What I See In Reflection

            In a week and a half we will be engaged in our superintendence test and most of us will miss some problems.  If we were given the chance to go back and look at those problems, I would normally come to the conclusion of why did I pick that one?  It is the same feeling that students in our classes have when they miss an “easy problem.”  Being reflective is the closest this we can get to the old saying of “Hind Sight 20/20.”  Having the ability to look back on decisions and foresee out comes from those decisions will affect your decisions in the future for the positive.  Being reflective also allows for you to revisit that prior knowledge for the future and thus creating greater storage of memory.  Leadership is very cognitive.

            I would complete a course assignment and then complete my blog over the assignment and then reflect and then I would change some of the assignment.  Many times your reflections come out a lot better than the assignment is and sometimes your reflection does not represent how well you completed an assignment.  I also found that doing some of the assignments felt like busy work until I started to reflect on the data and then the learning began.

            Blogging is a reflective activity in itself.  You are posting to the world what your thoughts are and sometimes pictures and the list goes on and on.  If you are not a reflective blogger then you will post something that you are not proud of and your digital legacy will be tarnished.  Blogging is a good practice for leaders who are quick to act and sometimes do not think about the decisions they make and how they affect others.  Abraham Lincoln always wrote 2 letters, one you meant and one you sent.  If you are reflective about your actions and the cause and effect of your actions, it will help you not make a quick decision.

            I went through three superintendents during this year and each one had a different leadership style.  My supervision was very hands on and was very hands off.  I did make reflection a large part of my campus logs.  I did my reflection from the seat of the superintendent and it was very interesting sitting in three different superintendents seats and analyzing the decisions being made.

            I did a better job at answering questions on the assessments by copying them onto word and reading them from my desk and then going onto the computer and clicking the correct answers.  This allowed me to highlight and make marks and really take over the page which you cannot do on the computer.  I often looked back at questions I missed and some that I did not.

Week 1 Self Reflection

            Self reflections are not as bad as you imagined and usually are not as good as you imagine, either.  I answered the self reflection with a great deal of confidence but was very reserve through one part that I found to be a somewhat strength before the class began. 

            School finance is the area where I feel the most incompetence and with that said, probably do most superintendents in the state right now with school finance being in the forefront.  Understanding that many schools have a finance manager that does most of the knowledge base work for their particular school, you must understand their business almost as much as they do.  Suppose your business manager goes on leave and you must train their replacement.

Final Reflections on Lessons Learned

            School finance is a buzz word in the state and nation at this time.  It is a disliked work by some and a feared word by others.  As I said in my self assessment, it requires on the job training.  You can type data into templates, read articles and work on the WADA, but until you do a projected budget, be the final line of yes or no, and then put the plan into place for the upcoming year, I just do not feel like I will ever feel competent.  Guess what, and then it happens again the following year.  This class has helped me broaden my knowledge but I do know that there is a long way to go.

Code of Ethics for School Leaders

Standard 1.2 – Using the school tractor to mow your personal acreage.

            This happens very often when school equipment is used for someone’s personal gain.  This is very prevalent in the Career and Technology areas because of availability of different equipment and funds.  My example is the Ag teacher that allows for people in the community to use the welder on the weekends at their homes.  Over time the welder has many hours placed on it not by the community’s children, but by adults.  Then the welder breaks and its cost money to get it fixed or worse yet, you have to buy another welder.  The short term consequences are money out of the budget and the school’s reputation.  Ruling out termination of the accused teacher, the teacher must learn that they are setting themselves up to fail.  Equipment will break and it will break faster when there are multiple users.  When you allow some then many will come and you must be fair.  It is best to not allow and to get a hold of the situation very quickly.

Standard 1.6 – Changing the final count of the gate money from last night’s basketball game to match the number of tickets sold.

            Many times, someone is put in charge of counting the ticket sales from the money box from sporting events.  The best way of accounting for the amount of money made is to account for the amount of tickets sold and attach a value to each ticket.  There are occasions where someone does not add or subtract correctly and the money can be a few dollars off or the wind blows through the doorway and tickets are lost, causing the money and tickets to not add up correctly.  The administrator must sign off on the money collected and account for the missing money or missing tickets.  It is very easy to avoid questions asked to make the tickets and money collected match by throwing away some tickets or taking out some of the money.  You could lose your job and cost the position of the person counting the money.  The trust that you have built will be lost.  The best thing to do is put counters in place at the business office.  Make sure that two people are with the money at all times and they double check the counting procedures.

Standard 1.5 – An assistant principal that does not impose the same discipline to a student because they are their baby sitter.

            You as a superintendent have many complaints that one of your assistant principals is allowing his baby sitters to not attend detentions that they are assign and taking them off the list.  This is causing problems in the student body and the parents are calling you about this and want it stopped.  You must call in that principal and make sure that their credibility will forever be altered and that their ability to serve discipline to students will be ruined.  In the short term, this will affect the climate of the students.

Standard 2.5 – Not including teachers in the Christmas Party based on their religious beliefs.

Standard 2.7 – Threatening someone who is brought into an investigation that concerns you and your students.

Interview with the Business Manager on Financial Audits

            My interview with Lyndal Cabaniss, Director of Finance at Salado ISD, lasted this entire class.  We have had great dialog thru this course and I have increased my knowledge greatly.  More importantly, I have learned that once you find a great financial director, you hold on to them.

            The external auditor is selected by requesting qualifications, experience, cost and accessibility.  It is up to the district who they select, but these four qualifications are the most important.  The audit is conducted based on the Financial Accounting System Resource Guide, which is a checklist for auditors.  Just as large businesses have many transactions, so does a school district.  Remember, your school district is probably the largest employer in your area and there are many opportunities for theft and fraud to occur.  All transactions could not be checked but the auditor operates on a sampling and confirmation system.  This system asks for a certain amount or area of data and checks for errors and security.  The audit will conclude with the general checks and balances of the system, accountability, possible fraud and budgets and how they are followed.  The audit is presented to the chief financial officer and the superintendent before it is presented to the board of trustees in a meeting.  After those two points have been communicated to, the audit is available to the public through the TEA.

Understanding Personnel Salaries in District Budgets

            Salaries often control the climate of a learning culture, but they are not the driving factor behind learning.  There are good teachers in our profession that work hard and would work for less is if meant their students performed at a higher rate.  There are teachers who work just enough not to get fired and think that they are underpaid.  You will find this paradigm in all professions.

            Salaries are a delicate topic in a district because it is right to increase salaries alongside the cost of living and growth.  The delicate part about increasing salaries is that is a decision that cannot be undone.  Once you increase salaries 2.5%, then that increase must be accounted for the upcoming year when your revenue could all decrease.  This increase should be known and communicated to all employees along with the knowledge that there may be no increase in salaries.

Analysis of Differentiated Staffing on a Campus of Your Choice

          There are many reasons why differentiated staffing impacts and/or improves the goals of the campus. The obvious answer would be that each individual brings new perspectives, experiences and skills to the classroom. Given the multi-lingual nature of many schools, the presence of bilingual staff may improve student outcomes. Furthermore, a diverse staff creates a positive and dynamic environment that models valuing diversity. Students who may be language learners may feel more comfortable and are more likely to approach a teacher for help and support and may feel more motivated to succeed. In almost every profession that strongly impacts society; the concept of a “generalist” is considered archaic. Frederick Hess (2009) describes in his article “The Human Capital Challenge: Toward a 21st Century Teaching Profession,” “Even in the most innovative and dynamic charter schools, teaching bundles together the roles of content deliverer, curriculum designer, diagnostician, disciplinarian, discussion leader, empathizer, clerk, secretary, and attendant - and asks teachers to fulfill these roles for a variety of students in a variety of content areas.” (p. 13) Because of this, teachers are worked harder than is needed and less time is devoted to honing their actual teaching skills. A system of differentiated staffing will ensure that each teacher can specialize in one aspect of a child’s education and together with their colleagues make sure that each area of holistic learning is provided for so that all students achieve mastery levels in their educational experience.
Orangefield ISD is a rural, small 3A district located about 20 miles from Beaumont, Texas. In Orangefield ISD, a Curriculum Director serves as a curriculum and research specialist. His job is to keep abreast of all research into new methods and content and transfer it to the local campuses. He also meets with Team Leaders to discuss his findings and implications for beginning new programs in their content areas. He trains and provides support to new teachers during their probationary period of teaching. Teachers are given the opportunity to serve as Team Leaders on all campuses. At the elementary level (PK-4), there is one team leader per grade level. At the junior high (5-8) and high school (9-12) level, there is one team leader per subject area. Team Leaders meet with teachers on their team and with campus and district administrators. They relay information between the two groups, analyze data related to the students assigned to them and their team members, and schedule events for their team. Classroom teachers comprise most of the faculty. Paraprofessionals support teachers in RtI labs and mainly are assigned to life skills classrooms.
          This hierarchy could be modified to even further follow the differentiated staffing model. Team Leaders could take on more of a supervisory role on their campuses and possibly spend a large percentage (75%) of their day in the classroom teaching and the other time (25%) in leadership roles and helping mentor probationary teachers in their field of experience. Paraprofessionals could serve as support persons in all areas and provide teachers with more time to hone their skills rather than monitoring recess time and copying worksheets.
An area of concern in Orangefield ISD is the lack of a culturally diverse staff. The student population of this district is growing and changing and the staff should reflect those changes. Currently, OISD employs 0 African American teachers, 1 Hispanic teacher, 118.1 White teachers, 0 Native American teachers and 0 Asian/Pacific Island teachers. The student population is made up of 14 African American students, 125 Hispanic students, 1,573 White students, 15 Native American students, and 27 Asian/Pacific Island students. As stated above, diversity and the presence of bilingual staff should improve student outcomes, especially with the students who are language learners. This also will support the district goal that states, "Orangefield ISD will implement strategies to promote positive climate and a nurturing culture for all members of the learning community."
          Making these changes to the current staffing patterns would increase the budget for staff salaries. Removing the Team Leaders from the classroom for a portion of the day would involve hiring someone to teach the students for the 25% of time that team leaders are out of the classroom. Also, this would involve hiring more paraprofessionals, which would increase the budget. Student achievement should increase based on the increased amount of time teachers would have to actually teach their subject area and research innovative ways to deliver content. Implementing a differentiated staffing program at OISD could be a positive change agent in the district with the positive aspects outweighing the negative concerns.