SOUTH HADLEY — George Simpson has two goals for the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School community as the school year kicks off next week — cope, then look ahead.
As PVPA’s new head of school, Simpson isn’t shying away from recent happenings at the school. On the contrary, he wants to help the community cope with the tumultuous end to former head Scott Goldman’s time at the school. At the same time, Simpson is eager to reorient people to face the future.
Goldman, who was already set to leave at the end of last school year, was placed on administrative leave in May due to allegations that he created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. An independent investigator later reported findings that Goldman had engaged in “angry outbursts” which left recipients “shaken, fearful and intimidated” in multiple instances in recent years.
“The last few months have been challenging for the entire community,” Simpson said. “It’s about the balance between looking back and forward.”
PVPA’s future depends, in part, on building relationships, which will be a focus of his leadership and part of his looking-ahead vision.
These could include relationships between PVPA and area colleges and universities, relationships between the school and local nonprofits, and relationships between the school community and the communities the charter draws from.
“I’m interested in making partnerships and making sure students have lots of opportunities,” Simpson said.
Simpson said he sees informal connections between PVPA and various entities already, but he is interested in cementing those ties institutionally.
He said the proximity to higher education institutions, including the five colleges, is a major benefit for the school that he would like to take advantage of more fully, particularly when it comes to reimagining what a public education should look like.
He said colleges and universities can help schools understand what skills students need to find professional success.
“Industry and technology are shifting our landscape,” Simpson said. “Schools have to rethink how we prepare students for an unknown future.”
Simpson said he also has an interest in increasing the diversity at the 400-student school. He wants to draw students for the grades 7-12 school from across the Valley, instead from the same few municipalities.
He also hopes to encourage people of different racial, ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds to come to the school. This can be done by improving outreach and recruitment efforts, he said.
“The school should reflect the diversity of the Pioneer Valley,” he said.
Simpson comes to the Valley from the Newark, New Jersey, public school system, and he has previously worked at schools in Boston and at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
He said his time in Los Angeles particularly will be helpful to him as he begins at PVPA, because the schools face similar challenges in drawing from wide, diverse areas.
Simpson said he wants to help strengthen the connections between the different communities that make up PVPA, but, at the same time, he said he is the newest member of the family, so it will be important sit back and listen to those who have been around longer.
“I’m doing my best to try to understand the community and what the passions of students, parents and staff are,” Simpson said.