Waveline Bennett-Conroy − or “Dr. B-C,” as she’s known in Mount Vernon − is proud of the slow, steady path she took to become superintendent of the city’s school system on July 1.
Over two decades as a teacher and administrator, most recently as an assistant superintendent, she was a survivor in a school district where many don’t last.
“That was always my dream, to get to the top, but you have to earn it,” she said. “I was comfortable in each of my positions with the schools, until I was approached about another position. ‘Please apply.’ Along the way, I earned trust in the community. If this community doesn’t trust you, it’s a problem.”
The city and schools faced a crisis in April, after the stabbing death of a student. Bennett-Conroy said numerous colleagues and residents called on her to seek the superintendent’s post, which was about to become available.
At 67, it was finally Bennett-Conroy’s time to lead.
“As I told the school board, I cannot be bought and I cannot be sold,” she said. “The kids are my priority. Families are my priority.”
Bennett-Conroy started the school year last week with much to prove. Before anything else, she knows she has to convince parents, students and staff the schools are safe.
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When 16-year-old Kayla Green was fatally stabbed in downtown Mount Vernon on April 8, following a celebration for the boys basketball team’s state championship, many questioned whether the schools had been lax about bullying, hallway fights, conflicts among students, and the potential for violence. On top of that, Mount Vernon has the same concerns as every school district about the spread of school shootings across the country and what must be done to identity and address potential threats.
“People want to know ‘How are you going to keep my child safe?’ ” Bennett-Conroy said. “We are on it.”
Green’s family, which criticized the school district for not responding to reports of bullying before Green’s death, had no comment on Bennett-Conroy’s appointment, said former Mayor Rich Thomas, who has served as a spokesperson.
“Dr. Bennett-Conroy inherited a real pressure cooker,” Thomas said. “She is slowly relieving that pressure.”
It was a fluke that Bennett-Conroy wound up in Mount Vernon at all.
She grew up in Jamaica, where her mother was a school principal. She became a teacher herself, of English, science and “homes and careers.” Since teachers in Jamaica become eligible for sabbaticals, Bennett-Conroy headed to the Bronx to visit an aunt and wound up taking a teaching position at a Catholic school there.
She decided to stay in the U.S. and got a job teaching Spanish in Mount Vernon.
“A lot of people from the Islands were in Mount Vernon,” she said. “I got to meet the parents, talk to the kids. I was a familiar face for them, someone from the islands. I understood the cultural differences and could really help.”
She told colleagues, for instance, Jamaican kids are taught it’s rude to look in the eyes of someone speaking.
“People in Mount Vernon know I’ve always tried to help,” she said. “I’m very transparent − I tell you like it is – but I also try to tell you how to be better. People appreciate that. That’s where trust comes from.”
Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard has worked with Bennett-Conroy for years, back to when the mayor headed the city’s YMCA. She said Bennett-Conroy is ready for the job, but it won’t be easy.
“She has a lot of strong, positive relationships in the community,” she said. “Even with that, in the new position, some of the dynamics of those relationships will change. When you go from No. 2 to No. 1, there is a shift. The conversations you’re having are different. I think she’s more than prepared to handle that shift.”
Bennett-Conroy started her dream job in crisis mode.
She was appointed acting superintendent on May 4, less than a month after Green’s death. Outgoing schools chief Kenneth Hamilton, who had announced in February he was leaving July 1 to become Edgemont superintendent, finished his tenure on medical leave. At the same time, the school board gave Bennett-Conroy a three-year contract as permanent superintendent, starting July 1.
Within weeks, four the Board of Education’s nine members resigned, citing their inability to work with board President Adriane Saunders. Perhaps the only thing the disgruntled board members and Saunders could agree on was that Bennett-Conroy was the right choice for superintendent.
“Dr. B-C is fantastic,” said Melissa Paterson, a lawyer, who left the board after being re-elected in May. “More than anyone else, she understands the situation in Mount Vernon and is capable of getting us to the next level.”
Bennett-Conroy immediately began to address safety and security on several levels:
A more long-term emphasis is on addressing the mental health and “social and emotional” wellness of not only students but staff and parents. This is key to relieving all kinds of community stress before it can combust, Conroy-Bennet said.
“We have a high level of mental health issues,” she said. “It came the forefront during the pandemic. We began to realize how much we should have been doing.”
About 80% of Mount Vernon’s 7,000 students are considered economically disadvantaged, according to the state. Notably, about 10% of district students have been classified as homeless in recent years, the highest in New York.
The schools this year will embed social and emotional instruction − how to manage emotions, show empathy and more − into daily lessons. A mental health coordinator is available to refer staff and parents for counseling. And the district is opening a new Parent Resource Center where parents can receive seek help in many areas.
Patterson-Howard strongly supported Bennett-Conroy’s vision of going beyond crisis planning.
“The school district is working closely with our police department, our fire department,” she said. “But you can put locks and cameras and police everywhere. If children are not emotionally well, violence will happen.”
Jennifer Lackard, deputy commissioner of the Mount Vernon Police Department, said Bennett-Conroy has quickly intensified relations with police, so that police are more familiar with the schools and are in a better position to share information and respond to incidents.
“She came in with an agenda,” Lackard said. “In every school, we’ve seen issues that needed to be addressed. We’re working together to find the safest solutions and be ready for all occurrences.”
Lackard worked on behavioral health programs in the community before joining the police and has overseen the development of a Wellness and Community Affairs Division in the police department. She said the schools and police can work together to address social ills before they lead to violence.
“If a kid is struggling, maybe there’s a domestic violence situation or substance abuse, we can make connections and get help for adults and kids.”
Bennett-Conroy has an image of sneakers on her social media because she plans to change into them quite often when visiting Mount Vernon’s 16 schools.
She wears black canvas FitFlop sneaks.
“I will be running into my buildings,” she said. “My kids are going to know me. I’m going to live in my buildings.”
As assistant superintendent for school improvement the past three years, Bennett-Conroy got to know the district’s academic challenges well. When she started, 13 of 16 schools did not have the state’s “good standing” designation based on test scores and other data.
She worked on improving student attendance, lowering student suspension rates and other steps, leaving only Mount Vernon High School without good standing as of last year.
Mount Vernon’s graduation rate was 72% in 2021, better than in recent years but lower than the state average of 86%. Math and ELA test scores lagged beyond the region and state before the pandemic.
“Right now, we are not very happy with where we are,” Bennett-Conroy said. “As my mother always said, unless your kids are 99.9% proficient in ELA and math, you can’t say you are doing so well.”
She believes she knows what needs to be done. Curricula are being revamped, with new approaches to reading and literacy. After-school tutoring and Saturday schools are available to students who need support. The district is looking to add nursing and automotive to its vocational programs.
Bennett-Conroy also said the district will have to do a far better job of explaining its budgets if it wants community support and that there is no major audit of district operations underway, a rumor that was the subject of school board conflict in the spring.
The early signs from Bennett-Conroy are good, said Lotoya Anderson, president of the Mount Vernon PTA Council. When the PTA raised a problem last week, Bennett-Conroy quickly visited the school in question, she said.
“She has presented clear, thoughtful, transparent communications to parents about her goals and visions,” Anderson said.
Keith McCall, the new president of the Mount Vernon Federation of Teachers, said it was too soon to comment on the new schools chief.
Bennett-Conroy and her husband have two grown children. With whatever free time she has, she reads books and, in the fall, watches football in the “man cave” of their New Rochelle home.
But the couple’s passion is scuba diving, something they’ve been doing for three decades. Bennett-Conroy even found a week in July for an escape to Bonaire, a Caribbean island that is their home away from home because of 159 dive spots.
“It’s dark but nice” at 80 feet deep, she said. “You see all the fishes and beautiful corals. And no one is talking back to you.”
Gary Stern is a veteran editor/writer covering K-12 education in the Hudson Valley. Reach him at gstern@lohud.com. Twitter: @garysternNY.
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