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Duval School Board should stop micromanaging schools
Ohanian Comment: The Duval County school board has a terrible reputation for micromanaging. And guess where they were trained?
The board continues to rely on Broad Foundation training. California-based Broad assisted in catapulting neoconservative Houston (Texas) Independent School District board member-turned board-appointed superintendent, Roderick Paige, into the U.S. Secretary of Education's office.
Other districts participating in this school board training include Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C.; Christina, Del.; Fresno, Calif.; Gwinnett County, Ga.; and, San Antonio.
by William L. Bainbridge
In 2005, when the superintendency of the Duval County schools was advertised, one common question was received from a highly successful superintendent. He asked me: "Is the School Board as bad as its reputation?"
Unfortunately, there has been little substantive improvement. Examples that have been previously listed in this column and news stories include:
- Families with resources are enrolling children in the few highly ranked Duval magnet schools, private schools or suburban schools.
- Dropout rates continue to climb, while FCAT scores plummet.
- The $345,000 "face-lift" of offices for board members who should not even have offices.
- School facilities remain in poor condition.
The board still has not evaluated the superintendent who has been on board for 18 months.
At the June 5 board meeting, Superintendent Joseph Wise, hired 18 months ago, hammered the board to quit micromanaging and let him do his job.
He said, "Examining how we now spend our time, one thing is clear: much of what we do - however well-intentioned - is not always focused. Nor is it always relevant to student achievement."
Wise mentioned my request for data to identify the number of school district employee hours expended by staff to fill board member informational requests.
Wise continued, "Those data establish that - between October 2006 and May 28, 2007 alone - a 30-week period - 1,500 staff-hours were expended researching and responding to board member informational requests.
"I frankly wish that the data compiled by the Times-Union request demonstrated that the 1,500 hours fulfilling these individual board member requests somehow directly supported the work of our teachers and principals," he said. "Unfortunately, the bulk of it does not. It indicates that substantial hours of labor were - and continue to be - expended on matters unrelated to elimination of achievement gaps and supporting schools."
In 2006, the board held 64 administrative time-consuming meetings. During the same time period, the highly respected trustees at the University of Florida met only five times.
The board continues to rely on Broad Foundation training. California-based Broad assisted in catapulting neoconservative Houston (Texas) Independent School District board member-turned board-appointed superintendent, Roderick Paige, into the U.S. Secretary of Education's office.
Broad recognized Houston as "the nation's best urban school district." Later it was widely reported Houston had fraudulently reported data and, in reality, had one of the nation's highest dropout rates. Paige's administration in D.C. is best described as both inept and corrupt.
Two of my mentors, Dr. Richard A. Boyd and Dr. M. Donald Thomas recently reviewed the Duval board data. Boyd is best known nationally as former chairman of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Board. Thomas was chief education adviser to three governors. Both were highly successful superintendents of urban school systems and served on many boards.
Boyd told me, "Over the years, I have seen a number of places where school board members appear to have believed they were elected for the purpose of managing the schools. In most of the cases where this circumstance has occurred, the school district was badly managed and student performance was low. School board members are destructive when they overreach into management."
Thomas said, "One of the current trends in micromanaging is the increasing number of times that board members go to employees to perform tasks. This is disruptive to the work schedule of the employee and a violation of ethical behavior by the board member. Superintendents have the obligation to stop such practices. It takes courage, but it is the right thing to do."
The responsibility of the School Board is to hire a leader, approve a strategic plan, conduct oversight of legal/ethical compliance and adopt policies determining school system direction.
If the leader fails, it's the board's job to find a better CEO, rather than micromanage administration.
When board members cross the line into management, the ultimate high price is paid by students, parents, taxpayers and staff, as is being experienced in Duval.
___________________________
William L. Bainbridge is Distinguished Research Professor for the University of Dayton and President & Chief Executive Officer of SchoolMatch, a national educational auditing, research, and data organization. bainbridge@schoolmatch.com
— William L. Bainbridge
Florida Times-Union
2007-06-14
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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