Danbury schools hire strategy, operations chief
DANBURY — The public schools have hired a chief strategy and operations officer — a new position that’s part of the district’s move away from a traditional assistant superintendent.
Michael Seelig’s hiring was announced at Wednesday’s school board meeting, when he met board members for the first time.
“This has been really exciting getting to see all the faces, all the names I've been hearing about, reading about,” he told the board. “I'm thrilled to be here to get started with everybody next week.”
Seelig, a former teacher who has worked in K-12 schools and higher education, will oversee several departments, including information technology, facilities, registration, and family and community engagement.
“It was important for us to have someone with a background in communications, as this is also going to be a heavy lift in this department as well, so communication will also sit in this department,” Superintendent Kevin Walston said.
Seelig is considered one of the administrative cabinet members. His hiring is budget neutral.
Walston, the former assistant superintendent who was promoted to school chief at the start of the academic year, announced in November that he planned to hire three new cabinet-level administrators, rather than hiring a traditional assistant superintendent.
This decision came after recommendations from a consultant that the district hire an assistant superintendent of K-5 and assistant superintendent of 6-12.
Instead, Walston opted to seek a “chief of schools K-5” and “chief of schools 6-12,” in addition to Seelig’s new position. The other two chiefs have yet to be hired.
The combined cost for the three new roles will be $500,000. They replace three unfilled positions in the budget and will keep costs level, Walston said at the time.
Seelig was interviewed by two panels and the cabinet prior to the winter holidays, Walston said.
“Overwhelming he was our choice,” he said. “We felt like he would be a good fit and provide the leadership that we need at this time.”
Seelig’s career in education started as an English teacher at a California high school of about 1,800 students, he said. He later became an assistant principal of instruction, where
he worked in instructional technology, facilities and “making sure the football fields got mowed and painted all that kind of good stuff,” he said.
He moved onto state policy work, where he said he got a better understanding of how grants are written and the “sausage is made.” An online biography said he worked in state policy and central office roles across the country, focusing on college readiness.
Most recently he’s worked for City University of New York, where he’s run partnerships between K-12 schools and Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. His role there included grant writing, fundraising and general management, he said.
Seelig said he’s looking forward to starting in Danbury.
“My wife and I have been actually looking to come to this area for quite a while, and so it was really fortuitous when I learned about the role,” he said.