January 2003

Craig Mongeau - January 2003

When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.

When I first heard that I’d be the new editor of Superintendent’s Profile, a feeling of nostalgia came over me because I knew that working on this publication would give me opportunities to go home again … sort of. At the same time, I recognized the inherent challenges of taking over a very successful and much-respected publication: You want to make your mark, but you don’t want to do too much because you might break what doesn’t need to be fixed.

You’ll see small changes involving the layout of this month’s issue. But most important, you’ll discover that the fine editorial quality has not changed. In fact, Jim Cropper wrote this issue’s profile, and he will continue to be available to us as an expert adviser.

Now, speaking of going home again. I grew up in western Massachusetts – in Pittsfield, to be exact – where New York State is what most of us there described as just “over the mountain” on Route 20. In almost every way, Pittsfield is influenced just as much by New York as it is by Boston. Half of the town consists of Yankee fans while the other half consists of – you guessed it – long suffering Red Sox fans.

For a while I lived on Long Island, and I discovered that there really are two New York States – the one “up there” and the one “near New Jersey.” But I also discovered that it was exactly this division that makes the Empire State among the most unique in the union. The state truly has it all – the cities and the villages, the mountains and the coast, the skyscrapers and the log cabins, the highways and dirt roads.

I found an interesting quote while trying to find a way to sum up what you, our readers, can expect from Superintendent’s Profile now and far into the future. The following statement ran in the New Yorker shortly after the sale of it to the Newhouse family in 1985:

The business ownership of the New Yorker may change hands, but the idea of the New Yorker — the tradition of the New Yorker, the spirit of the New Yorker — has never been owned by anyone and never will be owned by anyone.

The same can be said of the Profile. I look forward to meeting many of you over the years to come.

Have a happy and healthy New Year!