Good Morning,
Another late night/early morning for me.
So Eric In DC my friend, I think that we discussed this exact approach and issues during our golf outing today -- WE have a start -- I am interested in this line of thought.
1. I wonder if Kaya is also employing this same thought process about how money is spent in her office? It would be wise to analyze her money management skills if the charge is that Principals need to turn over their "autonomy" on their school budget to her. To be more clear, if we are following the thought process of individual Principals "not making wise decisions" about their spending, we have to track who we are to turn the "decisions" over to.
2. Which brings the consistency of thought into play -- what's good for the goose is good for the gander -- "Autonomy is earned, and if you're not making wise decisions about how to spend your money, I am going to step in,". I agree. Have we done an analysis of how money is being spent (per child, per school, per staff in DCPS administration office, etc.)? The fact that we are spending the most money per child / or the fact that we have the highest budget for a school system in the country says that somewhere in the budget (which includes the administration), the Chancellor budget management can be tweaked. Once this is identified, we should be able to utilize this same "Autonomy is earned" qoute and make some adjustments. This is the reason I love when people "point fingers" -- usually, there are four pointing right back at them if they are not thinking through the issue clearly.
3. Therefore, Moving into this school budget season, we will be incredibly prescriptive with our Chancellor. I believe this substitution of the word Chancellor for Kaya's word "Principal" should also be held true!
4. After we do this analysis, I have an answer. Since we have an entry point through Metal detectors, I suggest we utilize the Security Guards are utilized to take attendance. Then we have a must follow up role by office staff and police who might be able to visit that address. This is the start of documentation.
Without "arrests" being made, we need to have some legislation passed that certain clear cut processes be followed and parents are required to show up with child - and the involvement from DCPS administrative staff down to the child as well as social workers and the police -- if it is not the procedure already. It ain't that hard and our city has to exercise parental abuse and maybe grab these children with the end goal of making them productive adults without the focus on incarceration.
We as a community can expand on these thoughts - we have lots of intelligent brains out here - or we are just creating a larger bill to be paid for Prison. Just know that we can always try the train of thought of utilizing folks who are already being paid to accomplish minimizing incurring more costs -- heck - maybe Kaya has some folks in her administration who will be losing their jobs because of a shrinking school system/responsibility due to school closure -- rest and be assured, an analysis of her budget will identify that as an issue --- not sure if folks are paying attention -- less schools, more kids in Charter schools, less overhead. That's part of managing a budget!!
5. We have to have more of a reason to take over the Principal's budget control than to answer Catania's question on Truancy. What does this "control" really mean if it was in the hands of the Chancellor. -- Not saying it shouldn't be.
6. Once again - If we are going to have answers about "budget" We need to over the next year have the ability to ask questions about more than budget. We really need to have a more in depth analysis of how we are spending the most and proforming the worst. I like this knowing the answer on x, y, and z. Everyone needs to be under scrutiny!!
7. "Melissa Salmanowitz, a spokeswoman for Henderson, said DCPS "will work with principals to ensure that their staffing is built to help them reach their goals and that their staff are used strategically."" --- I am always interested in statements like this when folks are taking control away from others when that should have already been occurring -- or at least that is what I believe that DCPS administrative staff core responsibility is -- Maybe I am wrong.
I am really looking forward to seeing all the school closures, the reasons why and understanding the thought process and the driving force behind it all -- if any. This is going to be a great week as at the core of all the controversy, we are going to find out the REAL DEAL!!
See -- I don't have any issue with Kaya -- I know that she is intelligent and care for the kids -- I just want to see if we can leverage some of the brains and experience on the other side of this Chess Board to lend different perspective to help make all this work. Hell even in Chess, it is legal if an opponent walks around the table to see things from the other side!! Like the Kids Cartoon says -- Try it, you might like it!!
Rob Ramson
On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 5:18 PM, KPW <WKPW3@aol.com> wrote:
DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson wants to take control of some school budgets away from principals who she says "are not making wise decisions" about their spending.
Henderson wants to take staffing decisions out of the hands of some principals, who currently have almost total discretion over how to use the money they receive from the city each June.
"Autonomy is earned, and if you're not making wise decisions about how to spend your money, I am going to step in," Henderson said. "Moving into this school budget season, we will be incredibly prescriptive with our principals."
Henderson announced her intention to take more direct control of the schools' budgets in response to concerns raised by D.C. Councilman David Catania, D-at large, over why schools that have high truancy rates aren't hiring full-time staff to deal with the problem.
At C.W. Harris Elementary, in the Southeast neighborhood of Marshall Heights, 20 percent of student missed more than 20 days of school last year without an excuse, but the school still didn't hire someone to track student attendance, as many other District schools do. Kenilworth Elementary didn't have an attendance counselor on its books, either, although 13 percent of the Northeast school's children missed a month or more of school.
"For next year's budget, you should be able to ask me any question about why schools are spending X and not Y, and I will have an answer for you," Henderson said.
The District's public schools spend more per student -- $18,667 -- than any state in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but smaller schools receive less money than larger ones, leaving their principals wondering how they could fund extra positions DCPS required without additional dollars.
"That's going to be kind of tricky ... for a smaller school, where your budget only allows for you to have A, B and C," said Atasha James, the principal of M.C. Terrell/McGogney Elementary School, who was concerned that Henderson's initiatives could take money from the Congress Heights school's own priorities.
Melissa Salmanowitz, a spokeswoman for Henderson, said DCPS "will work with principals to ensure that their staffing is built to help them reach their goals and that their staff are used strategically."
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R. Ramson
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