Patricia Green, Ann Arbor's new school superintendent, says she’s ready to listen to parents, students, community members, teachers, staff and anyone else who might have an opinion on Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Patricia Green, the woman selected by the Ann Arbor school board to be the district’s next superintendent, says she’s looking forward to coming to Ann Arbor and listening.

Green, the current superintendent of North Allegheny School District in Pennsylvania, said in an interview Tuesday that she’s ready to listen to parents, students, community members, teachers, staff and anyone else who might have an opinion on Ann Arbor Public Schools.

AnnArbor.com asked readers for input on topics to ask Green about earlier this week. Here are some of those questions and a few others.

Q: You’re coming to a district that is bigger, more ethnically and racially diverse and politically different than your current district. Do you think these variables will present a particular challenge and have you thought to how these differences might impact your work here?

A: It is different than my current district, but I come from being the deputy superintendent in a district in suburban Washington D.C. that had 135,000 students and worked in that district most of my life and my career. It was very diverse; it was urban, suburban and rural. Every socio-economic status well-represented along with every ethnicity — we had 132 languages and an international students guidance office as a cause of that and that’s where I was formed.

…. In terms of the diversity, I embrace diversity. In fact, I was very, very proud being in the Pittsburgh area the North Hills Anti-Racism Coalition Community Outreach awarded me the 2011 Spirit of Unity Award for the work I do in diversity and multiculturalism in the whole Pittsburgh area.

Q: Do you see yourself having a role in advocacy for school funding at the state level and to what extent?

A: One of the things that I am heavily involved in over the last many years that I’ve been here is advocacy. I’ve been going to our state capital in Harrisburg and legislatively testifying. I’ve spoken before the state Board of Education when it comes to regulations. I have established a very good working relationship with our representatives in the House of Representatives, one of which now is the house majority leader, and also with our state senator, who had been the state senate whip.

I also advocate and testify at the national level. I have done that with the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind and I have done that with the last two congressmen and women we have had here and invited them into the district.

Q: What steps do you think should be taken when a teacher, principal or other staff is clearly under-performing? How have you handled this in the past?

A: First of all, that’s something that belongs at the school house level with the principal whose responsibility is observation, evaluations and that’s a process that’s in place there and I’m assuming, knowing Ann Arbor is an NEA (National Education Association) affiliate, that there are processes in place. I have to learn what the processes are in Ann Arbor.

… Let me explain a little bit about here. What I’ve done here and similarly what I’ve done in Prince George’s County, where I was near Washington D.C., is I establish a relationship with the teachers here at the federation — we have AFT (American Federation of Teachers) not NEA — and if there are issues that have to be discussed, we don’t wait until it becomes a major issue, whether it’s an evaluation or whether it’s interpersonal relations with staff members. I embrace the concept that it’s all about kids and children first. We have to make certain what we are all doing is in the best interest of children.

We have to have an ongoing dialogue with everybody on staff: What are the expectations? Are communications clear, making certain of standards on accountability? I am very big on accountability. One of the things I was asked to do when I came into North Allegheny was bring accountability into all of the operations here and we’ve done that, not just with the teachers but also at every level of the organization.

Q: Do you see any overhauls you’re planning on making to AAPS?

A: I’m not the kind of person that’s going to make change just to make a change, so there can be my stamp and my imprint and say, “Pat Green did this.” That’s just not my style. I do not know enough about Ann Arbor and the culture. I’ve been there now twice over a three-day period and I would be remiss if I started to say we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that.

… There’s a phrase I used at some time when I was there: Sometimes you have to have the courage to stand up and speak out, but sometimes you have to have the courage to sit down and listen. I’m going to go on a listening tour to work with people and find out more before I can make any judgments. I’m telling you, I would not have applied to Ann Arbor if I didn’t think it was a great district.

Q: You’re obviously coming into a big raise in Ann Arbor. How are you going to be able to deal with budget cuts and ask for shared suffering when the new superintendent’s salary has been a point of contention here in Ann Arbor?

A: I’m not even going to go there. I’m not going to talk about my salary, I haven’t signed a contract yet but I’m clearly not going to discuss my salary.

I do understand the budget, however. I’ve been at it all day and it’s going to be a process in the next couple months before I leave when I bring this budget before the board near the end of May. Our governor today just gave us terrible, terrible news in the state of Pennsylvania, about massive budget cuts to education. We’re going back (into the budget). I thought I had a $6.1 million shortfall I had to figure out how to reduce, but now we could be adding another $2 million to it and those are not easy things.

Q: How do you feel about programs such as talented and gifted programs and other programs for high-level students at the elementary level, something Ann Arbor currently does not have?

A: Again, until I know the lay of the land and know what’s happening and I get a real good feel for why things are the way they are, what programs are there and budget issues, I can’t make a blanket statement. I will say this, however. I have those kind of programs here in the district where I am and when I taught, I was a teacher for 12 years at sixth grade level, and part of my responsibilities was a teacher of the talented and gifted, so I’m familiar with those programs. But, I can’t make a blanket statement until I’m familiar with Ann Arbor’s programs — I’m not even there yet.

Q: What’s your immediate plan for coming in to the district? What can the community expect from you in your immediate takeover?

A: I’ll be out and about and I will be wanting to hear from people. I want to know as much as I can. I’ll be house-hunting. My husband, when we came back on Saturday night, the first thing he did was go online and start looking at houses.

… I just want to be a part of the community as quickly as I can. I want to be seen. I think it’s very important to live in the community. I want to be approached by people and I don’t want people to think I’m a title instead of a person. I always like to say that even though I will be the superintendent and I know I have that title and it puts that aura on a title, I don’t see myself that way. I want to be out shopping in the community, banking in the community. I want to be part of this community not apart from the community.

… I’m not going to make changes until I really, really get to know the community a lot better and anybody who would come in and say other than that shouldn’t have been hired, because I don’t have a crystal ball and I can’t conjecture about what I don’t know yet. What I do know I really enjoy and I wouldn’t have wanted to become a part of Ann Arbor without it. I always say the best is yet to come, but I don’t know what that best will be yet until I learn the level of what is fully in Ann Arbor at this point in time.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.