Hartz: superintendent in troubled times

While Eric Hartz considers Newfield Central School District to be the best possible fit for him, he said, half-jokingly, that he became its superintendent at the worst possible time.

“I came into being a superintendent at the right time in my life,” Hartz said. “I came into being a superintendent at the wrong time of history.”

Hartz first became interested in education while in high school, when he was a student-athlete. After he disagreed with a coach, he asked his father how to become a coach in order to give his student-athletes fair treatment. His father recommended becoming a teacher in order to get into coaching.

After graduating from SUNY Cortland with a degree in education in 1989, Hartz began his career as a teacher at the Franziska Racker Center, then known as the Special Children’s Center, in 1990. He began working in public schools in 1993, starting as a teacher for adapted and elementary physical education in South Seneca.

Hartz served various roles in schools until 2013 when he resigned from his job as principal of Lansing High School due to being concerned about new state regulations and needing a break after 23 years of working in education.

“I got frustrated,” Hartz said. “It just wasn’t fitting for me at that point, and I just felt like I wasn’t doing a great justice to the kids and the system, so I stepped away.”

After leaving Lansing, Hartz worked in construction management for four years, but after two years, he found that he missed working with children and started looking for school jobs. Hartz said taking a break was the best thing he ever did because it helped him come to Newfield with a different outlook, with him focusing on what Newfield needs.

“I can’t control the state,” Hartz said. “I can make my voice heard, but I can’t control it. But I can help work with the people of Newfield and make us the best we can be.”

In October 2017, Hartz was hired as Newfield’s middle school principal, a role he served in for almost three years. He said Newfield was ideal because it is smaller than Lansing, which enabled him to have more of an impact, and also because it has a caring and supportive community.

“I love small rural schools,” Hartz said. “I think everybody has a place.”

In March 2020, Cheryl Thomas, then superintendent of Newfield schools, was placed on administrative leave, and Vicki Volpicelli served as acting superintendent from then until her planned retirement at the end of June.

Hartz became acting superintendent at the start of July and interim superintendent in October. Pat Mahunik, who was principal of Newfield High School at the time, took on Hartz’s responsibilities as middle school principal, thereby saving the district money by combining the high school and middle school positions.

Hartz said he was grateful to his leadership team for their support. He said that being able to handpick his team was a rare opportunity that became possible due to several people being ready to retire at the time he made his appointments.

“I’ve been able to kind of put my own team together, and that’s very odd to be able to do,” Hartz said. “Usually, you have people that stay in positions, at least one or two.”

Hartz said he thinks of himself as fair, consistent and open-minded. He said he was willing to listen to suggestions on how to help the district and to open lines of communication with the community.

“I really don’t have a box. I work outside the box all the time,” Hartz said.

Volpicelli, who has known Hartz for a long time, described him as approachable and having a great sense of humor.

“Eric’s somebody that you can go to, and you know that he feels differently than you do about a topic, but he will listen to it and really think about it, and if needed, sometimes he’ll change his position, or his thinking or his directive,” Volpicelli said.

Volpicelli praised Hartz for how he handled the building project. She noted that Hartz discovered that some areas of the project, such as the heating system and auditorium seating, were not being done properly. Hartz reached out to contractors and project managers in order to ensure that they fixed their mistakes, thus saving Newfield from having to pay for repairs later.

“That’s just the way he is,” Volpicelli said. “He just wants to do what’s best for the district and for others.”

Pawlewicz praised Hartz’s leadership during the pandemic, especially his decision to purchase enough Chromebooks for all students to have an electronic device for remote learning. She said by doing this, Newfield achieved a 1-to-1 student-to-device ratio, something that was previously impossible for the district.

“Obviously, no school district has ever seen anything like this before, so there was really no operating procedure,” Pawlewicz said. “You just had to learn as you go. I feel that he did a great job navigating it and continues to do so.”

Pawlewicz said she approved of Hartz’s leadership, especially his honesty and willingness to own up to his mistakes.

“He’s a new superintendent, so obviously, he’s not perfect,” Pawlewicz said. “But he’s willing to admit when he makes mistakes and move forward, and I think that makes him an even better leader.”

The Board of Education voted to officially appoint Hartz superintendent at their March 18 meeting.

“He was doing the job and doing a great job,” Pawlewicz said. “He stepped up when we needed a superintendent and did a great job, and it made sense to the entire Board to keep him on, and keep him continuing great work that he was doing.”

Hartz said that his going from acting to interim superintendent in October was to fulfill a legal requirement for the district to have a superintendent at all times. According to him, by the time he became superintendent in March, the Board had already discussed making him superintendent and surveyed faculty and staff to see whether he would be a good fit for the job.

“It was about just working out a contract, which I thought was very easy,” Hartz said. “The Board was awesome, and we did it pretty quickly.”

Volpicelli said that after spending all 36 years of her career in Newfield, she trusted Hartz to run Newfield’s schools well in her stead.

“I really feel like Newfield’s in a good place now, as good as you can in the pandemic and these budget times,” Volpicelli said. “I think if anyone can lead us through these tough times, the team that we have there can do that.”

Hartz said under his contract, he will be superintendent until 2025, at which point he hopes to retire. Until then, he hopes to serve Newfield and its children well.

“That’s what running a school is,” Hartz said. “This is about our community and our children. And that’s what I’m here to do, … run a school for them.”

IN BRIEF:

Newfield holds vaccine clinic

The Tompkins County Health Department will partner with Newfield Central Schools to hold a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in the Lower Newfield Elementary School Gymnasium on April 29 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The clinic will administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and anyone 18 years old or older is eligible. People who want the vaccine must register and bring photo identification to their appointment.

For more information, or to register for an appointment, visit https://newfieldny.org/newfield-pop-up-clinic-this-thursday-afternoon-april-29-2021.