To get rid of any �dead wood� (or, as we call it in the military, �retired on active duty�) we must set goals and then hold people accountable. We must set clear expectations for every employee in the school. To keep the best, same deal, but we also must challenge them and provide them with a clear opportunity to do what they do best and to make a difference.
5. The recent decision of the superintendent to divide the operations section from the finance section seems at odds with logical and standard good business practice. What is your opinion on this matter, and if you feel that it is problematic, what steps would you encourage the board to do to correct the situation.
This is a span of control issue and, perhaps, a control issue. I think it�s foolish, but, again, at this point I�m not willing to tell someone else �how� to go about doing their job. I would advise against this break. One very specific thing I would ask the Board to do is to adopt the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence as the leadership & management framework. I know some people are hung up on the award. To hell with the award. The Performance Excellence Criteria lays out what we need to do (not the �how,� but the �what�). Once the superintendent starts to think with systems thinking, once he starts to see how the parts impact the whole with regard to performance excellence, I think he�d adjust his current thinking.
Again, the Board should set the vision and the goal: Use the Criteria. The Board should ensure it gets done and integrated into the way the school system conducts business.
6. Portsmouth Public Schools has all to few shining lights at which to point with pride. Certainly one of the few, however, is the Churchland High School Magnet Art program. One of the reasons that this program, and the AP Art program, have been so highly successful, is that they have functioned as a 5th block program, meeting after the regular 4 bell school day. This has allowed the highly motivated, academically oriented students to avail themselves of all of the regular AP and Honor classes, and still pursue the arts. A recent decision has been made to move the program into the 4th bell, which I personally believe is the beginning of the end for the program. In that no one in a position to do anything about it within our administration seems willing to do so, do you see this as a matter which the board should become involved? Why, and in what manner.
Okay, again, you�ve hit me with something I know little about. Guess I have a steep learning curve on the some of the specifics. I can say this, however. If we want to be excellent, if we want to be the employer of choice for high performing teachers, if we want to be the school of choice for students who can afford choice, we must be doing stuff that challenges everyone. The program you describe, along with other possible programs, would do just that.
Recently I read in a popular magazine (it might have been Readers� Digest, don�t fault me for that) about school systems � inner city school systems � that are revitalizing themselves with the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. I�d like to consider starting an IB program here in Portsmouth (and, off the cuff, I�d put it at Norcom, but that�s a different issue).
I'd also look at hooking up with the Coalition of Essential Schools. There's plenty of good stuff out there: we need to get onboard.
Bottom line: we must be creative, we must use the resources available, we must allow decisions to be made at the lowest level possible.
7. As a remnant of a discarded decentralization plan, individual principals are given a tremendous amount of discretion in the utilization of the money that is given to each school to implement their programs. A significant number of our elementary principals have chosen over the past few years to a lot $50 per year (not per student) as the entire Art supplies budget for the entire school. Your personal response, and any action that you might be inclined to take to change this situation.
Read Howard Gardner�s Multiple Intelligences. (Note, I think Broad Street Books carries this book; get in touch with Susan at the store or head on over.) If we are spending on 50 bucks for art supplies for an entire school, we�re missing the boat here. I�d want to educate the principals on the ramifications of their choices. I�d want them to justify what they do.
I do believe that no teacher ought to have to pay for supplies out of their own pocket. Perhaps this is far fetched. But, I�m willing to bet either in those schools, no art gets done, or the teacher is paying for supplies. Either way, unsat.
This is a system issue, however, that must be addressed with a systems perspective.
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