NORWICH – It’s not often that an organization has the privilege of working with the long-standing leadership of individuals so focused on quality, continuous improvement, community collaboration, and, most importantly, students – individuals who absolutely epitomize the vision, beliefs and quality standards of the BOCES organization.
Dan Marshman and Bob Hall, both former members of the BOCES Board of Education, served their communities and our BOCES in an exemplary fashion. They believed deeply in the power of education. They were convinced that our work at BOCES prepares our youth and our adults to make this area a better place. They gave unselfishly of their time, their ideas, their support, and of themselves. We miss them for what they gave us as Board Members, but more importantly for what they gave to us as people. The DCMO BOCES Board of Education is commemorating their service through The Marshman-Hall Commitment to Education Award to both memorialize their contributions to our area and to serve as a vehicle for BOCES to annually recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to education in our BOCES region.
The purpose of this award is to recognize, annually, an individual who exemplifies the ideals of former BOCES Board Members Dan Marshman and Bob Hall. These ideals include:
• A commitment to what is in the best interest of students,
• An orientation of service to the community, and
• A focus on the continuous improvement of the educational enterprise.
The recipient of the second annual Marshman-Hall Commitment to Education Award is Grayson Stevens. Stevens received a joint nomination from Richard Dansingburg and Gerald Griffith.
Stevens has been a very successful and respected educator in our area for more than 30 years. From 1973 to 1985, Stevens served as the Guidance Counselor in the South New Berlin School District. He then moved to the Oxford Academy and Central Schools to be their Middle School Counselor. Several years later Stevens become the Middle School Principal at Oxford and in 1993 became the Superintendent of Schools. He served as Oxford’s Superintendent until his retirement in 2005. After just three weeks of retirement, Stevens answered the call of the Bainbridge Guilford Central Schools to be their Interim Superintendent for the 2005-2006 school year.
As Counselor, Principal, and Superintendent, Stevens has always kept the best interests of students first and foremost. Always well liked and respected by students of all ages, he is a hands-on administrator who knows his students and is active and involved in their education and lives. Not one to be an “office administrator,” Stevens has always been highly visible in the school, interacting with students, attending their games, events, and activities. He is always a student advocate practicing the philosophy that schools exist for students. His positive attitude, compassion, sensitivity, and caring qualities in working with students are models for all.
Stevens has always believed that the school is part of the community, and he practices it. In spite of 70-hour workweeks, he gave unselfishly of his time to be involved in the community and to bring the school into the community. The Chenango County Catholic Charities has been a major focus of his community involvement over the years. Stevens has served on its Board of Directors for 20 years. He is a past president of the board and for all of those years a member of the finance committee along with handling the personnel committee, all of which required him to work though some very delicate issues with grace and caring. Stevens was instrumental in the establishment of a halfway house in Sherburne, a Trillion place in Oneonta, a new office building, a safe house for victims of domestic violence, as well as the Roots and Wings program and the Children’s Center. To demonstrate his sense of good works and humor, he even participates in the Bingo Board for Cow Chips Bingo every year. Stevens is also the current President of the Oxford Lions Club and is an integral part of the Promote Oxford Now Committee. He has chaired the parents group at Holy Family School and has been active with the United Way.
As an educational leader, Stevens has always focused on the continuous improvement of the educational system. Even with his own school responsibilities and civic involvement, he has devoted the time and energy to play a leading role in numerous county, BOCES wide, and state education committees and task forces. How do we make our schools better for kids? That has been Stevens’ question for all stakeholders. A cornerstone of his leadership in improving the school has been the involvement of all stakeholders in working together. A major accomplishment at Oxfords in Stevens’ tenure as Superintendent was the new school facility for grades 4 though 12. Stevens has the vision and saw the need for this new school and established a group of Board members, faculty, staff, and community members to plan this large undertaking for the school community. He served as the virtual “Clerk of the Works” throughout the construction phase of the new school to insure the final product was what the community wanted and was paying for. Today Oxford has a beautiful, new, state of the art school building for its students that the community supported, could afford, and is most proud of. Stevens has always supported and started new programs that would have a positive effect on student achievement. Examples are the Morning Program and Reading Recovery at the Oxford Primary School. He supported and led the writing of curriculum at Oxford and provided the professional developed needed to do that effectively. Gray initiated an external curriculum audit at Oxford, as well as an internal and external literacy audit to insure continuous improvement.
Stevens was presented with his award on Sept. 5 at BOCES Opening Day ceremonies. In addition, his name was added to wall plaques, hung at the Chenango Campus, the Robert W. Harrold Campus, and in the BOCES Support Services Center, which identifies all Marshman-Hall Commitment to Education Award winners.