This is a message to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Charlie Kyte, Executive Director.
On the Road with Charlie- August 11,2011 from MASA on Vimeo.
TEACHERS WANT COLLABORATION:
Last week I had the opportunity, along with three front line school administrators to be a presenter at the Education Minnesota Summer Leadership Conference held at St. Benedict College. We did two presentations, each to about 60 teacher leaders. They were local presidents and building representatives. The presentations went well as we shared ways to better work with administrators.
We answered many questions from the audiences, but there were two primary themes to the questions and comments. One was a sincere desire on the part of teachers to be positive collaborators in decisions about their schools.
The second was a concern we heard several times about how they as teacher leaders can help to prevent favoritism in assignments, duties, etc. I did say that I always favored those that were hard workers, good with students and cooperative in the running of the schools. That is just human nature. That said however, the concern is legitimate and is one we should attend to.
A suggestion that I made, and I repeat to all of our members, is that getting together for breakfast with teacher and administrator leaders could go a long way toward setting up an atmosphere of cooperation. Thus, I recommend that you call your teacher and other unit representatives and invite them to come together. Do it on neutral turf (local diner?).
Finally, I would share a little saying that union leaders use….. “The best union organizing tool is a poor boss!” So be a good boss, and be sure your front line administrators are as well. Think of the organization chart as being upside down. The Superintendent should be on the bottom always asking the building administrators how he/she can help them be successful. The Principals should be asking the same of teachers. The goal is for everyone to be as concentrated as possible on serving the learning needs of the students.
THE FEDERAL 'JOBS' BILL... IS MORE MONEY COMING YOUR WAY?:
It looks like Minnesota will receive another $167 million in federal money to help schools retain teachers. But as any federal program, this one is also going to be pretty complicated. I will share more information, as I come to know it more clearly, in the next week or so.
The first question is if the money will reach the schools intact, or will it be offset with a corresponding reduction in state level aids. A second question is about when schools will actually receive the money, if it comes to you. Don’t expect it before about November 1. It does seem likely that the money will be dispersed on the regular ‘per pupil’ formula, not the Title I formula.
Then you’ll have to decide how to put the money into play. It is ‘one time money’ and is supposed to be used to rehire or hire new teachers. So you will have to decide how you will use new staff for part of a year and how much disruption you want to cause as more teachers are added to the mix. The amount of money is significant, if it gets to you, amounting to about $200/pu. That means about $9 million for Anoka-Hennepin and about $200,000 for a 1000 student district.
If you had to ‘lay off’ teachers this year, you will have to use a recall process and some ‘bumping’ could occur. I’m sure you will have plenty of help with suggestions about where to add staff and how to do so.
Stay tuned on this one!
HINTS AND NOTES:
** Districts must inform both the Commissioner of Education and their County Auditor’s Office by August 20th of any referendums that you plan to vote on in the November elections. This is about one month earlier than in the past.
** The power point of the presentation by the Apple Executive at the MDE Summer Workshop will be posted on the MASA website in the near future.
** SchoolFinances.com has a really good assessment analysis tool that they are making available free of charge to all school districts. With it you can very simply compare your students MCA scores to the state, to other school districts and between your buildings. MASA will send out a flyer on this with a mailing to members about the 1st of September. If you want to use it sooner, e-mail Ann Thomas at [email protected].
** I shared the stage for part of the day last Friday with Walter Bond at the Gathering of Champions event that was held at the Mall of America. I think about 2000 students were recognized for their academic achievement. It was a nice program and Walter Bond, former Gopher and NBA player did a great job as MC. Walter has a company that does ‘Hero Training’ for teachers that seems really interesting and appropriate. If interested you can call them at 888-521-4376.
WHAT BOARDS SHOULD EXPECT FROM SUPERINTENDENTS:
I often help with the Phase 1 training of new school board members and did so again last week. I provide information on how boards and superintendents can work well together and the behaviors to avoid.
I also provide the board members with a list of what they should expect from a superintendent. Here is the abbreviated list:
1) The ability to help a board plan strategically.
2) Solid management of resources and personnel.
3) Good methods of communication with the Board and with board members.
4) Attention to Board development and skill building.
5) Timely introduction of major issues.
6) The ability to provide Boards with major policy work and a minimization of routine tasks.
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