At the board meeting on Monday, the Board of Education approved Dr. Green’s latest reorganization plan.
— Dr. Stephen Green, Superintendent DCSD
ReOrganizations To Date
Phase I – (DEC 2015)
Phase II – (MAR 2016)
Phase III – (APR 2016)
Appointment of Personnel for Senior Level Positions
Leo Brown – 
Dr. Leo Brown (resume) was the Assistant Director of Human Resources for Emory University from 2005 – 2011. He was also the Chief Human Capital Officer for Kansas City Public Schools from 2011 – 2012 where he met Superintendent Green. Dr. Brown will start as DeKalb Schools’ Chief Human Capital Officer in January 2016.
Vasanne Tinsley – Dr. Vasanne Tinsley (resume) started with DeKalb Schools as a School Counselor in 1994. She was most recently the Director of Support Services and is now being promoted to Deputy Superintendent of Student Support & Intervention.
Reclassification of Existing Positions
- Chief Academic & Accountability Officer
(formerly Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum &Instruction) - Chief Human Capital Officer
(formerly Chief Human Resources Officer) - Executive Director, Exceptional Education
(formerly Director, Exceptional Education) - Exec Director, Professional Learning & Leadership Development
(formerly Director, Professional Learning)
Creation of New Positions
- Chief Communications & Community Relations Officer
- Deputy Superintendent, Student Support & Intervention
- Executive Director, Student Advancement
- Director, Charters, School Governance, & Flexibility
Realignment of Existing Positions
- Direct report of (5) Regional Superintendents to the Superintendent
- Decentralization and local autonomy to Regional Superintendents to include wraparound support of human capital, curriculum, technology, facilities/transportation management, and finance management.
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Oh my gosh. Finally! A professional HR person!! This is good, Dr. Green.
The last point is concerning to me. Knowing the quality of the current regional superintendents, it seems unwise to give them more autonomy.
Which regional superintendents are you referring to? If that’s the case, then those regional superintendents are the problem and not the autonomy given to them.
I think having the regional superintendents report directly to the Superintendent is a good idea. If they aren’t good, Dr. Green will find out soon enough and hopefully take action. I see this as making a more direct path from school level concerns to the Superintendent.
That’s an interesting theory. Ralph Simpson is a criminal “promoted to District V Regional Superintendent” last year. We’ll use him as a litmus test to see how effective Dr. Green is.
I will say, without qualification or hesitation and based on first-hand knowledge, that Trenton Arnold is, at a minimum, disingenuous and neither interested nor willing (perhaps scared?) to engage in factual, meaningful dialogue with stakeholders who are not AIC-based or other non-school-based district employees. His aversion to critical analysis, new ideas, collaboration, and straightforward honesty is an impediment and disservice to the region of schools he is labeled to oversee. Autonomy will be more than welcome for the Tucker, Lakeside, and Druid Hills clusters, and has the potential to really allow those schools, under the talented leadership of their principals, to reach new heights of achievement by their students, faculty, and staff. Arnold thus far has not been a facilitator of such a trajectory, but rather, an observer at best, and at worst, an obstacle. I hope the direct report will be instructive to Dr. Green.
Make no mistake who the Principals and Regional Superintendents work for.
Removing Dr. Tekesha Ward-Smith was a big step in the right direction. When one reviews the problems faced by the Dekalb County School System, those relating to Human Resources were the most numerous and the most serious. Teacher turnover, salary treatment, recruiting efforts, performance issues, personnel issues – you name it and they were present. The approach of HR over the past several years was largely negative and certainly not motivating. Dr. Green has been working to improve relations with residents and that is a very positive, much needed step. Now if the School Board can continue to work together to promote the interests of all the schools in Dekalb County rather than focusing on the territorial issues of each school board member, we can all benefit. The one thing that can increase property values in Dekalb County and, hence the tax base, is to build an outstanding, fully-accredited school system. Now that Tucker is becoming a city, I sincerely hope that our new mayor and city council will work with the Dekalb County School Board and System to insure that those schools located in Tucker have adequate resources, including computers, networks, labs, textbooks, etc. to enhance the performance and outlook of our students. Having the Regional Superintendents report directly to him, Dr. Green can readily become familiar with the performance of each Area Superintendent and reward each appropriately.
Stan,
Can you answer these questions or try to get these questions answered.
What does reclassifying really mean? If we teachers came back from break with new titles like “manager of classroom behavior” or “director of classroom instruction,” what would be different?
If these new titles do mean a change in job responsibility and/or performance measurement, how do people with no experience in these positions (like the new Deputy Superintendent of Student Support and Intervention who was formerly working as the Director of Support Services) get their training? From the other people who have no experience in these positions?
How is the Superintendent and the Board ensuring that all the other people trained by Ward-Smith, as just one example, are competent in their positions? A problem I’ve noticed in my many years working in Dekalb is that we change titles, implement initiatives, and move people around but we see little impact in the classroom or on the organizational efficiency.
Look at the HR summary and report for December. I’ve never worked in HR, but I can’t imagine an “out of the box” approach to hiring people is interviewing people weekly. Can you imagine if a teacher said I’m going to try something new and teach once a week? Also, it appears that if we call our district “world class,” it is. I guess the substitutes we need will now come running.
Did you notice many more substitutes listed in the resignation? Some of these people stopped subbing for Dekalb more than two years ago. Teachers have been telling the Board for two years that we don’t have enough substitutes. The district’s own emails the last two years indicate this lack of subs. What’s changed? Did anyone actually do anything about this problem that directly affects students and instruction every day? Apparently, we have a new head of HR and a new system. However, I don’t see anything to suggest we have prioritized the classroom needs-no indication that we have hired subs.
Do you ever wonder why we employ so many certified educators who have no interest in working with students? While we’re waiting for the “world class” substitutes, maybe some of these certified educators can work in the classroom.
What does reclassifying really mean?
The “Director of Professional Learning” is now “Exec Director of Professional Learning & Leadership Development”. That means that position is now executive level and is also now responsible for leadership development. “Director of Exceptional Education” is now “Executive Director of Exceptional Education”. That means that position is now executive level. “Executive Director” connotes a person with more extensive knowledge, skills and experience than a “Director”. People have written dissertations on the difference between “Human Capital” and “Human Resources”. Mr. Google can point you in that direction.
Leo Brown will start as the new Chief Human Capital Officer in January and will have a litany of issues on his plate.
That helps, somewhat.
Are some of these “executive directors” previous directors? If so, my question still stands. What now makes them qualified?
You’re right. I could google them. Just as I could google “world class,” “rigor,” “professional,” or “ethical.” Doesn’t mean that our school district applies these same standards.
I hope I’m not sounding argumentative. I really do appreciate your posting information, answering questions, and getting others to answer questions.
I just don’t see how the reclassifying of positions means much for us teachers or students. I hope you’ll ask Dr. Green why Tyson, Beasley, Thompson, Howe, and Brictson-to name a few-are still working (and getting paid generously by Dekalb). You cited the 2012 audit Atkinson conducted. I assume the Superintendent also has access to previous audits, programs, etc… that would indicate that our school district doesn’t need to keep or move such people around. I believe Tyson was the one who eliminated our matching contributions and froze salaries (while the other struggling school districts with more legitimate salaries we’re now modelling didn’t) and she is an executive who has worked under every recent superintendent (why have we, then, struggled to meet our financial and federal/state responsibilities?); Beasley oversaw “Triage” (the name alone says everything); Howe was the one who promoted Atkinson’s pre-packaged curriculum knowing the schools didn’t have what they needed (and she was in charge of the very curriculum that apparently needs the purported overhaul Green is trying to facilitate). I don’t believe in empty public criticisms, so I’ve cited things that anyone could find through posted board meeting agendas, notes, and/or videos.
We teachers are supposed to be evaluated 6 times a year. How are these executives and directors evaluated? As a board member, how much do you get to ask and see about an employee’s job performance?
How much [does a board member] get to ask and see? – Let’s look at the role of a board member. O.C.G.A. § 20-2-49 says that Board duties require vision setting, policy making, approving multimillion dollar budgets, and hiring a qualified superintendent. The board meets from 2pm – 10pm once a month. We interact with the superintendent and administration 8 hrs a month (plus any special called meetings).
Open Executive Level and Leadership Positions
* Chief Academic & Accountability Officer
* Chief Legal Officer
* Executive Director, Exceptional Education
* Director, Charters, School Governance, and Flexibility
As you can imagine, it is difficult finding qualified employees not currently engaged in a contract with another school system. I imagine that is why the latest reorg was labeled Phase I ( phase II if you include the removal of Thurmond and Ramsey).
I’ve posted the resumes of the employees Dr. Green has promoted. I look forward to the next Phase. Much of the budgeting and staffing decisions are done during the budget process. If you recall, board meetings earlier this year regarding the budget were quite contentious when I tried to cut central office money and push it into the classroom. The administration at one point had the lawyers saying the Board of Education can’t make and pass motions.
So, there is a time and a place to address the concerns you have expressed.
Mr. Google helped very little. I did not stumble on the dissertations you mentioned. The Argosy University (formely University of Sarasota) holds a great number of doctoral dissertations from Dekalb County Educators. Is that where you found on the value and difference between Human Resources Management and Human Capital Management?
Have the principal actors who ran Dekalb County Schools aground really moved on? How does one expect different results with the same actors?
Encourage Dr. Green to hire competent administrators to replace the incompetent ones. Dr. Green cannot simply bring new musicians and shift the musicians around. Getting larger instruments (titles) is not enough, the quality of the music has to change.
Stan,
New year, new approach!
You need to use more charm with the board. Your good and bad ideas are being equally ignored. With a charm offensive, some of your ideas may actually pass.
What is better: being completely ineffective or being partially effective? It’s in your hands! For one thing, if you left the “war on public education” to the Legislature, you would find more success locally.
Google: Difference “human capital” “human resources”
You get a dozen explanations emphatically delineating the differences.
Have the principal actors really moved on? Dr. Green has been here less than 6 months. It is challenging finding highly qualified unemployed people not in the middle of existing contracts with other school districts. The last reorg was labeled “Phase I”.
Vincent,
I still don’t understand why you claim I have a “war on public education”.
Question: Would you say some teachers are more effective than others? How would you decide how effective 6,000 teachers are?
Thanks, Stan. I get it. You can only do so much, but I hope you keep asking these questions.
Does the district or state tell us teachers we know you’ve only been on the job six months or we know it’s hard? By the time we return from break, we have only two months before our principals recommend our contracts for next year. We test around the clock and never get to say we’ve only been working with these students for a limited amount of time. Nor do we every get to explain how much these unqualified people have harmed our instruction.
I wish board members would spend some time reviewing our school district’s website to see just how much we lack and how little so many of these re-classified, re-named, and re-purposed directors, etc… do.
Please ask the superintendent and our new Deputy Superintendent of Student Support & Intervention why our certified leaders can’t teach students, working with students as teachers and as substitutes. Why is it that they can “teach” teachers but not students?
Dr. Tinsley’s resume lists adjunct instruction and Capella University identifies Tinsley as a faculty member (I just googled her name). If she has had time to run so many programs and teach outside the school district, surely our educator leaders can do the same thing-instruct- during their paid hours.
Stan,
I deeply appreciate your courage and willingness to exchange ideas with bloggers. Your time is a precious commodity and you are giving it free of charge here. I have an extraordinary amount of respect for you on these accounts. I am no expert in education. I simply observe and report.
First, US News & World Report makes my point, at least in part. The objective metrics are drastically flawed in determining ranking (can we say effectiveness?). The Governor, I have to believe, won’t be any better than US News & World Report at deciding which schools are “bottom” schools.
Second, how does one really compare the effectiveness of a teacher at Cross Keys to the effectiveness of a teacher at Lakeside? Teachers do not set the basic conditions for classroom success. They do not select the district staff and they have little effect on the competence of the school house administrators (survey Druid Hills and Lakeside: are the administrators contributing or detracting from the success?). It seems, I am not sure, that Gwinnett County is able to establish some level of basic conditions for classroom success. You can reflect on your own parameters as a Dekalb School Board member: how effective would Stan Jester be as a Gwinnett County Schools board member? A Fulton County Schools board member? A Wayne County Schools Board member? What if the teachers established some metrics to evaluate you as you try to serve in these different county school systems?
Third, I am proud and happy you shared the Fulton plan to Dr. Green. I would certainly commend Dr. Green if he were to adapt it to retain teachers in difficult schools.
To the big question as to why do I assume you are ” waging war on public school teachers”? It is an opinion that in time may evolve but it is my opinion now based on the totality of what you said during your campaign, on the board, and on your informative blog. From your statements and questions, it is clear that you think teachers are the root cause of the true and perceived ills afflicting the Dekalb School District.
You keep asking “Would you say some teachers are more effective than other? How would you decide how effective 6 000 are?”. Yet, you know the answer. You can’t exclude the administrative and societal conditions and just focus on 6000 teachers.
How would you, Stan, propose to measure your own children classroom teachers if these, hopefully, wonderful teachers were now teaching in the Clarkston area or the Redan area instead of the Hawthorne area or Dunwoody area? Are the basic conditions set by the school district and the school administrators the same? Whatever you think is effective in one school may not be effective in another.
Of course you know that parents’ vocabulary, home exposure to adult-like discussions, and parental expectations also prepare children for elementary, middle, and high school success. The rich vocabulary the Jesters use at home has an educational impact on the Jester children. The separate bedrooms children enjoy helps too. Without adjusting or remediating outside of the classroom factors, you cannot “scientifically” measure teachers. You can only subjectively measure them but in doing so there has to be an acceptable margin of error unless we abandon fairness.
My brother and his wife are both Harvard educated thoraxic surgeons. They are “world class” thoraxic surgeons. My brother practices at Baylor University Hospital in Houston and his wife practices with Doctors Without Borders in Halab, Syria. (Guess which thoraxic surgeon makes the most money?). Where would you go for by-pass surgery, Stan? Would it matter if my brother switched with his wife (after a week together in Barcelona)? I know where I’d go but it is not because of the surgeon (teacher). Guess what, when they practiced Johns-Hopkins, Frank had a much higher infection rate than Noor. He actually lost more patients in Baltimore than she did in Baltimore. I don’t think I can compare the two now, do you?
Vincent, I think you are mixing issues together. Let me be clear.
Failure In Academic Achievement – The DeKalb County School District (not the teachers or principals specifically) has been failing for many years by most standards.
Money Is Not The Solution – If money were the answer, APS would have the best school district in the state. Gainsville (78% F/R Lunch) and Valdosta (76% F/R Lunch) spend less per student than DeKalb (70% F/R Lunch) , have higher “Free or Reduced Lunch” numbers and get better results.
Demographic Information
District —- Blackk – White – Hispanic – F/R Lunch
DeKalb —— 71% —— 11% —– 12% ——– 70% —–
Valdosta —- 74% —— 17% —– 04% ——– 76% —–
Gainesville 20% —— 20% —– 55% ——– 78% —–
CRCT Scores for DeKalb and all City Schools in Georgia
My Solution – The biggest return on investment is in the school house where the learning happens. We need to get the right teachers and principals in the right place and give them what they need. I have been haranguing the administration since day one about reducing class size, spending 65% of the budget on instruction and giving teachers raises.
* Just Say NO to Waivers
* Reinstate TSA Board Contributions
* Jan 2015 Pay Raises For Teachers
Which teachers are more effective? – Every teacher is in a different situation with different principals, students, parents, environments, challenges etc …. So, how do we differentiate the effectiveness of teachers? Is your suggestion to subjectively measure 6,000 teachers?
I posit that private schools (and hospitals to your point) don’t have this problem even though they don’t have all these standardized tests. So, where does that leave us? How do we tell the good doctors from the bad doctors?
As I mentioned in my previous post, I am cautiously optimistic with what Dr. Green has done so far. I am hoping that his personnel changes are just the beginning. Human Resources has been a major point of failure and I am hopeful that things are going to change there that would build bridges with the teachers. However, there are other positions that need to be priority candidates for change. I read the SACS reports and also looked at the responses which Dr. Ramona Tyson prepared. Those reports significantly missed the expectations of SACS and that had to contribute greatly to the result of SACS placing the DCSS only one step above losing our accreditation. The response of the DCSS was also poorly written, consisted of excessive copying of pages that were often copied crooked and, as I recall, the whole report lacked organization while also not answering the questions posed by SACS. I sincerely hope that the taxpayers will not be asked to fund “duplicate” positions wherein the incumbent is simply moved to a created position. That was done when Dr. Atkinson came , done when Mr. Thurmond took over, and we now see that Dr. Ward-Smith has simply been transferred to a “created” position in Athletics. I hope that this is merely an interim step while she finds something outside the Dekalb County School System. My perspective is that such “duplication” is one of the big reasons why Dekalb has a disproportionately large administration staff and why Dekalb has been in financial trouble. There needs to be substantial change in an administration that almost lost our accreditation.
Howdy,
How will we know?
We no longer have an organizational chart ( it’s been missing for weeks). Even when we did have one, it didn’t list employees’ names.
Click on the staff directory and you’ll find a list of titles and phone numbers.
The district is giving a 2% raise to instructional specialists and academic data coaches, but I can’t see how any of us would ever know who these people are. Their positions aren’t listed anywhere that I can find.
Stan,
I would say that money “better spent” is the solution, or at least one way to better meet our responsibilities (we’ll never solve all the problems public school students face). You can have smaller classes only when you and the rest of the board stop approving the employment of so many administrators outside the classroom. Dekalb appears to try everything-tutoring, programs, and initiative-but the obvious: teaching.
The 65% rule is a good start, but that’s not good enough. According to the 65% rule, we are giving money directly to the school house by paying instructional specialists and academic data coaches (10 to 20% of the “teachers” receiving a 2% raise). Until someone presents the research to indicate that students perform better in larger classes with this type of “support” than in smaller classes or classes with two teachers, this is not a good return on investment. It’s still pretty scary to consider that our district couldn’t even meet this 65% rule without giving these raises to people who don’t function as classroom teachers. How many times did Thurmond assure the public that we don’t have unnecessary spending in the central office?
Why do we pay so many people to do what students could do? We have students studying video technology, business technology, coding, various forms of writing. They could handle PR and video stuff and probably some of the computer stuff. Students’ work is the best PR. Where’s the research that indicates that students perform better when they study in a school district with highly compensated PR, tech, video employees?
Why are we paying so many people who don’t teach to pretend to help and improve teaching? Teachers can present to other teachers (Dekalb already knows this if the 2nd summer conference is any indication). Teaching universities like Georgia State, Mercer, Agnes Scott, and Emory are in our district or its backyard. There are also many free professional development opportunities for teachers and school districts. Where’s the research that indicates that students perform better when they study in a school district that allows for large classes but has its own professional learning department?
Why can’t certified educators be used as teachers? For some strange reason, all discussions of improvement focus only on the teachers. Who says that administrators can’t work as administrators and work with students? University presidents teach classes. Heads of private schools teach (look at Christo Rey’s website as one example).Administrators in other school districts and states teach classes. Where’s the research that indicates that students perform better when they study in a school district that employs certified educators only as administrators (and perform mostly as business managers)?
You’re right about APS, which is why we should do things differently from APS. This is another school district that talks about change without changing much.
Stan,
My mind is racing with excitement that a decision maker like you is doing his homework.
Point 1: Failure In Academic Achievement-
We need a better definition of failure and the contributing causes to the failure.
Point 2: Money Is Not The Solution-
Not sure that F/R Lunch tells the whole story. We know that income is not verified. Students and parents self report. Moreover, this F/R L does not measure crime rate, family stability, mental health, and other factors contributing to student readiness and academic success. (Politicians in Agribusiness’ pockets tolerate fraud and abuse here!)
The proportion of students by race does tell a complete story either. The dynamics and social forces operating in small (smallish? ruralish?) town populations of any race composition do not compare to urban pockets. We may have to look to a large urban city with all the problems confronting it. Think about it: how does Pleasantdale Elementary compare to Hawthorne? How does Hawthorne compare to Briarlake? As the crow flies, these schools are 2 or 3 miles apart in the same feeder group.
Point 3: My Solution-
Your concept is very good. I praise your vote on passing the raise for teachers or staff directly in contact with the students. I am not happy about the raise for Central Office employees or academic coaches not accountable to the students.
It is a very good start. We need to trim the Central Office fat and use that money in the classroom.
5% pay raise for principals? Principals are probably the problem. They are ill-trained, inexperienced, and were never good as teachers. Don’t you see that’s why they abandoned the classroom?
Point 4: Which teachers are more effective?
I am purely using common sense here not science or pseudo-science (something overused by Dekalb educrats). Please indulge me.
How do we know if the administrators evaluating teachers are competent themselves to fairly evaluate? Is that a doctrine of faith we must hold to be true?
Hiring: Hire the best available candidates at the onset. Avoid the desperate last minute hiring. My guess: this is what Marist and Westminster do.
Retention: Create conditions in the classroom (competent administration) to retain the best teachers as determined by matters within their control.
Evaluating Teaching: Have quality veteran teachers observe and advise other teachers. ( It’s ridiculous to have a former PE teacher, now an administrator, observe and and evaluate a AP Calculus teacher—and get this, offer advice and mark down the math teacher). My brother is evaluated by practicing peers at Baylor. Why can’t the board take a field trip to Westminster, Woodward, or Marist to see how they do it.
Administrator: ( by the way “administrare” comes from Latin and means to help and to assist ) Make administrators accountable to the teachers they are charged to help achieve success in the classroom. A 3rd party firm could survey teachers anonymously and randomly and give all of us some insight.
Here is an impossible suggestion: why does not the superintendent and the entire board ask each school principal and assistant principal to teach a “demo” academic class with real students for board members and superintendent? How can they observe and help train teachers if they are 10 or 15 years away from the classrooms? Heck, why does not GADOE require that each administrator teach just 1 course per year—-just one!— That would be a great opportunity for all to see quality teaching and student growth on display! Check to see how many Marist, Woodward, and Westminster administrators still teach a class now and then.
A good doctor is an AMA and Board Certified in his/her speciality. People select doctors in a variety of subjective ways. Fortunately, it’s a 1 to 1 relationship during consultation. In Dekalb schools, it’s a 1 to 28-34-38-70 relationship per period and a 1 to 140-150-180 per day! Location of the doctor’s office matters the most to patients, I think.
Grady Hospital and Emory Hospital: it’s fairly easy to pick where you’d want to be treated. No statistics and no test necessary here. It’s all about what the patient needs, don’t you think? Two examples:
You suffer near fatal traumatic injuries in a car accident or gunshot accident: Emory or Grady?
You need to have a kidney transplant: Emory or Grady?
A fair number of Grady doctors and Emory doctors have admitting priviledges at both hospitals.
Now on the airport!
Enjoy your family and I am looking to see you in action on Comcast at the next board meeting.
Best wishes of joy and peace during this holiday season to you and yours!
I am looking forward to my raise and can honestly say it has made me more hopeful than I have felt for awhile. Much still needs to be done to help our students, however. The biggest concern I have now is class size. When will the waivers be eliminated? When will paras be returned to kindergarten? I would agree with above comments that no amount of coaches or “push in” support benefits the students in the same way smaller class sizes would.
Hi Teachermom,
Here is a 2015-16 Elementary Schools Class Size Analysis. The ability to find open class rooms and acceptable teachers are two forces driving some of the class sizes up in that analysis. Generally speaking, class sizes across the district have decreased as revenues have gone up over the last few years.
Also, the district will petition this year to be a Strategic Waiver School System (SWSS). In that petition, I anticipate the district will ask for a permanent waiver to class size.
I have taught at the college level and Argosy University has long had a reputation as a “diploma mill”. Hopefully, Dr. Green is going to address this “game” played by a number of school administrators that have used it to increase their salaries at the expense of the taxpayer. Stan, you are very correct in pointing out that Dr. Green has only been in his position for six months and, yes, I think that all of us need to step back and give him some time. After all, the problems at the DCSS have been years in the making. However, I also think that it is well known that the performance of the administration of the DCSS has been abysmal and the next step for failed administrators is out of the DCSS. Tax dollars that fund their salaries should be reallocated, preferably to the classroom. Certainly, they should not be moved to “make work” positions created to accommodate these administrators. I encourage the board to follow their movement closely and ask searching questions. Saving these tax dollars or reallocating them to the classroom should unite the entire school board. One idea may be to increase the salaries of teachers and reduce the classroom size at those schools where there are disproportionately large numbers of disadvantaged students.