Anne Arundel County Schools Deputy Superintendent Arlen Liverman said his main job is to make teachers? jobs easier, and said he would work with parents and the community to help minority students achieve.
“I think it?s so very important to make the job of individuals easier,” Liverman said one recent morning, seated behind an uncluttered desk. “We can?t expect teachers to do so many things. We need to narrow the focus of teachers.”
Superintendent Kevin Maxwell appointed Liverman to the deputy superintendent?s position last month, making him one of the few black people to hold a top position in the county school system.
Before that, Liverman served as director of high schools for the district, studying potential changes to the high school class schedules for the 2007-08 school year.
Liverman said he was “honored” by the appointment, but downplayed the race issue.
“I hope folks can see, regardless of where you began in life ? that preparedness and opportunity are very important,” Liverman said.
As a teenager, Liverman was once told by his high school principal that he would “not achieve much” because he was poor. But he also had a teacher in 10th grade tell him that “the world is not going to judge you by your potential but by what you produce.”
A native of Elizabeth City, N.C., Liverman was hired to teach English at Glen Burnie High School in the mid-1970s. He eventually moved up to become assistant principal,and later principal, at Old Mill High School.
“He helped me recognize my own abilities. He just constantly helped you trust your judgment and expand your confidence,” said Cindy Hudson, principal at Broadneck High School, who first met Liverman when the two were assistant principals at Old Mill.
As deputy superintendent, Liverman will play a key role in the implementation of a mediated civil rights agreement settled last year requiring the school district to significantly close the achievement gap between black and white students by June 2007.
The agreement calls for 85 percent of black students in grades three through eight and grade 10 to test proficient on the state?s standardized tests, and to have 90 percent of black students graduating from high school.
“His appointment comes at a very important time,” said Carl Snowden, a civil rights activist and the intergovernmental liaison for Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens. “He will be in a very important position to help oversee and hopefully work with that team to work toward that goal.”
Liverman said engaging the community and making sure parents and teachers all believe in the potential of students to achieve remained the biggest challenges to closing the achievement gap.
“It is an ambitious agreement, but perhaps it was necessary,” he said. “Schools can?t do it alone.”
