I need to understand who’s who,” Brower said. “And then it’s going to be about building relationships.”

Her plan includes communicating with nonprofit organizations such as Popcorn Park Zoo and major businesses such as Oyster Creek Generating Station.

“It is often said that the school is the heart of the community,” she said. “The problems that we’re going to experience, they’re not school problems. They didn’t start at the schools. These are issues and they’re sensitive but if there’s an issue in a school, there’s an issue in the community.”

One way Brower is going to communicate with the community is through the school district’s website, which is in the process of being restructured to “strengthen the home-school connection,” she said.

“It’s just a great way for people to communicate,” she said. “It’s an opportunity…we cannot wait for people to come to us. We need to get information to their front door,” she said.

Currently, a superintendent’s letter is posted and there is a link to Brower’s blog. 

In the future, there will be a “Listening in Lacey” link for parents to directly send suggestions, complaints, feedback, concerns, thoughts and ideas.

“It will be pretty open and fluid. I’ll respond right back to them,” she said.

The website will also include online surveys, which will be used as another form of communication, she said.

The transition plan is attached to the article as a PDF. The document will be continually revised and updated which Brower plans to keep the public apprised of.

“There may be surprises not written into the plan yet. I have some ideas but that’s my foundation. It will be a document that’s ever-changing,” Brower said.

From the Classroom to the Office

With more than 22 years of experience in public education, Brower has previously served as the Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Freehold Township, a principal, business administrator and a language arts teacher at the middle school level in Point Pleasant.

Brower started as a business major at Georgian Court University.

“But I was also the kind of kid, my parents will tell you, that I played school. I got my first classroom desk that was donated to me by a teacher and I created a classroom in my basement,” she said.

Brower later graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Education. Prior to teaching, she worked at a corporation.

But once a teacher, she had the opportunity to write a service-learning grant. Service-learning is a teaching strategy that integrates community service with instruction.

“I was a big part of the serving learning initiative in New Jersey at that time,” she said.

Brower developed a service-learning program with Hoboken, Jersey City and Point Pleasant and was commissioned to speak on behalf of the state in Washington, DC.

“Being out of the classroom and leading an initiative, managing a project, networking with people, those experiences brought me out of the classroom and that’s how I said, “I think I can lead,” ‘ she said.

Those experiences were also what drove her philosophy on teaching, she said.

“You can’t expect to put kids in a four-walled classroom and think that they’re going to find meaning in learning. They’re not,” Brower said. “You have to make sure that learning is authentic, that kids know that you care about them and that they can find meaning in the world outside of where we seat them in a classroom.”

When Brower decided to go into administration, she developed a long-range plan, she said.

“That plan included an opportunity for me to do as much career webbing as I can possibly do to get to a position where I can hold a job such as a superintendent of schools,” she said. “The opportunities that led me here have always been a part of that plan.”

Brower’s experiences range from pre-kindergarten to grade 12, she said.

“I have an understanding of what it’s like on the first day of school when kindergarteners don’t want to leave their moms and dads because their afraid,” Brower said. “At the same token, I know what it’s like as juniors are starting to go through the college application process and what it means to have a resume that includes strong academic experiences and embedded service.”

Throughout her career she has restructured and rebuilt a pre-school handicap program, implemented a college preparation program for all students, and restructured a technology infrastructure.

Brower resides in Monmouth County with her husband where they are raising their 13-year-old son. She holds a Masters in Administration Supervision and Curriculum Planning from Georgian Court University, as well as a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

Continue to follow Lacey Patch for updates on the school district's transition.