Syracuse City School District Superintendent Jaime Alicea is presiding over six graduations in this last week of June: one each for five city high schools and his own.
After 39 years working in the district — as a teaching assistant, a teacher, a vice principal, a principal, an area superintendent, superintendent for supervision and instruction, chief operations officer and, for the past six years, superintendent — Alicea is graduating into retirement.
Alicea’s career, over many years and many roles, isn’t easily summed up. The one constant, friends and colleagues say, was his determination to always do right by the kids — the one child in front of him in the classroom, the hundreds of children in a school building, or the 21,000 students in the district.
Alicea took over as interim superintendent in July 2016, a calming presence after the stormy tenure of Sharon Contreras, who had been hired to turn around the district’s failing schools. After a seven-month tryout, the school board offered Alicea the job. The board was particularly impressed by his knack for building relationships, then-President Derrick Dorsey said.
Relationships came up in multiple conversations with the superintendent’s colleagues and friends. They described Alicea as a mentor focused on advancing their careers and polishing their rough edges; a non-native English speaker, originally from Puerto Rico, uniquely able to connect with students learning the language; an advocate for parents and families who tried to improve lines of communication with them; and first and always a teacher who had walked a mile in their shoes.
Alicea’s long tenure in administration was not without trouble or controversy, even before he was superintendent. In difficult budget years, he laid off staff and cut programs. He delivered state mandates for teacher accountability and student test scores, which stubbornly resisted improvement. The state Attorney General demanded an overhaul of student discipline after finding racial disparities in school suspensions. Half of the district’s students live in poverty, a constant undercurrent in the life of the schools.
The pandemic presented Alicea’s toughest test. Schools shut down in March 2020. The superintendent and his staff had to weigh the health and safety of students and staff, deal with the social and emotional toll of the pandemic, and figure out how to educate students amid all the tumult and uncertainty. The pandemic exposed a technology gap; the district had to acquire 12,000 computers and other devices, along with 3,000 WiFi hot spots, to enable remote learning. Alicea refused a pay raise when his contract was renewed in 2020.
The superintendent contended with “gut-wrenching” decisions during the pandemic, one colleague said. They weren’t always popular. He prioritized in-person learning for the elementary grades at first. Alicea moved cautiously — some say too cautiously — to expand attendance to higher grades, delaying the return to the classroom under pressure from the teacher’s union. Communication broke down at times, creating frustration among parents torn between work and in-home schooling.
Alicea’s legacy also includes these accomplishments:
- Shepherding renovations of outdated school buildings via the Joint Schools Construction Board. Seventeen schools were redone in the first two phases for $451 million. The state Legislature recently approved $300 million to finish the job at 13 schools.
- Expanding the district’s career and technical education component, creating more paths to graduation and to work. A highlight is PSLA at Fowler’s drone program, which recently certified two pilots.
- Raising the district’s graduation rate to over 70% — owing partly to those multiple paths to a diploma, partly to relaxed expectations during the pandemic.
- Pressing for the construction of new athletic fields at Fowler, where he was once principal. The fields were torn up in 2010 for a sewer project. Fowler teams didn’t play a home game for the next decade as budget problems and broken promises piled up. In 2019, the Common Council agreed to borrow $20 million for the project, to be repaid by state aid. The athletic complex was built in 2020 and opened in March 2021. “That field doesn’t get done without Jaime Alicea as superintendent,” said one longtime friend and colleague.
- Creation of the state’s first STEAM high school, in partnership with the city of Syracuse, Onondaga County and Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES. The school, to be located in the long-vacant Central High School building, will be open to students from throughout the county. Collaboration with private industry and higher education will bring training, internships and career preparation to students. After a delay due to Covid, the project is moving forward again.
Alicea inspires great loyalty. Stephen Jones, who was superintendent from 1999 to 2005, says they are still good friends. In 2000, Jones promoted Alicea from Fowler principal to West Side area superintendent, expanding his purview from one school to half of the city’s schools. His name “just rose to the top,” said Jones, now retired as superintendent of Norfolk, Virginia, schools. He succeeded because he was detail-oriented, compassionate, bilingual and “he really cared about the school district.”
Alicea also would have had many opportunities to leave, Jones said. That he chose to stay for his entire career is “a wonderful testament to his dedication to Syracuse.”
Agreed. Congratulations, Superintendent Alicea, on a life spent in service to Syracuse’s children.
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