Mr. Craig Levis is the new Assistant Superintendent of the Coventry School System, and I was recently given the privilege of meeting with him to discuss his goals for our district and most importantly our high school.
Meet Mr. Levis, Coventry’s New Assistant Superintendent
BY RITA STUBBS
Mr. Craig Levis is the new Superintendent of the Coventry School System starting in June, and I was recently given the privilege of meeting with him to discuss his goals for our district and most importantly our high school. Before coming to Coventry, he worked as the director of special education in the Smithfield school district. After thirteen years of working in Smithfield, he moved to Burrillville for twelve years before moving to Coventry as Assistant Superintendent.
Passion is something Mr. Levis is filled with, and his greatest passion involves creating a learning environment where all students are not only “doing school, but are being challenged.” In the 1980’s, Mr. Levis worked at a camp called “Camp E-Hun-Tee,” which was a camp for troubled youth. During this time, Mr. Levis came to the realization that “adults have the ability to significantly impact an individual’s life.”
Part of his passion could be seen as he spoke about creating a newsletter, similar to the one the high school puts out, but for all of Coventry. In Mr. Levis’ opinion, it is important to bring the community together in order to benefit the students in the elementary, middle, and high school levels. This newsletter would have pieces from all different grade levels, as well as a calendar of happenings going on around the community. Hopefully, this idea will be followed through with and will benefit not only the schools, but the community as a whole.
After having many great experiences at Camp E-Hun-Tee, Mr. Levis took many of the same approaches used there and used them in his own workplaces. He found that “relationships are as powerful as the learning that takes place in school.” One of his goals is to create an environment where all students feel very welcome, as that would greatly improve our capabilities as students.
In addition, I spoke to Mr. Levis about his views on the introduction of Chromebooks in the Coventry Public School System. He stated that it is important to “facilitate knowledge through technology” but that it cannot be completely relied upon alone. Chromebooks, in his opinion, should be a springboard for teachers to jump off of in order to best find the ways to educate their students.
While technology is a thread constantly woven into our daily lives, it is important to use the Chromebooks in a different way. Mr. Levis also touched on the issue of privacy when it comes to the Chromebooks. He states that while the “tool should be available to everyone, it is up to administration to ensure privacy and safety for all.”
The last topic of our conversation was the PARCC tests. While many students and teachers found the PARCC tests to not be useful, Mr. Levis took a different viewpoint. “Any assessment is one measurement of a student’s knowledge, but in theory it allows us to look at individuals in a class, grade, and state in comparison to others.” While Coventry scores were not the best on these levels, there is always room for improvement.
Throughout our interview, Mr. Levis repeatedly spoke of the book called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and stated it was a very good book. From this book and his own life, he stated that he learned many life lessons. A few that stuck with me were “always be thinking about how you personally can be helping others” and that “it is not always about obtaining, it is about helping and providing for others”. These two lessons fit hand and hand and completely represent how Mr. Levis leads his career.
Coventry High, along with all the other schools in our district, welcome Mr. Levis as our new Superintendent!
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