New Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash has hit the ground running, and one of his primary purposes these days is getting as much advice and hearing as many opinions as he can about our city school district.
If his new organization chart is any indication, he could be the much-needed agent for change that Memphis City Schools has needed. Although it's the seventh org chart for the district in the past four years, it appears to be a drastic improvement over the bureaucracy-heavy ones of the past that appeared aimed more at consolidating power than setting up a high-performing district. Those old org charts most resembled a diagram of the federal Medicare system or the infamous Hillary-Care plan. For the first time in way too long, the organizational structure of Memphis City Schools is now sleek, manageable and hopefully, accountable. It also appears to be built on a philosophy of decentralizing power from the Avery Avenue mother ship and getting it closer to the schools and neighborhoods that the central office was created to serve (which allies him with the philosophy of Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton).
Part of this philosophy of decentralization is to engage the public, to rally support, to discuss challenges and to mobilize a movement in support of school reform. But first, the lines of communications have to be opened up, and that seems to be a priority of the new superintendent.
In recent days, we've given our opinion, so we'd like to hear yours:
If you could give your best advice to Superintendent Cash about Memphis City Schools, what would it be? What would you recommend as his priorities and opportunities or pressure points to watch out for?
We look forward to your sharing your opinions as he lays the foundation for his tenure at the head of our district.
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13 comments:
Don't trust smart city memphis,,,,
to continue to provide links to the lists mentioned in this query. Gimme the links!
What lists? We're not sure what links you are talking about?
We'd tell Cash to put the best principals in the worst schools. We'd tell him to work to have smaller classes. We'd tell him to let parents have a meaningful role in their children's schools.
Chop away the bureaucracy and spend the money on classroom instruction. Organization charts mean nothing if the teaching's not right.
The administrative side needs to have a complete overhaul. Start over there. As far as classrooms and schools are concerned, there is a need for creative leadership. Finding a way to develop more community related schools and relatedly getting parental involvement is one area that could use a lot of both creativity and leadership.
In the immortal words of educational consultant Lewis Black, "run, run, flee."
Lists I was writing about:
The organizational chart,
The list of what he has done so far, and the list of what he is going to do that were mentioned in other posts by SCM also sans-links.
Help me, I like to read. (snicker)
I would tell him to:
1. Begin Corporate transformation of the administration, staff, teachers, board, comissioners, and especially teachers.
2. Find out who is still on board for playing a common game, and suport those who aren't willing to play the same game in he same arena ON THE SAME TEAM by the same rules in LEAVING the team.
3. Once everyone is on the same page, it is time to design a common magnetizing goal. By magnetizing, I mean, that all participants left will want to give all they can toward achieving the goal WILLINGLY, continually, and consistantly. They will have to design a goal that looks like a WIN instead of one that looks like a "controlled loss" (which is the future design of the past, which is now our present).
4. Once the goal is established there has to be a well described path to achieving it. There must also be a well described clear channel of communication and permission to give BRUTAL HONESTY to all parties involved and to have them want to be held accountable for the brutal truth of their ultimate reality that they are now 100% responsible for creating.
None of this little start I have described will ever happen without the personal transformation of all the players on the team through a third party team consistently engaged in that specific kind of work that holds themselves 100% acountable for creating a near 100% effectiveness at creating the transformative experience for their customers. I only know of one company that bothers to poll their customers to find out long term if they have succeeded wih an immediate inside data source and an unconnected polling data source.
I guess tghat's why their client list looks as stellar as it does.
We are at the bottom and we would do well to use the very best to make this happen, especially considering their prices are competitive and their results are well documented and peerless.
I second the above post!
Zippy:
You wrote the above post.
So.
computer wouldn't log in, dog ate my homework, augh.
Keep you eye on the mission of MCS. That is, teach K-12. Specifically this means two things:
1) Let the police department police, you have no buisiness creating a police department. If the police department isn't doing it's job the community should hire someone to get the job done; just as we have, hopefully, done regarding education.
2) Don't try to create your own University; talk within MCS on this idea has been around for a couple of years and it is DUMB. Again, if the Universities in the community are not serving you the community should force the universities to change their way and do so.
I would say "don't trust the numbers you ar being handed, things are as bad as you have feared and worse than you can imagine.
The administration can NOT be trusted to deliver truthful numbers or keep accurate stats especially if it might reflect badly on them.
The admionistration may talk a god story, but, they deliver nothing but excuses and false reports.
Don't be surprised if you have to fire everyone in the administration, no one in Memphis with kids in MCS will be surprised, they'll be supportive.
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