Welcome to North Salem!

I am honored, grateful, and excited to be your new superintendent. With initial introductions and summer work behind me, my first-year entry plan helps me to focus on six broad categories:

• Leadership and Staffing
• A Solid Relationship with the Board of Education
• Communications and Building Community Relations
• The District’s Mission
• Facilities and Operations
• Finance and Budget

I am developing short-term and longer-term priorities in these broad categories as I “hit the ground learning.” While I am leading and managing the district immediately, I will continue to connect with people so that we can plot a course of goals and priorities for the next 3-5 years together. 

My next priorities:

• Maintaining the district's strong commitment to safety.
• Reviewing and revising current communications structures with the board, faculty, and community.
• Understanding and supporting current professional learning for faculty.

What to expect this fall:

It is customary for a superintendent and Board of Education to announce district goals and priorities in the opening weeks of school. Given that this is our first year working together, we have stretched that process out into early fall, so look for the following in the coming months:

• A review of current initiatives and priorities for this year and planning for the 2024 budget.
• Continued outreach to faculty, staff, community organizations, and members of the community as I get to know the many contributors to North Salem’s success and commitment to excellence.
• An engaged superintendent getting to know students, faculty, staff, and parents.
• Monthly letters to the community as I work to keep you informed of my efforts all year. They will be posted here and in The Compass, a monthly district newsletter that anyone can subscribe to by clicking this link.

When our paths cross, know this about me: I will work hard to learn your name! I will probably ask you about what you’re reading and thinking about. You will discover that I like to read and I like to talk about ideas. I believe that most of the best answers we seek for the future will require a collective effort, a thoughtful exchange of diverse points of view, and an ongoing, shared commitment to the mission: Engage students to continuously learn, question, define, and solve problems through critical and creative thinking.

I look forward to the journey ahead!

Best regards,

Duncan Wilson Ed.D.
Superintendent