On March 27, Parent Councils United held a community meeting at Tucker High School. It was a very good meeting. The next day I followed up with an email to the three current BOE members who attended. All three replied to me either by email or by phone.
An edited version of my reply to Mr. Mayfield's email is what I am posting below. I am posting it because my concerns are still relevant. I edited it for length.
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Gentlemen,
We are all of like mind, but different points of view. I refer to Goal #5 of the 90 Day Plan: GOAL #5: Rebuild trust with internal and external stakeholders
Deliverables/Outcomes:
• Unified Board/Superintendent governance team focused on improving student achievement and career readiness
• Balanced budget that better aligns resources to support academic achievement and career readiness
• Decentralized decision-making authority
• Increased investments in parent, adult guardian and mentor involvement
• Initiation of a comprehensive strategic planning process and framework
• More fiscal and organizational accountability
• More effective communication with internal and external stakeholders
• Improved internal and external customer service
• Improved employee morale
• Improved fleet services
From a parent's perspective, we are still waiting on most of the deliverables.
There is a balanced budget, but resources appear to continue to be focused away from the classrooms.
Mr. Lewis and I have both asked about the difference between the money allotted to the Druid Hills cluster in the DCSD budget and their "school-based" budget. Neither of us has received an answer.
Parents, teachers, and principals still report a top-down sty le of management with very limited changes from previous years. More authority may have been given to the regional superintendents, but the schools haven't seen a difference.
While I applaud the strategic planning work that has been done, my opinion of it has not changed since November in that it more of a framework of how the district should be run and not actually planning for the future needs of the district.
We have yet to see more fiscal or organizational accountability. The lack of metrics for any of the initiatives put forth by the administration is laughable to outside observers. The arguments that come when any of you ask for fiscal accountability are almost as embarrassing as Mr. Thurmond's belief that Return On Investment removes the need for accountability. To prove this point I would like to ask, what does MLA's contract state be done to earn their $50,000 per month retainer? How is their effectiveness being measured? I watched you gentlemen ask those questions and the emotional responses that followed.
Parents have yet to see more effective communication other than a steady stream of tweets and Instagram pictures. The district web site is very difficult to use and not updated consistently. An example of inconsistent communication on the web site is the Balanced Scorecard. The most recent update was for Q4 of last year. Emails and phone calls continue to be ignored by staff at all levels above the classroom. None of the questions or concerns I have brought up to the BOE in Public Input Meetings have ever been answered or addressed.
Improved internal and external customer service is still a dream many of us have, but it is not the reality. Until there are metrics applied, how will the district know that they have achieved better customer service?
Employee morale is especially low among special education teachers who feel as though they have too many students, too much paperwork, and are not given the support they need.
Fleet services is one area where dramatic improvements have been made. I think it is easy to see that those improvements came with significant investments. Unfortunately, investments of those kinds are needed in many areas of the school district.
Mr. Mayfield writes, "I believe we are beginning the process of assessing and improving in each of the areas you've outlined, which have entrenched legacies within the district. Balancing the pace of improvements within the context of those legacies, limited resources, and collective tolerance for organizational change is our challenge." I know he is correct.
My wish is for metrics of change to be shared publicly so stakeholders can track the progress that is being made. Until there is some publicly demonstrable change, perception will be stronger than reality.
I will repeat my other wish which I wrote to you in January; "now that the district does not have the threat of losing accreditation, the BOE needs to step up their requests for accountability from the administration." I would love for the minutes of each BOE meeting to reflect questions which were not answered, and the answers to those questions added to the minutes at the next meeting. How many times have we heard, "I'll get back to you with that?" As an outside observer, I have never heard any of those answers.
Speaking of answers, I submitted these questions to the people listed.
Dr. Howe,
There seems to be no substitute special education paraprofessionals and very few substitute special ed teachers. When staff is absent, classes sometimes do not have the required teachers. What is the plan to staff self-contained classrooms when the teacher, or a para, is absent?
Mr. Hudson,
One of the deliverables in Superintendent Thurmond's 90 Day Plan from last April was "Hold regular media briefings to share district information." Is that still something that is being developed?
Mr. Wilkins,
Can you explain why the replacement for Clifton and Meadowview elementary schools will be built with 900 seats when the projected enrollment is approximately 700 students?
I continue to wait for responses, but have sent several previous emails to these administrators which have been ignored, so I am not hopeful. Perhaps one of you can find the answers to these and share it with me.
*This blog represents only my opinions and does not speak for any other person or group.
