Exploration of the 65% Rule Continued: Why are there so Many Principals?

In my previous posts on the 65% Rule, I have noted that the definition of "in the classroom" being used by the groups advancing this concept was created by the NCES in 1980 and has not been updated since.  Among the expenses not included in the Rule are high school principals.

In discussing this recently with one of the legislators who represents Spring Branch, he stated that having a building principal and grade level principals for each grade was unnecessary and supported the NCES exclusion of these administrators.  It occurred to me that most people including many of our elected state legislators don't understand the difficult job these people do every day.  One of our principals has provided me with the information below which I believe clearly shows the importance of these education leaders to the success of our students, and why it is foolish not to include them (as well as counselors, nurses, etc.) in the definition of classroom expenditures.

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SBISD high schools are staffed with 1 administrative assistant principal, and 4 grade level assistant principals.   On average, high school administrators have 2-3 late nights per week. 

Day to day responsibilities include:

1.   Minimum of 2.5 hours per day of direct student supervision before school, during lunches, and after school.

2.   Discipline management for an average of 500 students per grade level.  this includes parent conferences, referring students to attendance officers, attending meetings required by state and federal guidelines such as STAT, 504, LPAC and ARD meetings.

3.   Direct supervision of approximately 30 teachers, 1 counselor, and various support staff.  At a bare minimum for a good teacher, it will take an administrator 5 hours per teacher to complete observations and paperwork only. Teachers in need of assistance require significantly more time.

4.   An average of 2-3 duties per week, often including saturdays.  these events include; athletic contests, plays, concerts, UIL events, dances, proms, banquets, and district events and trainings held on campuses.

5.  Administration of national, state, and local assesments (TAKS, PSAT, PLAN, TELPAS, and local benchmarks).  We estimate that we will administer approximately 10,000-15,000 secure tests this school year.

6.  Master schedule that includes approximately 900 individual classes.

7.  Recruiting, hiring, and retaining qualified staff.

8.  Working with campus leadership such as department chairs and team leaders to monitor the instructional program.

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JOB TITLE:	Assistant Principal - Secondary School
REPORTS TO:	This person is directly responsible to the campus principal.
DAYS:	212
STATUS:	Exempt
PRIMARY PURPOSE:
SBISD is looking for a dynamic and energetic educational leader to ensure high standards of instruction, focus on student achievement to ensure success for all students, supervise operations, personnel and activities at the campus, oversee compliance of District policies and articulate effectively the goals of the school and District to staff and community.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Master's degree from a recognized, accredited college or university, preferred. Proof of appropriate administrator certification for the assignment. (Applicant must have no more than 18 hours remaining for certification.) Minimum of three years experience as a classroom teacher.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITES AND DUTIES:
Assist teachers with problems, methods, media, resources and course organization; conduct teacher assessments with follow-up conferences, and recommend teacher assignments and scheduling. Participate in the development and evaluation of educational programs. Exemplify instructional leadership, effective communication skills, personal integrity, collaborative leadership style and high ethical standards. Offer recommendations for innovative instructional strategies and assist teachers in classroom management. Work with students in need to develop a plan that will help them be successful. Develop and implement procedures for the orientation of new teachers and provide adequate support as it relates to first and second year growth. Provide leadership in the improvement of the instructional program as related to developing quality instruction that supports student achievement. Participate in the development of campus improvement plans with staff, parents and community members. Assist principal in the evaluation of instructional and support personnel, supervise the school plant and custodial staff, and serve as an appraiser. Assist with the development of class functions and school activities, including in-service and extra-curricular. Provide leadership in the promotion of continuing professional development of staff members. Assist department chairs with the general supervision of assigned department. Demonstrate thorough understanding of school operations and the ability to coordinate campus support operations. Assist in the development of the master schedule and allocation of teacher resources necessary to meet the needs of the campus. Develop techniques to encourage maximum school attendance and handle all attendance problems for the assigned grade level. Supervise student conduct and campus procedures that ensure a safe and orderly learning environment. Coordinate all programs associated with student and staff safety as related to fire and civil drills. Develop and implement discipline standards and procedures, conferring with students, parents and teachers as needed. Perform other duties as assigned.
PROCEDURE FOR APPLICATION
An administrative application needs to be submitted to Human Resources. Applications can be found on our website at www.springbranchisd.com or in the Human Resources Department.
TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT:
Schedule of workdays and salary set by the Superintendent.

Comments

[Carter Copeland]

The need for overhead benchmarking

While I am not in favor of an arbitrary 65% rule, I am in favor of a system that forces benchmarking of overhead costs as well as competitive trend analysis. There is ample experience in industry that competition on performance leads to more innovative thinking and ways to bring costs down. The 65% rule is just as arbitrary as the assessment that we need a principal for every high school grade. I do not know if either is fully justified but I do know from experience that individuals and organizations can develop a friendly but fierce competition to lower costs when there are consistently measurable comparisons of both absolute costs and the trends. Capable administrators find ways to perform more effectively, apply better technology, challenge bureaucratic norms, etc. Similarly, those managers that imply they cannot be fairly compared and trended on costs either want to hide from accountability or hide behind the mantra of “somebody else’s mandates made me become increasingly inefficient.” Ineffective managers will find ways to deflect and blur their own inadequacies.

Some may argue that administrative cost benchmarking is just another costly report. However, with the magnitude of the school finance system, not having a cost management/cost benchmarking system across districts violates the trust of taxpayers. Without an effective system, innovative thinking is not exploited for the greater statewide good and abysmal systems are not weeded out.

The greater fear of statewide cross-district benchmarking is that local norms and practices may be challenged out of our comfort zone and threatened. For example, I am familiar with two performance measurement technologies in oil field operations that yielded dramatic returns. In each case, benefits were cross pollinated to other areas. In each case, however, personnel that could not adapt or utilize the information were identified over time and placed elsewhere. In short, no one wants to feel like their “dirty laundry” is being aired.

In another example closer to the issue of education, I had the opportunity to visit with a superintendent from a small West Texas school district. He was adamant that consolidation of several districts in that area should be done to become more efficient and to provide for more effective teacher recruitment. He felt he was the right man for the job, but accepted that even if he were not selected, consolidation was the right answer. Despite his assessment, the towns involved had been rivals so long he knew they would never willingly consolidate because of “local control issues”. In his final analysis, he felt that state wide measurements and the finance problems would ultimately have to bring pressure to these communities before anything would be done.

Finally, benchmarking can yield flexible long term benefits that evolve with changes in education. In the long run, continuously squeezing out inefficiency so there is more for the students is the real goal. Defending arbitrary 65% rules or defending arbitrary local practices both seem to miss the greater long term goal.

[Wayne Schaper Jr.]

Being in change of a 5A high school is like running a medium size corporation. There are over 200 employees and 2000 students. Doing this job effectively requires mid-level managers that are well informed in education law, local, state and federal laws and regulations, human resource development, child/student development, child abuse laws, community services, aspects of construction and many other skills. This is all before they have to help with curriculum development and monitoring learning for all of our students. I think that it's pollyannish to think that school is the same as when we grew up. Change is happening to fast to stay in the past. I don't think that the state ought to be telling SBISD how to spend thier money unless they are willing to fix thier own house.