On Friday morning, I sat down with Dr. Ealy to have a recap of my superintendent internship. All told, I've completed 251 hours of work across the 10 competencies, but still felt there was more I could accomplish and areas I could focus on moving forward. I shared those with Dr. Ealy, and having already looked over my internship log, gave me the following suggestions:
1) Continue to look for opportunities that give you a broader, district wide perspective of issues.
2) Focus more on the human resources/ personnel side of being a superintendent. Look for opportunities to mentor a struggling teacher and walk them through the process of coming out of a growth plan as a stronger teacher.
3) Find ways to get more involved in curriculum issues. Don't just limit myself to work with Social Studies and English, but become well versed in best practices in Science and Math as well.
4) Expand my knowledge of the physical plant. Go beyond the safety aspect of this and attempt to work on the next bond election or atleast the follow up construction and finance pieces.
5) Continue work with district and campus level budgeting.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Updated Vita and 3 Year Professional Development Plan
http://cdiem.wikispaces.com/Vita
My vita can be found at the following link: http://cdiem.wikispaces.com/Vita. This link contains both the original version of the vita and the one that has been revised for this assignment. There were two major changes from the first edition with the first being my new work information. Since writing that vita, I have accepted a position as an Assistant Principal at Belton High School and will be moving from College Station in the next 2 weeks. I have changed my work and home information to reflect this move and have also added my Belton High School job to my list of professional experience. The second change is at the end of the via where I have taken off my specific reference and replaced with a statement noting that my references are available upon request.
http://cdiem.wikispaces.com/3+Year+Professional+Development+Plan
Creating a 3 year professional development plan for me turned out to be a difficult task. I came into the assignment knowing that I wanted to continue to improve my skills in the areas of master scheduling and professional development planning, but deciding when in the next 3 years that would fit in became a challenge. For the other 4 goals, I had broad ideas in mind of what I wanted to work on but not the specifics behind them. What I found to be the most helpful thing for me was to go back, look at my internship log, and look for activities that I enjoyed but didn’t get as much experience working in. One of those was curriculum development, and specifically, curriculum adoption for the new Social Studies TEKS. I began working on this before the superintendent program began by attending a meeting in Austin last summer on details behind the TEKS and how the EOC’s would work in conjunction with them. Since that time, I have been working with our Data Analyst at the high school, herself a social studies teacher, and seeing how the new TEKS correlates with the current curriculum we have. We’ve since found out that new monies for textbooks and ancillary materials will not be available for another 2-3 years, so at that time, I not only want to be a part of that adoption process but want to lead the process for Belton ISD or wherever I am working at the time.
My vita can be found at the following link: http://cdiem.wikispaces.com/Vita. This link contains both the original version of the vita and the one that has been revised for this assignment. There were two major changes from the first edition with the first being my new work information. Since writing that vita, I have accepted a position as an Assistant Principal at Belton High School and will be moving from College Station in the next 2 weeks. I have changed my work and home information to reflect this move and have also added my Belton High School job to my list of professional experience. The second change is at the end of the via where I have taken off my specific reference and replaced with a statement noting that my references are available upon request.
http://cdiem.wikispaces.com/3+Year+Professional+Development+Plan
Creating a 3 year professional development plan for me turned out to be a difficult task. I came into the assignment knowing that I wanted to continue to improve my skills in the areas of master scheduling and professional development planning, but deciding when in the next 3 years that would fit in became a challenge. For the other 4 goals, I had broad ideas in mind of what I wanted to work on but not the specifics behind them. What I found to be the most helpful thing for me was to go back, look at my internship log, and look for activities that I enjoyed but didn’t get as much experience working in. One of those was curriculum development, and specifically, curriculum adoption for the new Social Studies TEKS. I began working on this before the superintendent program began by attending a meeting in Austin last summer on details behind the TEKS and how the EOC’s would work in conjunction with them. Since that time, I have been working with our Data Analyst at the high school, herself a social studies teacher, and seeing how the new TEKS correlates with the current curriculum we have. We’ve since found out that new monies for textbooks and ancillary materials will not be available for another 2-3 years, so at that time, I not only want to be a part of that adoption process but want to lead the process for Belton ISD or wherever I am working at the time.
Internship Log and Plan
http://cdiem.wikispaces.com/Internship+Plan+and+Log
The above link will take you to my wikispaces pages, which contains both my internship log and internship plan.
The above link will take you to my wikispaces pages, which contains both my internship log and internship plan.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Reflecting on Reflecting
Reflection has been a huge asset for me as I’ve gone through this program. I think the initial reaction to having to reflect on something is frustration- it’s just one more assignment and something that will take up your time. What reflection actual does for you is provide an after action report of a project, reading, assignment, or whatever activity it is that you’ve undertaken. It’s informal, so you can say what you think, but allows for enough detail for people to understand what tasks you’ve just undertaken.
I really think my most valuable reflections have been the ones I’ve been able to discuss with my site supervisor. Dr. Ealy has done a great job of asking me about the projects and assignments I’m doing and then following up with real life, actual experience questions. These conversations have led me to look deeper into topics, to go back and reread items I may have just skimmed the first time, and really find out how to do something. The most notable time this occurred was during the unit on bidding for contractors; I ended up going home after our meeting and re-reading the entire section to make sure I knew the material. The blogs and wiki pages have also been good too, mostly because my reflections are then reflected on by others. The feedback has been great and this cohort is clearly filled with people who will make outstanding central office personnel. On the flip side, it’s been very rewarding for me to go and look at what other people are writing, compare them to my experiences, and see where I could improve or bring something to my internship experience. The main piece with both of these is the same- the opportunity to go back, analyze what you just did, and then write about it can bring great closure to a large task and allow you to see the end result from a larger perspective.
I really think my most valuable reflections have been the ones I’ve been able to discuss with my site supervisor. Dr. Ealy has done a great job of asking me about the projects and assignments I’m doing and then following up with real life, actual experience questions. These conversations have led me to look deeper into topics, to go back and reread items I may have just skimmed the first time, and really find out how to do something. The most notable time this occurred was during the unit on bidding for contractors; I ended up going home after our meeting and re-reading the entire section to make sure I knew the material. The blogs and wiki pages have also been good too, mostly because my reflections are then reflected on by others. The feedback has been great and this cohort is clearly filled with people who will make outstanding central office personnel. On the flip side, it’s been very rewarding for me to go and look at what other people are writing, compare them to my experiences, and see where I could improve or bring something to my internship experience. The main piece with both of these is the same- the opportunity to go back, analyze what you just did, and then write about it can bring great closure to a large task and allow you to see the end result from a larger perspective.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Reflection on DIP and Budget Committee Research
I thoroughly enjoyed my time working on the district budget reduction committees, especially the committee which focused on personnel costs and solutions to the issue. We went in knowing that personnel made up 82% of the district budget, so this was the area where the bulk of our district wide budget reduction would have to come from .This was also difficult because these were real people and real jobs that would be effected, so it’s not as simple as changing the temperature in the classrooms or deciding to sell advertisements on the side of a bus. The end result of what because a 4 month, thoroughly researched, discussed, and analyzed process were no layoffs, no reductions in pay, and a game plan moving forward that still achieves quality classroom instruction. Beyond that, I felt very validated in all of the research I had done on other school districts, they way they operated, and ultimately, that my opinion on how to fix the situation was very much valued.
Moving forward in College Station ISD, I’d highly advise that the same process that was applied to fixing the budget issue be used to fix any major issue that comes up. Having accepted a new position in Belton ISD for the upcoming school year, I won’t get to see if they follow through with this recommendation, but the end result of the process certainly justified the way in which the process was handled. As a young administrator, I really feel as if I grew a great deal in my ability to see issues from not only the campus level, but from the broader district level. As a school district, this is how you produce leaders who can climb through the ranks and understand what it takes to be a district level administrator. Similarly, the District Improvement Plan committee could benefit from a similar approach, though it is currently being run in a very similar manner. The DIP Committee is headed by the deputy superintendent for curriculum who then selects a review committee from the DAEP (which consists of representatives from all stake holders in the district). This is an outstanding foundation for the group, but to really insure that all factors are being considered, my recommendation would be for the committee to be expanded to include the primary writer of each of the Campus Improvement Plans. At the district level, changes are being made that may affect one school but not another; for instance, several changes in the DIP were for the DAEP, yet there was no representative from the DAEP on the committee. While the changes certainly looked good and the programs being purchased to improve student academic performance looked good, hearing from someone from the DAEP would have been beneficial.
Moving forward in College Station ISD, I’d highly advise that the same process that was applied to fixing the budget issue be used to fix any major issue that comes up. Having accepted a new position in Belton ISD for the upcoming school year, I won’t get to see if they follow through with this recommendation, but the end result of the process certainly justified the way in which the process was handled. As a young administrator, I really feel as if I grew a great deal in my ability to see issues from not only the campus level, but from the broader district level. As a school district, this is how you produce leaders who can climb through the ranks and understand what it takes to be a district level administrator. Similarly, the District Improvement Plan committee could benefit from a similar approach, though it is currently being run in a very similar manner. The DIP Committee is headed by the deputy superintendent for curriculum who then selects a review committee from the DAEP (which consists of representatives from all stake holders in the district). This is an outstanding foundation for the group, but to really insure that all factors are being considered, my recommendation would be for the committee to be expanded to include the primary writer of each of the Campus Improvement Plans. At the district level, changes are being made that may affect one school but not another; for instance, several changes in the DIP were for the DAEP, yet there was no representative from the DAEP on the committee. While the changes certainly looked good and the programs being purchased to improve student academic performance looked good, hearing from someone from the DAEP would have been beneficial.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Internship Work within the 10 Competencies
Domain I—Leadership of the Educational Community – Competencies 1 - 4
Competency 1 Area:
The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.
To increase my knowledge of competency 1, I have complied 28 hours of work in 5 separate activities. Those activities consisted of the following: obtained a copy of the superintendent job description, reviewed the officially adopted curriculum in the social studies department at the high school level, met with a representative group of students to discuss ethical practices in the classroom, analyzed data from state testing with a focus on trends amongst certain groups, and attended 3 school board meetings and 2 public forums conducted by the school board. Each of these 5 activities gave me a different view of what it is to act with integrity and in a fair, ethical manner to promote student success.
I felt from the very beginning of this program that competency 1 was an area of strength for me and I still very much feel that way. One thing I pride myself on is attempting to treat each student in a way that will allow them to be successful and not just treat everyone in a one size fits all manner. As a superintendent, not only is it something that you should do, it’s a required part of the job. At school board meetings and public forums, Dr. Coulson attempted and achieved a great balance of advocating his beliefs while also making sure discussion amongst the school board and the public were taken seriously and given proper consideration. This same ethical standard must also be applied to looking at data and curriculum; you can’t let you personal bias towards a certain part of curriculum or towards a certain group of students ever enter into your decision making process. Having a bias towards the latter means you should leave the profession while having one in the first could mean a weaker curriculum for all students. There is also no doubt in my mind, after meeting with a group of students at AMCHS, that students are incredibly perceptive and they can see when an educator truly respects them or is simply there. Those teachers are perceived as talking down to the students, and when that happens, there is no way the student will give you their all. This same idea can be translated to a superintendent working with teachers or any subordinate in the district; simply bossing them around may achieve an immediate goal, but will lead to long term issues that will be bad for the entire school district.
Competency 2 Area:
The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.
I spent a large amount of time working in this area, compiling 76 hours of work in 5 separate activities. These 5 activities included a variety of topics, as well as perspectives, and included the following: analyzed the district’s vision/mission statement as it relates to the school’s master schedule, served on the strategic and development evaluation team for the district, reviewed the ways in which assessment data is used by the school board, superintendent, faculty, staff, and community relations department, assessed the leadership culture in the district, and observed district level administrative team meeting.
A bulk of my time in competency 2 was spent serving on 3 district level committees and looking at the leadership culture in the district. I have served on the District Employee Information Committee and 2 district level budget teams this year, as well as serving on the district SUCCESS Team (this last group includes all district and campus level administrators). In those meetings, I got to make real decisions and not just throw out an idea and have someone else make a unilateral decision. While the ultimate decision in the budget reduction committee was made by the superintendent, it was only have 3 months of full committee meetings on a near weekly basis. On DEIC, the decisions are made by the team and then recommended to the superintendent’s office and the school board. So, in a very real way, I was able to observe the district leadership culture not only while in attendance and SUCCESS Team meetings (all district administrators), but while serving as an active member of the team. I also very much believe that this joint leadership style extended down to the campus level, as many of our decisions that we made as an administrative team were not made until we ran in through the department heads. Again, while doing all of the above, I got a real chance to see data being used, and in many cases, data being used that I had helped to gather here at the high school. This is a very strong area for myself and the district, extending even to the master schedule being influenced by the vision and mission statements, and an area that has helped me grow as a leader.
Competency 3 Area:
The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all students.
. I spent around 30 hours working in this area, with a vast majority of it focused on communication both with the faculty and the AMCHS community. The 5 activities where the hours were accumulated included assisting in conducting a faculty meeting, assisting in the preparation of written communication that is sent out to the public, observing a meeting of the site based development team, meeting with members of the English department to analyze literature and culturally diverse texts, and compiling a list of social agencies that can assist with and support students, faculty, and administration. Work in these areas again gave me a diverse view of the various roles in being an effective communicator.
A bulk of my hours in this area was with written communication as I created and maintained the official school facebook page. This tool greatly expanded our ability to communicate with every stakeholder of AMCHS and do so in a very quick and efficient manner. Whether the information was related to power outages due to poor weather or yearbook order information, I was able to get the information out to those that needed it as the information was passed on to me. To date, nearly 1,000 people are following our facebook page and the number has grown a great rate since we launched the page. The other new communication tool that we launched this year was the school messenger system, and like the facebook page, I’m in charge of it’s operation for the high school. The initial use was mostly for discipline phone calls at the school level and school closure information at the district level, but it has been expanded to include phone calls to announce TAKS tutorials, yearbook purchase information, graduation information, and any other information that needs to be communicated to a large amount of people in a short time period. These calls can be sent out to the entire school or to a targeted group, depending on the message that needs to be sent out. On a smaller scale, I was able to sit down with a group of English, and even some non-English teachers, about the texts used in their classroom and how they sought to reach a broader audience of their students. I was also able to observe several site based decision team meetings, focusing on the parents, and took a look at the groups in College Station that could be utilized to assist the school in a variety of manners.
Competency 4 Area:
The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.
To increase my knowledge of competency 4, I have complied 28 hours of work in 5 separate activities. Those activities consisted of the following: obtained a copy of the superintendent job description, reviewed the officially adopted curriculum in the social studies department at the high school level, met with a representative group of students to discuss ethical practices in the classroom, analyzed data from state testing with a focus on trends amongst certain groups, and attended 3 school board meetings and 2 public forums conducted by the school board. Each of these 5 activities gave me a different view of what it is influence the political community at large and advocate for the school district’s educational vision.
I felt from the very beginning of this program that competency 1 was an area of strength for me and I still very much feel that way. One thing I pride myself on is attempting to treat each student in a way that will allow them to be successful and not just treat everyone in a one size fits all manner. As a superintendent, not only is it something that you should do, it’s a required part of the job. At school board meetings and public forums, Dr. Coulson attempted and achieved a great balance of advocating his beliefs while also making sure discussion amongst the school board and the public were taken seriously and given proper consideration. This same ethical standard must also be applied to looking at data and curriculum; you can’t let you personal bias towards a certain part of curriculum or towards a certain group of students ever enter into your decision making process. Having a bias towards the latter means you should leave the profession while having one in the first could mean a weaker curriculum for all students. There is also no doubt in my mind, after meeting with a group of students at AMCHS, that students are incredibly perceptive and they can see when an educator truly respects them or is simply there. Those teachers are perceived as talking down to the students, and when that happens, there is no way the student will give you their all. This same idea can be translated to a superintendent working with teachers or any subordinate in the district; simply bossing them around may achieve an immediate goal, but will lead to long term issues that will be bad for the entire school district.
DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7
Competency 5 Area:
The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.
In competency 5, I totaled 17 hours of work in 5 different areas. To increase my knowledge planning and implementation of teaching and learning at the district level, I reviewed board policy and administrative regulations regarding curriculum development and implementation, participated in the process of student scheduling, conduct 2 classroom observations using the clinical supervision model, assisted in the planning on a co-curricular activity, and worked as a member of the PBMAS review team at the district level. Like the other competencies, this gave me a diverse look at the multiple aspects of this competency and allowed me to grow in my knowledge in this area.
The time I spent in this area was balanced between the 5 activities and done so for a reason. This is a competency where I felt like I needed a variety of activities to get a better feel for all aspects of it, and I feel that my plan accomplished that. I was able to real dig into board policy on curriculum development and realized in the process that we could be stronger in this area. While we are working on a scope and sequence now for the core classes, this has not been in place and most of our curricular focus is on the materials themselves or the innovative programs that are offered in the district. While this has led to a thorough adoption process and a very strong dual-language program, the majority of future focus should clearly lie in the core areas. Additionally, I also participated in the planning of a large event that has only happened one other time on this campus: the cross-town basketball rivalry with Bryan High School. Until 2010, the game was held at Reed Arena on the campus of Texas A&M, so they took care of the security and logistics of the event. Due to budget restraints, the game was moved to each campus and led to all logistical aspects of the event being handled by the home campus. This meant coordination with Bryan High School, the police, officials, and food vendors. I was also able to work on aspects of the master schedule and conduct classroom observations, with the first making me excited to learn more about the process.
Competency 6 Area:
The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
In competency 6, I totaled 15 hours in 5 different areas, all of them involving some level of gathering and looking at data. In order to learn more about advocating, promoting, and sustain an instructional program, I compiled a list of all extracurricular options available to students and interviewed a student about one club that should be added, researched how wikis, blogs, and other forms of technology are currently being used by school districts, gathered and analyzed school, state, and national normed test results, examined the district discipline policy, and compiled a list of issues currently affecting teaching and learning.
A majority of my time in competency 6 was spent analyzing the district discipline policy and looking at testing results from local, state, and national sources. I served as the representative from the high school to a district committee that looked at placements to the DAEP, statistics amongst subgroups being sent to DAEP, and the percentage of those placements that were non-mandatory placements. After a series of meetings, we found out that the percentage of minority students being placed at DAEP for non-mandatory reasons was well about the average demographic statistics; however, they were still being sent for serious reasons. A major part of the issue came down to PEIMS coding and what we concluded was an outdated system from the state. We were being told to correct a district wide problem by the state, but at the same time, we were not given the proper tools to fix it with. This should not come as a huge surprise, but none the less, we set out to find way to prevent students in general but these specifically from getting in trouble to start with as a systemic solution. I also served as a co-chair for our Southern Association Accreditation Review, and in that capacity, I looked at the domains that dealt large with statistical data about the schools demographics and testing scores. As a school, we faired very well on national and state standardized tests, earning a Recognized ranking from TEA for the 2nd consecutive year and being named a distinguished school by the ACT. I was also able to compile information on student clubs and, while we have 62, met with a student who wanted to start one to deal with students having emotional issues. He was teamed up with the counselors to assist in his goal.
Competency 7 Area:
The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff development to improve the performance of all staff members.
For competency 7, I selected 2 activities that gave me a total of 12 hours of work in the area of implementation of staff evaluation and developments systems. These 2 activities were very different from each other, so by gathering and analyzing the district’s yearly staff development plan and participating in the hiring process for all professional positions I was able to have a very full perspective and gain a great deal of knowledge in this area.
The school district does not have a district wide staff development plan, instead it relies on the individual campuses to create professional development that best fits the needs of their teachers. This does not mean the district does not have some activities they want the entire district to do (for example, the Poverty Simulator that was done throughout the district and was led by one of the Deputy Superintendents), but beyond those, it’s up to the campus. My greatest role in this process on our campus was looking at teacher feedback after each professional development and figuring out which areas went well and which ones we should reconsider doing again. On the hiring side, I spent a great deal of time this spring working on this for both the school and the district. I represented College Station ISD at the Texas A&M University job fair, allowing me to meet for several hours with perspective employees, most of whom were looking for their first jobs. In this difficult hiring climate, it was very important to pin point a few people who came by that could really be an asset to the district should there be openings. On campus, I led the process with the social studies department to find ways to reduce 2 teaching spots (due to the district initiative that I was also a part of to lose 8 spots at the high school from attrition) while making sure class sizes stayed at a 27:1 ratio even with the likely hood of coaches being hired for spots that had previously been teacher only positions (caused by a coaching change and several resignations in social studies for other reasons, meaning the staff had to be filled with mostly social studies positions). This was not only a difficult puzzle to finish on the scheduling front, but also required a great deal of talk with unhappy parties within the department.
DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10
Competency 8 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.
In competency 8, I complied 14 hours of work in 6 different areas, giving me a little bit of work in a lot of areas to get a broad amount of general knowledge on the areas of applying principles of effective leadership and management in relation to budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application. The 6 hours of work included researching various forms of technology are used by school districts, inventorying the current administrative technology in use, meeting with the school attendance officer, examining the school budget and it’s various accounts, visiting the website of the NASSP to examine its services, and compiling a list of books, publications, and manuals for use by administrators.
The activities I spent the most time in was working with our attendance assistant principal to look at attendance laws found within Chapter 25 of the education code and its application at the various levels of education and looking at the school budget. While our attendance principal’s focus is specifically on the high school and filing cases against students and parents who have violated the law (over 300 cases for the 2010-2011 school year), we also looked at how these laws applied to the lower grade levels and how stricter enforcement there would prevent the number of problems occurring at the high school level. Ultimately, this is a huge financial issue, as every dime of WADA will be needed with the $4 billion cut to the education budget at the state level. I also spent time looking at the various budget accounts at the campus level with a particular focus on paper usage and how we could make cuts in this area by integrating more technology in the classroom. The end result was a 29% reduction of paper use from the previous school year and enough cost savings to purchase additional programs for our core departments. This look at technology extended to looking at the new tools given to administrators in the district (namely IPADs) and how our district utilizes technology (weekly emails from the superintendent, online voting for issues like the calendar. and facebook pages). A look at NASSP.org and various books also revealed a great deal of resources for principals in our district.
Competency 9 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.
In order to increase my ability to apply principles of leadership and management to the districts’ physical plant and support systems, thus assuring a safe and effective learning environment, I spent 15 hours working on 3 different activities. These 3 activities including examining fire and other safety reports, as well as conducting multiple drills, reviewing incident and discipline reports occurring on busses, and interviewing the district’s food service manager to discuss current requirements/concerns.
As A&M Consolidated High School’s safety lead, I spent a great deal of time working on safety related issues throughout the school year. It was my responsibility to coordinate all safety drills, create a plan for those drills, conduct those drills, and then analyze those drills following their completion. I had to make sure that all state and district documentation was up to date and completed and then get that information to the Deputy Superintendent. We also went through a safety audit this year, so I had to meet with state regulators on a variety of issues they presented to us while they were conducting the audit. I didn’t like some of the things they came up with, so through this course, I conducted another audit of the school to see how the two compared. I then presented that information to the principal to show how we actually were doing as a campus and what areas we needed to continue to focus on and improve. I also looked at bus safety issues and processed numerous referrals dealing with an array of issues, from refusing to sit down, throwing things off the bus, and even fights both on the bus and at bus stops. This required reviewing video tape from those busses, meeting with both the director and assistant director of transportation, and with the parents of those students involved in the incident. There were also some concerns with proposed changes to food services, mainly the possibility of going with an off-campus lunch set up for the 2011-2012 school year. After discussing the issue with our food services director, I was able to get a better understanding for the concerns they had as a department, mainly the loss of income for a department that operates separately from the rest of the district operations. They pay their own salaries and pay for their own equipment, so a loss of money associated with less students eating on campus was a major concern for them.
Competency 10 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.
I complied 12 hours of work (giving me 251 total hours of work during my internship) in 3 different activities to better learn how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem solving skills to comply with federal/state requirements and to facilitate positive change in varied contexts. To do this, I met with current leaders involved in implementing change at the district/school level, participated in multiple career and educational programming sessions, and met with teachers to discuss a current issue in CSISD.
If I tallied up all of the students who came into my office and discussed their educational and work futures with me, I’m confident my total hours would be significantly higher than what I’m counting for my internship, but for the purpose of this activity, I’m looking at the students who came into my office and researched financial aid, scholarships, universities, and career programs. These students completed most if not all of their applications in my office with a couple of them not aware before talking to me that there were even financial aid programs available for them. The 4 students I spent the most time with will all be attending college in the fall and all of them were able to come across financial aid that will allow them to not have to work full time while trying to go to school full time as well. 3 of these students are not in the best financial situation, so getting them financial aid was a key piece in continuing their education. I was also able to get these students signed up for the SAT and found financial waivers for 3 of them to take the tests at no cost to them. Throughout this past year, I was also able to meet with the superintendent, deputy superintendent, and my campus principal to discuss changes that are or could be occurring in the school district. These issues included new attendance lines going into effect due to the opening of new campuses, proposed changes to the school day, and future campus construction due to continued growth in the district. One change that was of particular interest to many teachers was proposed changes to the start time for the high school (going from 8:20 to 7:25). This led to passionate discussions on both side of the issue; some saw the early start as better for extracurricular activities while others had serious concerns over child care for an early start time.
Competency 1 Area:
The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.
To increase my knowledge of competency 1, I have complied 28 hours of work in 5 separate activities. Those activities consisted of the following: obtained a copy of the superintendent job description, reviewed the officially adopted curriculum in the social studies department at the high school level, met with a representative group of students to discuss ethical practices in the classroom, analyzed data from state testing with a focus on trends amongst certain groups, and attended 3 school board meetings and 2 public forums conducted by the school board. Each of these 5 activities gave me a different view of what it is to act with integrity and in a fair, ethical manner to promote student success.
I felt from the very beginning of this program that competency 1 was an area of strength for me and I still very much feel that way. One thing I pride myself on is attempting to treat each student in a way that will allow them to be successful and not just treat everyone in a one size fits all manner. As a superintendent, not only is it something that you should do, it’s a required part of the job. At school board meetings and public forums, Dr. Coulson attempted and achieved a great balance of advocating his beliefs while also making sure discussion amongst the school board and the public were taken seriously and given proper consideration. This same ethical standard must also be applied to looking at data and curriculum; you can’t let you personal bias towards a certain part of curriculum or towards a certain group of students ever enter into your decision making process. Having a bias towards the latter means you should leave the profession while having one in the first could mean a weaker curriculum for all students. There is also no doubt in my mind, after meeting with a group of students at AMCHS, that students are incredibly perceptive and they can see when an educator truly respects them or is simply there. Those teachers are perceived as talking down to the students, and when that happens, there is no way the student will give you their all. This same idea can be translated to a superintendent working with teachers or any subordinate in the district; simply bossing them around may achieve an immediate goal, but will lead to long term issues that will be bad for the entire school district.
Competency 2 Area:
The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.
I spent a large amount of time working in this area, compiling 76 hours of work in 5 separate activities. These 5 activities included a variety of topics, as well as perspectives, and included the following: analyzed the district’s vision/mission statement as it relates to the school’s master schedule, served on the strategic and development evaluation team for the district, reviewed the ways in which assessment data is used by the school board, superintendent, faculty, staff, and community relations department, assessed the leadership culture in the district, and observed district level administrative team meeting.
A bulk of my time in competency 2 was spent serving on 3 district level committees and looking at the leadership culture in the district. I have served on the District Employee Information Committee and 2 district level budget teams this year, as well as serving on the district SUCCESS Team (this last group includes all district and campus level administrators). In those meetings, I got to make real decisions and not just throw out an idea and have someone else make a unilateral decision. While the ultimate decision in the budget reduction committee was made by the superintendent, it was only have 3 months of full committee meetings on a near weekly basis. On DEIC, the decisions are made by the team and then recommended to the superintendent’s office and the school board. So, in a very real way, I was able to observe the district leadership culture not only while in attendance and SUCCESS Team meetings (all district administrators), but while serving as an active member of the team. I also very much believe that this joint leadership style extended down to the campus level, as many of our decisions that we made as an administrative team were not made until we ran in through the department heads. Again, while doing all of the above, I got a real chance to see data being used, and in many cases, data being used that I had helped to gather here at the high school. This is a very strong area for myself and the district, extending even to the master schedule being influenced by the vision and mission statements, and an area that has helped me grow as a leader.
Competency 3 Area:
The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all students.
. I spent around 30 hours working in this area, with a vast majority of it focused on communication both with the faculty and the AMCHS community. The 5 activities where the hours were accumulated included assisting in conducting a faculty meeting, assisting in the preparation of written communication that is sent out to the public, observing a meeting of the site based development team, meeting with members of the English department to analyze literature and culturally diverse texts, and compiling a list of social agencies that can assist with and support students, faculty, and administration. Work in these areas again gave me a diverse view of the various roles in being an effective communicator.
A bulk of my hours in this area was with written communication as I created and maintained the official school facebook page. This tool greatly expanded our ability to communicate with every stakeholder of AMCHS and do so in a very quick and efficient manner. Whether the information was related to power outages due to poor weather or yearbook order information, I was able to get the information out to those that needed it as the information was passed on to me. To date, nearly 1,000 people are following our facebook page and the number has grown a great rate since we launched the page. The other new communication tool that we launched this year was the school messenger system, and like the facebook page, I’m in charge of it’s operation for the high school. The initial use was mostly for discipline phone calls at the school level and school closure information at the district level, but it has been expanded to include phone calls to announce TAKS tutorials, yearbook purchase information, graduation information, and any other information that needs to be communicated to a large amount of people in a short time period. These calls can be sent out to the entire school or to a targeted group, depending on the message that needs to be sent out. On a smaller scale, I was able to sit down with a group of English, and even some non-English teachers, about the texts used in their classroom and how they sought to reach a broader audience of their students. I was also able to observe several site based decision team meetings, focusing on the parents, and took a look at the groups in College Station that could be utilized to assist the school in a variety of manners.
Competency 4 Area:
The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.
To increase my knowledge of competency 4, I have complied 28 hours of work in 5 separate activities. Those activities consisted of the following: obtained a copy of the superintendent job description, reviewed the officially adopted curriculum in the social studies department at the high school level, met with a representative group of students to discuss ethical practices in the classroom, analyzed data from state testing with a focus on trends amongst certain groups, and attended 3 school board meetings and 2 public forums conducted by the school board. Each of these 5 activities gave me a different view of what it is influence the political community at large and advocate for the school district’s educational vision.
I felt from the very beginning of this program that competency 1 was an area of strength for me and I still very much feel that way. One thing I pride myself on is attempting to treat each student in a way that will allow them to be successful and not just treat everyone in a one size fits all manner. As a superintendent, not only is it something that you should do, it’s a required part of the job. At school board meetings and public forums, Dr. Coulson attempted and achieved a great balance of advocating his beliefs while also making sure discussion amongst the school board and the public were taken seriously and given proper consideration. This same ethical standard must also be applied to looking at data and curriculum; you can’t let you personal bias towards a certain part of curriculum or towards a certain group of students ever enter into your decision making process. Having a bias towards the latter means you should leave the profession while having one in the first could mean a weaker curriculum for all students. There is also no doubt in my mind, after meeting with a group of students at AMCHS, that students are incredibly perceptive and they can see when an educator truly respects them or is simply there. Those teachers are perceived as talking down to the students, and when that happens, there is no way the student will give you their all. This same idea can be translated to a superintendent working with teachers or any subordinate in the district; simply bossing them around may achieve an immediate goal, but will lead to long term issues that will be bad for the entire school district.
DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7
Competency 5 Area:
The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.
In competency 5, I totaled 17 hours of work in 5 different areas. To increase my knowledge planning and implementation of teaching and learning at the district level, I reviewed board policy and administrative regulations regarding curriculum development and implementation, participated in the process of student scheduling, conduct 2 classroom observations using the clinical supervision model, assisted in the planning on a co-curricular activity, and worked as a member of the PBMAS review team at the district level. Like the other competencies, this gave me a diverse look at the multiple aspects of this competency and allowed me to grow in my knowledge in this area.
The time I spent in this area was balanced between the 5 activities and done so for a reason. This is a competency where I felt like I needed a variety of activities to get a better feel for all aspects of it, and I feel that my plan accomplished that. I was able to real dig into board policy on curriculum development and realized in the process that we could be stronger in this area. While we are working on a scope and sequence now for the core classes, this has not been in place and most of our curricular focus is on the materials themselves or the innovative programs that are offered in the district. While this has led to a thorough adoption process and a very strong dual-language program, the majority of future focus should clearly lie in the core areas. Additionally, I also participated in the planning of a large event that has only happened one other time on this campus: the cross-town basketball rivalry with Bryan High School. Until 2010, the game was held at Reed Arena on the campus of Texas A&M, so they took care of the security and logistics of the event. Due to budget restraints, the game was moved to each campus and led to all logistical aspects of the event being handled by the home campus. This meant coordination with Bryan High School, the police, officials, and food vendors. I was also able to work on aspects of the master schedule and conduct classroom observations, with the first making me excited to learn more about the process.
Competency 6 Area:
The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
In competency 6, I totaled 15 hours in 5 different areas, all of them involving some level of gathering and looking at data. In order to learn more about advocating, promoting, and sustain an instructional program, I compiled a list of all extracurricular options available to students and interviewed a student about one club that should be added, researched how wikis, blogs, and other forms of technology are currently being used by school districts, gathered and analyzed school, state, and national normed test results, examined the district discipline policy, and compiled a list of issues currently affecting teaching and learning.
A majority of my time in competency 6 was spent analyzing the district discipline policy and looking at testing results from local, state, and national sources. I served as the representative from the high school to a district committee that looked at placements to the DAEP, statistics amongst subgroups being sent to DAEP, and the percentage of those placements that were non-mandatory placements. After a series of meetings, we found out that the percentage of minority students being placed at DAEP for non-mandatory reasons was well about the average demographic statistics; however, they were still being sent for serious reasons. A major part of the issue came down to PEIMS coding and what we concluded was an outdated system from the state. We were being told to correct a district wide problem by the state, but at the same time, we were not given the proper tools to fix it with. This should not come as a huge surprise, but none the less, we set out to find way to prevent students in general but these specifically from getting in trouble to start with as a systemic solution. I also served as a co-chair for our Southern Association Accreditation Review, and in that capacity, I looked at the domains that dealt large with statistical data about the schools demographics and testing scores. As a school, we faired very well on national and state standardized tests, earning a Recognized ranking from TEA for the 2nd consecutive year and being named a distinguished school by the ACT. I was also able to compile information on student clubs and, while we have 62, met with a student who wanted to start one to deal with students having emotional issues. He was teamed up with the counselors to assist in his goal.
Competency 7 Area:
The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff development to improve the performance of all staff members.
For competency 7, I selected 2 activities that gave me a total of 12 hours of work in the area of implementation of staff evaluation and developments systems. These 2 activities were very different from each other, so by gathering and analyzing the district’s yearly staff development plan and participating in the hiring process for all professional positions I was able to have a very full perspective and gain a great deal of knowledge in this area.
The school district does not have a district wide staff development plan, instead it relies on the individual campuses to create professional development that best fits the needs of their teachers. This does not mean the district does not have some activities they want the entire district to do (for example, the Poverty Simulator that was done throughout the district and was led by one of the Deputy Superintendents), but beyond those, it’s up to the campus. My greatest role in this process on our campus was looking at teacher feedback after each professional development and figuring out which areas went well and which ones we should reconsider doing again. On the hiring side, I spent a great deal of time this spring working on this for both the school and the district. I represented College Station ISD at the Texas A&M University job fair, allowing me to meet for several hours with perspective employees, most of whom were looking for their first jobs. In this difficult hiring climate, it was very important to pin point a few people who came by that could really be an asset to the district should there be openings. On campus, I led the process with the social studies department to find ways to reduce 2 teaching spots (due to the district initiative that I was also a part of to lose 8 spots at the high school from attrition) while making sure class sizes stayed at a 27:1 ratio even with the likely hood of coaches being hired for spots that had previously been teacher only positions (caused by a coaching change and several resignations in social studies for other reasons, meaning the staff had to be filled with mostly social studies positions). This was not only a difficult puzzle to finish on the scheduling front, but also required a great deal of talk with unhappy parties within the department.
DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10
Competency 8 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.
In competency 8, I complied 14 hours of work in 6 different areas, giving me a little bit of work in a lot of areas to get a broad amount of general knowledge on the areas of applying principles of effective leadership and management in relation to budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application. The 6 hours of work included researching various forms of technology are used by school districts, inventorying the current administrative technology in use, meeting with the school attendance officer, examining the school budget and it’s various accounts, visiting the website of the NASSP to examine its services, and compiling a list of books, publications, and manuals for use by administrators.
The activities I spent the most time in was working with our attendance assistant principal to look at attendance laws found within Chapter 25 of the education code and its application at the various levels of education and looking at the school budget. While our attendance principal’s focus is specifically on the high school and filing cases against students and parents who have violated the law (over 300 cases for the 2010-2011 school year), we also looked at how these laws applied to the lower grade levels and how stricter enforcement there would prevent the number of problems occurring at the high school level. Ultimately, this is a huge financial issue, as every dime of WADA will be needed with the $4 billion cut to the education budget at the state level. I also spent time looking at the various budget accounts at the campus level with a particular focus on paper usage and how we could make cuts in this area by integrating more technology in the classroom. The end result was a 29% reduction of paper use from the previous school year and enough cost savings to purchase additional programs for our core departments. This look at technology extended to looking at the new tools given to administrators in the district (namely IPADs) and how our district utilizes technology (weekly emails from the superintendent, online voting for issues like the calendar. and facebook pages). A look at NASSP.org and various books also revealed a great deal of resources for principals in our district.
Competency 9 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.
In order to increase my ability to apply principles of leadership and management to the districts’ physical plant and support systems, thus assuring a safe and effective learning environment, I spent 15 hours working on 3 different activities. These 3 activities including examining fire and other safety reports, as well as conducting multiple drills, reviewing incident and discipline reports occurring on busses, and interviewing the district’s food service manager to discuss current requirements/concerns.
As A&M Consolidated High School’s safety lead, I spent a great deal of time working on safety related issues throughout the school year. It was my responsibility to coordinate all safety drills, create a plan for those drills, conduct those drills, and then analyze those drills following their completion. I had to make sure that all state and district documentation was up to date and completed and then get that information to the Deputy Superintendent. We also went through a safety audit this year, so I had to meet with state regulators on a variety of issues they presented to us while they were conducting the audit. I didn’t like some of the things they came up with, so through this course, I conducted another audit of the school to see how the two compared. I then presented that information to the principal to show how we actually were doing as a campus and what areas we needed to continue to focus on and improve. I also looked at bus safety issues and processed numerous referrals dealing with an array of issues, from refusing to sit down, throwing things off the bus, and even fights both on the bus and at bus stops. This required reviewing video tape from those busses, meeting with both the director and assistant director of transportation, and with the parents of those students involved in the incident. There were also some concerns with proposed changes to food services, mainly the possibility of going with an off-campus lunch set up for the 2011-2012 school year. After discussing the issue with our food services director, I was able to get a better understanding for the concerns they had as a department, mainly the loss of income for a department that operates separately from the rest of the district operations. They pay their own salaries and pay for their own equipment, so a loss of money associated with less students eating on campus was a major concern for them.
Competency 10 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.
I complied 12 hours of work (giving me 251 total hours of work during my internship) in 3 different activities to better learn how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem solving skills to comply with federal/state requirements and to facilitate positive change in varied contexts. To do this, I met with current leaders involved in implementing change at the district/school level, participated in multiple career and educational programming sessions, and met with teachers to discuss a current issue in CSISD.
If I tallied up all of the students who came into my office and discussed their educational and work futures with me, I’m confident my total hours would be significantly higher than what I’m counting for my internship, but for the purpose of this activity, I’m looking at the students who came into my office and researched financial aid, scholarships, universities, and career programs. These students completed most if not all of their applications in my office with a couple of them not aware before talking to me that there were even financial aid programs available for them. The 4 students I spent the most time with will all be attending college in the fall and all of them were able to come across financial aid that will allow them to not have to work full time while trying to go to school full time as well. 3 of these students are not in the best financial situation, so getting them financial aid was a key piece in continuing their education. I was also able to get these students signed up for the SAT and found financial waivers for 3 of them to take the tests at no cost to them. Throughout this past year, I was also able to meet with the superintendent, deputy superintendent, and my campus principal to discuss changes that are or could be occurring in the school district. These issues included new attendance lines going into effect due to the opening of new campuses, proposed changes to the school day, and future campus construction due to continued growth in the district. One change that was of particular interest to many teachers was proposed changes to the start time for the high school (going from 8:20 to 7:25). This led to passionate discussions on both side of the issue; some saw the early start as better for extracurricular activities while others had serious concerns over child care for an early start time.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Competency Analysis
I really feel as I’ve gained a great deal of knowledge in each of the 10 competencies over the past few months. No longer do I feel there is an area I could not do, and while I feel much more comfortable in some areas, I feel as if I would have a base line of knowledge in all areas to work from as a superintendent or central office administrator. One of those areas of strengths is being to advocate on behalf of the school district and the stakeholders within it. I feel that my ability to communicate with others is a strength of mine, and whether this is communicating with a large group (I was the commencement speaker at the AMCHS graduation this year and spoke to a crowd estimated at nearly 10,000) or with 2 parents in an office, I feel confident I can relay the message and position that needs to be addressed. I also now feel much more confident in the roles of the school board and how to work with them to accomplish the goals of the school district. Ultimately, we work for them and the other constituents in the district, so being able to work alongside them in an effective manner is vital to your success or lack thereof as a superintendent.
On the other side, while I feel better about my ability to implement district wide curriculum and technology initiatives, I know I still have a great deal to learn in this area. I’ve spent a good amount of time analyzing testing data over the past few months and am now much more familiar with the systems that are in place to look at data, discriminate it, and use it to improve student achievement at the campus level. Technology is a moving target, and while I feel good that I know a good amount the variety of uses for it, I know there is more out there for me to learn and understand.
On the other side, while I feel better about my ability to implement district wide curriculum and technology initiatives, I know I still have a great deal to learn in this area. I’ve spent a good amount of time analyzing testing data over the past few months and am now much more familiar with the systems that are in place to look at data, discriminate it, and use it to improve student achievement at the campus level. Technology is a moving target, and while I feel good that I know a good amount the variety of uses for it, I know there is more out there for me to learn and understand.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Ethics and Education
1)
Standard 1.2: A band district in a certain school district knowingly pocketed money from the ordering of band equipment and materials for the dance team. To do this, the director took the order requests from the other directors and then told them he would take care of the ordering. He told the directors a price that was too high and then kept the extra money. This was discovered and the director was removed from his position.
Standard 1.8: I actually believe the most school districts have become good about nepotism issues and put practices in place that prevent. One such school district did so after a very obvious conflict of issue occurred at one of the district’s high schools. The principal hired his daughter for a position that she was not qualified for. While her major in college did correspond, she had failed to pass the certification test and was hired on a probationary contract with an emergency certification. There were many other candidates qualified for the job that were passed over, and the daughter has since done a fairly poor job in this position. This district put into place rules where no parent or spouse can be the boss of another family member, and if the family member of a school board member applies for a job, that board member must resign and be replaced before that family member can accept a position in the district.
Standard 1.10: There is a very well know situation in a certain school district in Texas that is a perfect example of where individuals in district and campus leadership were not good role models. A counselor in the district was accused of having an affair with not one but multiple campus and district administrators. The end result of the investigation was the superintendent, who was not accused of being a part of this web, was forced to resign for lack of institutional control and those involved in the web were either fired or given different jobs in the district.
Standard 2.4: This is a very sensitive issue and there seems to actually be too much political correctness in this area. Following the 2008 Presidential Election, teachers who supported Barack Obama wore shirts with his image and were not told anything about it. However, during the 2010 Gubernatorial Election, teachers with Rick Perry stickers on their vehicles were criticized though not told to remove the stickers. This double standard was very obvious and very upsetting.
Standard 2.7: While this principal was not reported to SBEC, she did discriminate against those on her campus who had requested an in-district transfer to another school. With this being a public list, the principal could see who wanted to leave the campus but not why. Instead of finding out, she treated these teachers with disrespect and with so much disdain that complaints were brought against her by other employees. For some reason, this individual still has her job as a principal at the same campus.
2)
Standard 1.8: In this case, many in the school district have looked back at how this particular hiring took place and wished something had been done when it happened. The actions taken since then dealing with nepotism included a grandfather clause to where this hire was not affected. Many would now like to see this principal retire and some are attempting to convince him to do just that. The problem he is generally well liked, has been in the district for 40 years, and apparently wants to retire on this own terms.
Standard 1.10: This case shows that even if you are not involved in immoral activity, knowledge of the issue and failure to act on it in a timely manner can result in you meeting the same end, or worse, than those involved in the affair. The mind boggling thing about this case is the scope of the issue; this involved high level district and campus administrators and happened with the knowledge of many in the town, yet it took a long time for anything to be done about it.
Standard 2.7: This principal should be removed from her position or at least buried somewhere in central office. That last statement is sad but seems too often be the case (to include the example mentioned in Standard 1.10- one of the campus administrators who participated in the affair web was named director of transportation) and is a well known joke to any level of employees in the school district. Retaliation is a very severe and serious issue and the school district’s inability to act on this particular case goes directly against this standard.
3)
So much of the preventative actions for the above listed issues involve being educated in what you should do as a leader and remembering that you, as the superintendent, must be the ethical and moral guide for the district. After dealing with an issue where a principal has hired his own unqualified daughter for a position, you must have the strength to ask that principal if the hire was made in the best interest of students or was done for selfish means. From there, every principal in the district, and for that matter anybody in a position to make a hire, must be educated on these types of situations and the reasons for not doing that. You also must put appropriate nepotism rules into place in your school district, which to the credit of this district, they did (and to my knowledge, have the most stringent such roles of any district in the area).
With the issues faced in standard 1.10, you as a superintendent have to show serious strength and moral fortitude to address the employees involved in the scandal. Remember, as superintendent, you are hired as a representative of the people and are accountable to that elected school board. By not addressing the issue, you are just as guilty and must be held accountable as well. While the people involved in the scandal are probably your friends and the long term implications of addressing the issue are very bad, they pale in comparison to the news coming out anyways and the superintendent not acting in a timely manner to address the issue.
The violation in standard 2.7 is deplorable and, as I mentioned above, this person must be fired. With the transfer list being made visible to campus principals, you as superintendent must discuss with them how to handle seeing that list and appropriate ways to discuss the matter with those employees. Take the time to ask them why they are transferring, and if they don’t want to discuss it with you, have the professional courtesy to move on from the conversation and allow that person to seek another job. Don’t compound the issue by treating that person with malice; that leads to a poor climate on campus and probably more of your teachers wanting to transfer
Standard 1.2: A band district in a certain school district knowingly pocketed money from the ordering of band equipment and materials for the dance team. To do this, the director took the order requests from the other directors and then told them he would take care of the ordering. He told the directors a price that was too high and then kept the extra money. This was discovered and the director was removed from his position.
Standard 1.8: I actually believe the most school districts have become good about nepotism issues and put practices in place that prevent. One such school district did so after a very obvious conflict of issue occurred at one of the district’s high schools. The principal hired his daughter for a position that she was not qualified for. While her major in college did correspond, she had failed to pass the certification test and was hired on a probationary contract with an emergency certification. There were many other candidates qualified for the job that were passed over, and the daughter has since done a fairly poor job in this position. This district put into place rules where no parent or spouse can be the boss of another family member, and if the family member of a school board member applies for a job, that board member must resign and be replaced before that family member can accept a position in the district.
Standard 1.10: There is a very well know situation in a certain school district in Texas that is a perfect example of where individuals in district and campus leadership were not good role models. A counselor in the district was accused of having an affair with not one but multiple campus and district administrators. The end result of the investigation was the superintendent, who was not accused of being a part of this web, was forced to resign for lack of institutional control and those involved in the web were either fired or given different jobs in the district.
Standard 2.4: This is a very sensitive issue and there seems to actually be too much political correctness in this area. Following the 2008 Presidential Election, teachers who supported Barack Obama wore shirts with his image and were not told anything about it. However, during the 2010 Gubernatorial Election, teachers with Rick Perry stickers on their vehicles were criticized though not told to remove the stickers. This double standard was very obvious and very upsetting.
Standard 2.7: While this principal was not reported to SBEC, she did discriminate against those on her campus who had requested an in-district transfer to another school. With this being a public list, the principal could see who wanted to leave the campus but not why. Instead of finding out, she treated these teachers with disrespect and with so much disdain that complaints were brought against her by other employees. For some reason, this individual still has her job as a principal at the same campus.
2)
Standard 1.8: In this case, many in the school district have looked back at how this particular hiring took place and wished something had been done when it happened. The actions taken since then dealing with nepotism included a grandfather clause to where this hire was not affected. Many would now like to see this principal retire and some are attempting to convince him to do just that. The problem he is generally well liked, has been in the district for 40 years, and apparently wants to retire on this own terms.
Standard 1.10: This case shows that even if you are not involved in immoral activity, knowledge of the issue and failure to act on it in a timely manner can result in you meeting the same end, or worse, than those involved in the affair. The mind boggling thing about this case is the scope of the issue; this involved high level district and campus administrators and happened with the knowledge of many in the town, yet it took a long time for anything to be done about it.
Standard 2.7: This principal should be removed from her position or at least buried somewhere in central office. That last statement is sad but seems too often be the case (to include the example mentioned in Standard 1.10- one of the campus administrators who participated in the affair web was named director of transportation) and is a well known joke to any level of employees in the school district. Retaliation is a very severe and serious issue and the school district’s inability to act on this particular case goes directly against this standard.
3)
So much of the preventative actions for the above listed issues involve being educated in what you should do as a leader and remembering that you, as the superintendent, must be the ethical and moral guide for the district. After dealing with an issue where a principal has hired his own unqualified daughter for a position, you must have the strength to ask that principal if the hire was made in the best interest of students or was done for selfish means. From there, every principal in the district, and for that matter anybody in a position to make a hire, must be educated on these types of situations and the reasons for not doing that. You also must put appropriate nepotism rules into place in your school district, which to the credit of this district, they did (and to my knowledge, have the most stringent such roles of any district in the area).
With the issues faced in standard 1.10, you as a superintendent have to show serious strength and moral fortitude to address the employees involved in the scandal. Remember, as superintendent, you are hired as a representative of the people and are accountable to that elected school board. By not addressing the issue, you are just as guilty and must be held accountable as well. While the people involved in the scandal are probably your friends and the long term implications of addressing the issue are very bad, they pale in comparison to the news coming out anyways and the superintendent not acting in a timely manner to address the issue.
The violation in standard 2.7 is deplorable and, as I mentioned above, this person must be fired. With the transfer list being made visible to campus principals, you as superintendent must discuss with them how to handle seeing that list and appropriate ways to discuss the matter with those employees. Take the time to ask them why they are transferring, and if they don’t want to discuss it with you, have the professional courtesy to move on from the conversation and allow that person to seek another job. Don’t compound the issue by treating that person with malice; that leads to a poor climate on campus and probably more of your teachers wanting to transfer
School Finance Course Reflection
I very much looked forward to this course because school finance is an area that I am very much interested in but know very little about at the district level. In that regard, I have learned a good deal about what goes on at the district level. I feel like I have a good understanding of the district audit process after talking to our assistant superintendent and I feel somewhat better about the various types of funding that exist and how those monies can be spent. However, after five weeks of this class, my honest self assessment still consists of my many “I”’s, which is very disappointing to me.
I didn’t expect that when I finished this course, I could jump right into a job at the district level and be the person who ran the school budget. I did hope that I could move more I’s to c’s and I don’t feel like that has happened. I feel a little better about the school board role in the audit process (I actually feel pretty good about the general outline of it but not all of the details into how the select an audit firm and what if any guidance they really give them, but again, the general outline is clear to me) but am still not exactly clear in their role in the school budget process after that. I think I will learn much more about this in the coming weeks as one of the district committee’s I’m on will be a part of this process, but that learning will come after this course if completed. I’m also somewhat disappointed that the information I have learned is more general than I had hoped. We got a brief outline of important events in the finance history of the state but didn’t spend much time talking about the court cases themselves. I feel like Chapter 41 and 42 schools were discussed and the legislative role in them was mentioned, but we never discussed that magical line in the sand where one type of district ends and the other begins. I know it’s a moving target and more schools are pulling on provisions in the law that allows them to keep their money, but again, this was a general overview of the process.
I know a 5 week course cannot answer all of these questions, so maybe my bar was too high, but overall, I wanted more out of this class than I got. Again, I may be getting what I ask for in the next two courses (and trust me, the work in week three was very laborious and took three people in our group several hours to complete), but I did feel like there was more I could have learned. Now the lectures were outstanding, and I very much enjoyed listening to Dr. Stephens and Dr. Arterbury share their experiences as superintendents and how finances were a huge part of their jobs. I was told this by our assistant superintendent as well and that this was especially true if you worked in a smaller school district with small central office staff. You’ll be lucky to get to talk about differentiated instruction and classroom related items because you have to spend all of your time making sure the lights are turned on and paychecks don’t bounce; this was a very sobering statement but one that seems very appropriate. These comments were all great, and at the end of this course, it was those personal antidotes that will carry the most weight moving forward.
I didn’t expect that when I finished this course, I could jump right into a job at the district level and be the person who ran the school budget. I did hope that I could move more I’s to c’s and I don’t feel like that has happened. I feel a little better about the school board role in the audit process (I actually feel pretty good about the general outline of it but not all of the details into how the select an audit firm and what if any guidance they really give them, but again, the general outline is clear to me) but am still not exactly clear in their role in the school budget process after that. I think I will learn much more about this in the coming weeks as one of the district committee’s I’m on will be a part of this process, but that learning will come after this course if completed. I’m also somewhat disappointed that the information I have learned is more general than I had hoped. We got a brief outline of important events in the finance history of the state but didn’t spend much time talking about the court cases themselves. I feel like Chapter 41 and 42 schools were discussed and the legislative role in them was mentioned, but we never discussed that magical line in the sand where one type of district ends and the other begins. I know it’s a moving target and more schools are pulling on provisions in the law that allows them to keep their money, but again, this was a general overview of the process.
I know a 5 week course cannot answer all of these questions, so maybe my bar was too high, but overall, I wanted more out of this class than I got. Again, I may be getting what I ask for in the next two courses (and trust me, the work in week three was very laborious and took three people in our group several hours to complete), but I did feel like there was more I could have learned. Now the lectures were outstanding, and I very much enjoyed listening to Dr. Stephens and Dr. Arterbury share their experiences as superintendents and how finances were a huge part of their jobs. I was told this by our assistant superintendent as well and that this was especially true if you worked in a smaller school district with small central office staff. You’ll be lucky to get to talk about differentiated instruction and classroom related items because you have to spend all of your time making sure the lights are turned on and paychecks don’t bounce; this was a very sobering statement but one that seems very appropriate. These comments were all great, and at the end of this course, it was those personal antidotes that will carry the most weight moving forward.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Various Roles in the Budget Process
Central Office Administrators and Staff: The big picture. An ability to look at things from a larger scale and pinpoint where money is needed and where cuts can be made.
Principals: Same idea as above, but on a campus level.
Site Based Decision Making Committees: Given a good deal of information on classes and special programs, and with parents serving on this committee, is an already established group with multiple perspectives.
District Improvement Committee: Same as above but on a larger, district wide scale.
Teacher Organizations: No matter the economic times, this is a group that will make sure the needs of teachers is always considered and thought about when budgets are being developed.
Key Stakeholders: This is the entire community. With the current budget situation, they are being involved now more than ever.
Board of Trustees: Elected to voice the concerns and needs of the citizens, they can meet with community members and report back on a regular basis.
SUPERINTENDENT'S ROLE
The superintendent’s role is very much to the help drive the ship, especially in this very difficult economic time. He lays out the district needs, the goals that need to be accomplished, and the way in which you can get there. But in these times, having the buy in of all involved in the process is an absolute necessity. An example of this has been going on in College Station for the past 2 weeks. The superintendent has gone to each campus and spoken to the entire staff to discuss the reality of the situation we’re in. His reason for it- everyone has a right to know where we are in this process and they deserve to hear it from me. As administrators, we were given the charge to tell our staffs about the progress made on the budget throughout the year. Now, the superintendent has taken the lead in telling the information to the entire staffs of each school in the district and encouraging them to help disseminate the information to their friends and neighbors as well. He also mentioned that there will be a public forum held later this spring when the budget has been passed at the state level to tell everyone what the district is facing. As is the case with telling the staffs the news now, telling everyone in the community is an attempt to get all stakeholders involved in the budget process.
Principals: Same idea as above, but on a campus level.
Site Based Decision Making Committees: Given a good deal of information on classes and special programs, and with parents serving on this committee, is an already established group with multiple perspectives.
District Improvement Committee: Same as above but on a larger, district wide scale.
Teacher Organizations: No matter the economic times, this is a group that will make sure the needs of teachers is always considered and thought about when budgets are being developed.
Key Stakeholders: This is the entire community. With the current budget situation, they are being involved now more than ever.
Board of Trustees: Elected to voice the concerns and needs of the citizens, they can meet with community members and report back on a regular basis.
SUPERINTENDENT'S ROLE
The superintendent’s role is very much to the help drive the ship, especially in this very difficult economic time. He lays out the district needs, the goals that need to be accomplished, and the way in which you can get there. But in these times, having the buy in of all involved in the process is an absolute necessity. An example of this has been going on in College Station for the past 2 weeks. The superintendent has gone to each campus and spoken to the entire staff to discuss the reality of the situation we’re in. His reason for it- everyone has a right to know where we are in this process and they deserve to hear it from me. As administrators, we were given the charge to tell our staffs about the progress made on the budget throughout the year. Now, the superintendent has taken the lead in telling the information to the entire staffs of each school in the district and encouraging them to help disseminate the information to their friends and neighbors as well. He also mentioned that there will be a public forum held later this spring when the budget has been passed at the state level to tell everyone what the district is facing. As is the case with telling the staffs the news now, telling everyone in the community is an attempt to get all stakeholders involved in the budget process.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Budget Adoption Process
What jumps out to me, first and foremost, is how truly complicated the budget process is. As campus administrators, we often discuss the various pots of money that exist and the projects that can and cannot be funded by those sources. That’s a key ingredient to developing a budget at the school level, but it is an absolutely vital part to creating one at the district level. Beyond that, a school district must be able to create a balanced budget, be able to forecast projected costs for future budgets, and if a major project is on-going, budgeting for a each year of that is a requirement. To that end, the creation of a well organized and thought out budget calendar is essential. The state sets two required dates (when the budget must be done, August 20, and when the school board must approve it, August 31), but aside from those dates, the calendar must leave ample time for research, workshops, public hearings, revisions, review, and final adoption. It’s a detailed calendar for a detailed process that must be constructed thoughtfully and precisely to assure that budget will be done by the state mandated dates.
However, of all of the major components of the budget mentioned in the document, the one thing that stuck out to me more than anything else was the budget as an accountability tool for the public and taxpayers to use for the school district. Districts must be good stewards of the people’s money, and creating a well thought out, goal driven budget is the main component of that. It is a visible tool, readily accessible for stakeholders to access and see where there money is going and how much of it is being spent there. Keeping that in mind as the budget is being created will certainly help keep members of the budget team honest and focused throughout the process.
However, of all of the major components of the budget mentioned in the document, the one thing that stuck out to me more than anything else was the budget as an accountability tool for the public and taxpayers to use for the school district. Districts must be good stewards of the people’s money, and creating a well thought out, goal driven budget is the main component of that. It is a visible tool, readily accessible for stakeholders to access and see where there money is going and how much of it is being spent there. Keeping that in mind as the budget is being created will certainly help keep members of the budget team honest and focused throughout the process.
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