The
superintendent was very helpful in providing me a list of what he referred to
as his monthly checklists. The monthly
tasks can change, with either additions or subtractions for a myriad of
reasons. So he stressed flexibility on
tasks that are not bound by time lines and the need to stay focused on tasks
related to student achievement and school improvement. The main theme that came
across in our conversation was the significant time he spends weekly and
monthly meeting with various people and groups. Not listed in the monthly lists
are his weekly meetings with his administrative team and finance director,
monthly PAC meetings and trainings at our local CESA agency and regular
buildings visits within the District to ensure he has a good pulse on the activities
taking place.
July:
·
Budget - state 2-year, district and audits
·
Data review – STAR/WKCE/AP/ACT
·
Plan in-service
·
WASDA Legal Conference
·
Personnel and Staff Handbook Review
·
Safety Plan Review
August:
·
Welcome back - Newsletter
·
In-service - set the tone of year
·
New teachers - Matching mentors and training
·
Tour the district
·
School and district report cards
·
Purchasing for the upcoming year
·
Learning Teacher Effectiveness
September:
·
First day of school
·
Check in with new teachers
·
3rd Friday count
·
Registration and enrollment - late registrations
·
Athletics - kick off seasons and be visible
·
State WASDA Convention
·
Budget review
·
PR - Make visits to schools and community
October:
·
Final budget for approval
·
Tax levy preparations
·
Administrative evaluations - formal, written but
evaluations happen throughout the year
·
BOE meeting moved to new site with facilities
tour
November:
·
Tax levy certification
·
Board election processes begin
·
Working on open enrollment
·
Next year budget review
December:
·
Visibility Concerts, winter sports
·
Board election process continues
·
Next year budget review
January:
·
WASB Convention
·
Board development
·
Staffing decisions
·
Non-renewal process for administrators
·
6-month budget review
February:
·
Non-renewal process continuing for teachers
·
Budget meetings to plan for upcoming year
March:
·
Enrollment processes
·
Staffing for next year
·
School board elections
·
Contracting for CESA services
·
Food service, salary and fringe benefits
planning
April:
·
Insurance and other budgetary projections
·
Enrollment projections
·
Orientation process for the Board - following
election and bringing new board members onto the Board
·
WASDA Education Conference
May:
·
Focus on retirements
·
Recognition of staff
·
Staffing assignments
June:
·
Close out FY budget
·
Ensure a good finish to the school year
·
Celebrate successes
·
Graduation
Summary
I found it interesting to discover
what his daily and monthly routines consist of and realize the similarities and
differences to my current tasks. The reminders are good, yet his comments about
listening, valuing voice, and working collaboratively held a higher value to
me. He also mentioned ongoing tasks of
recognition, public relations, communicating, connect with the community, empower
staff, visibility, to reflect and continuing to develop professionally.
As a superintendent I will need to
remain focused on things that help both the District and its leadership to be
successful when things get busy. I believe this will require an approach that
is a balanced between caring for people while still working to be
productive. I will embrace and utilize
the time spent weekly and monthly meeting with various people and groups as a
means to monitor and checking in with staff to demonstrate my desire to stay
connected to the employees, parents and community. The goal would be to have a school district
that is productive and employee’s who value being a member of the district.
Troy,
ReplyDeleteI think flexibility is key for being successful as a superintendent. Flexibility is important in any role I have had in education and I am constantly learning how to do this better. Sometimes I feel in my role as principal that during meetings I am wasting time or not working. The reality of meetings are they are very important part of our day. Many issues are discussed and bonds are built through these meetings. I am impressed by the list and understand that there is so much more than just the list that happens.
Thanks
Cory
Thanks for sharing your superintendent's checklist. What I found interesting with the checklist that you provided and the checklist that my superintendent shared is that so much time is spent on management and so little is really spent on educational leadership. Although many of the activities are tied indirectly to educational leadership and continuous improvement, they still seem much more managerial. It really does speak to ensuring that goals are developed for the district and then aligning all of the tasks of the district administrator to those goals.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Troy. What's interesting to me reading through everyone's blogs and my own experience, is it appears there are many similarities between superintendents across districts. As Lance stated in his own blog and in response to yours, there seems to be a large amount of time spent with the managerial aspects of the position, and less time spent as an instructional leader. Building leadership has seemingly made the transition from manager to instructional leader, while district level leadership appears to still be very much focused on the managerial aspects of the job. I think the challenge for all of us as we explore a career as a district level leader is balancing the demands of the position, while trying to maintain our focus on student achievement.
ReplyDeleteGreat checklist Troy. Your list was more detailed and covered the entire year based upon my discussion. I know that the time of year will dictate new or additional items, but for the most part the board agenda and connecting with the president seems to be in the front burner for most DA's so far. I think at times it is easy to focus on the PR parts within the board that the larger goal of the DA and board working together for the VISION may get easily lost/forgotten at times.
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