Saturday, April 10, 2010

The Paintbrush and the Pen

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I tweeted recently that my inbox was full of thousand-dollar solutions to million-dollar problems. Some folks have reasonably reminded me that the little things add up. This is true, and LCPS employees have worked hard to find those little things to achieve savings in the past few years. Those efforts have resulted in a reduced need for property taxes during these difficult times.

LCPS employees have in fact found millions more in savings than the School Board has in so many small ways. Unfortunately a corporate board, in this case the School Board, makes changes with an broad paintbrush, not a fine-tipped pen. To do otherwise isn't management, it is micro-management, and everyone who has worked in an organization of any size knows that micro-management leads to waste and actions that make no sense... something government is well known for.

So the thousand-dollar suggestions, while important, must be heard and implemented by teachers and custodians and principals and bus drivers. Not by School Board members. Thankfully they are doing just that, every day, and they are a key reason why LCPS is recognized nationally as an efficient and effective school system.
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13 comments:

  1. I'm sure that all of those Reading Assistants understand and appreciate that cutting waste is beneath a person of your stature.

    Thankfully we've got Jen Bergel and Bob Ohnheiser making a real effort to find savings -- instead of endlessly politicizing the issue.

    So many employees have come forth claiming that their suggestions for saving money have been ignored that I have to believe that there is truly no desire to cut expenses within the system.
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  2. John,
    So HOW do YOU propose to get those thousand dollar ideas TO those who CAN implement them? How can YOU empower teachers, custodians and principals to do as you state they are so suited to do? To be encouraged instead of threatened by Central Office bureaucrats to allow MORE ideas to surface? Isn't it YOUR chosen DUTY to connect citizens with staff? Hpw about your Board put the King on notice that HE is the one that shouldn't be the micromanager (overbearing controller) here?
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  3. I was shocked to read your comments on people who are trying to help you do your job and find the places where money can be found to help make our children's education a good one. Maybe if you looked at them all you could find a way to turn the thousands of dollars into hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions.
    If the proposed cuts in Option 1 take place it is a guarantee that our children's education will suffer. Less support staff and educators in the schools and classroom will ensure it.
    I also agree that after reading your comments that there is no desire to cut expenses in the system.
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  4. Here is a million (or two) dollar cut. Close the rural small schools. Send those teachers (and there are relatively few compared to the schools with 800+) to work in the larger schools that are opening or accumulating more students next year.
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  5. closing any school right now when seats are needed throughout the system would be beyond stupid.
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  6. John I personally am familiar with a rank and file LCPS employee who had a suggestion that would have saved over $250,000.00 per year in real dollars spent, while not impacting services. This employee spent the time to document this suggestion, created spreadsheets, did the analysis, and even went so far as to best practice the suggestion. When it was give to the supervision of his department. He actually never heard any more about it. His calls went ignored and were not returned. And of course the suggestion was not implemented. In order to realize the vision you described you must first change the culture. If a Teacher, Custodian, or Bus Driver wants to implement change that save money they are not even empowered to make suggestions by the current culture. They take their idea to a superior who also is not empowered and may actually feel threatened to pass the suggestion on. As you climb the ladder change become more threatening and the status quo must be maintained at all costs. That is something that in the culture here in LCPS is sacred. We must not change things as it may upset people and I might have to deal with it. The reality is that there will be no, I repeat no substantial savings realized by any one until the management culture changes and this must start with the school board and work its way down. John get off your high horse and have the School Board show some real Leadership and force culture change and you need to first start with your own house
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  7. Amen to pp. I feel like I can influence some change at my school, thanks to my principal, but other than that no one wants to listen. It's rather shocking that no one really cares about the opinion of those of us who work in the schools and work directly with the students every day. Somehow the my central office supervisor who never visits our school knows better, or Hatrick, or the school board members.

    As a teacher the only way I can really protest is by working to the rule. So I will only grade, plan, attend parent conferences, call parents during my contract hours. With more and more students on my roster and obligations to the school this means papers take longer to be graded, parent emails aren't answered the same day, and I don't
    attend many conferences.

    Profe
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  8. This is truly one of the most asinine posts I've ever seen from an elected official! Unbelievable!
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  9. How about 18 million dollars in SavingsApr 11, 2010 02:08 PM
    Total savings in the proposal that follows are about $18 million dollars. If Dr. Hatrick thinks all of his employee positions are needed, then they all have been saved and the only cut is a week of school in mid to late June when not much is really being learned anyway.
    1. Place LCPS on a different calendar (LCPS application to the State Depart. of Ed) that does NOT require LCPS to build in 15 snow days to its schedule. You can roll the dice. The chances are HUGE that we will not have another winter like we did this year next year. It is a little risky, but the odds are great in your favor. Fairfax, Clarke, Frederick, Warren, Fauquier and Shenandoah counties have all reduced the length of their school year in recent years by being on a different schedule.
    2. Then, since you are not required to have these 15 days built in, you can cut the school year one week shorter in June. Presently LCPS attends school 1080 hours during the year(LCPS web site during the blizzard).This is 90 more hours than required by the state which equals the 15 days that must be built in to the schedule. If the school year was shortened by one week LCPS would still be attending school 60 hours (2 weeks) longer than required by the state of Virginia. Shortening the school year would mean furloughing teachers for 5 days, BUT this would be giving them 5 more days of summer vacation. Savings will be at least $11.5 million dollars in doing this (Dr. Hatrick's own numbers).
    3. Then cut 3 days of Teacher professional training (furlough) at the beginning of the school year. Times are extreme. Sorry Dr. Hatrick. Something has to go. You have to do something to balance the budget. One day in-service trainings like these are known to be very ineffective. Doing this will have less impact on the students and on the system than anything else that you can do. Teachers do need 5 days of work time in their classrooms to get ready for school. Savings by removing these 3 days = $6.9 million dollars. Trade off; teachers get 3 more days of summer vacation. New teachers and new hires to LCPS have NOT been affected by this. Still have them come in for those training days. Students have NOT been impacted at all.
    Times are extreme. Loudoun County has to wake up and realize that the country is in a recession! People don't have jobs and they are NOT happy when the school always wants more and more. You may be surprised as to how many people are on the edge of financial collapse in Loudoun County. This proposal seems like the simplest way to cut a huge chunk of money and yet still retain the school system in its present condition. Teachers at least get something in this scenario, 8 more days of vacation.
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  10. John,

    While it is true what you say about micro-management, you also must realize that real change starts from the top. In order for the rank and file to truly believe their suggestions are being heard, you, the School Board and Dr. Hatrick MUST create an environment that creates, encourages and supports a culture where ideas are taken seriously and a mechanism in place for change to be implemented.


    The company I work for has created such an environment. Our management team has done a fantastic job of empowering us to enact change. We are told to not only identify problems, but bring solutions to the table. We are told to always look for better ways to do things - just because we've done it this way for years, doesn't mean we have to keep doing it that way.

    Bottom line, you may be right that you cannot identify waste within your system, but you DO CONTROL the environment and culture of finding ways to improve. You are the management and as such, the buck starts and stops with YOU and the SCHOOL BOARD.
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  11. To those of you who did not support the COLA and are now advocating for furloughs... Will you stop asking teachers to be available to students before and after school and during their lunch hours? Will you understand when they do not take the time to respond to your e-mails? Will you understand when they no longer volunteer for teacher basketball games and fundraisers? If I were a teacher, I would have a hard time mustering the enthusiasm that is necessary to be the teachers to whom we've become accustomed. I know I ask a lot of the teachers in our lives. I hope they keep giving.
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  12. As a teacher, I feel unappreciated and completely unsupported by people like you, John. Where is the communication and vocal support? There certainly is no financial support. Amen to working only my contract hours. I love my students and love teaching, but Hatrick's call to go above and beyond won't go past 3pm for most of us. Good luck keeping up the SOLs.
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  13. I find it shameful that the richest county in the nation is squabbling about fully funding the school budget. I wish all of these supervisors would take one day to visit a self-contained autism class, or any special education class, and witness how hard the teachers and teacher assistants work to earn their money. They deserve every penny.
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