SPASD Loses Two Administrators

[Updated 6-5-11: SP-EYE offers sincere apologies to Rainey Briggs and affected board members for an inadvertent--and non-Freudian-- typo.  An astute follower reported to us that our initial post indicated that "3 board members voted AGAINST accepting his reputation.--instead of his RESIGNATION".  We assure you that while many questioned his resignation,  NO ONE questions Mr. Briggs' reputation.]

The Monday June 6th HR Committee agenda  indicates that, Executive Director of Student Services (Special Ed.) Lisa  Dawes ($116,240)  has tendered her resignation.  Ms. Dawes will certainly be missed.

At the last school board meeting, we learned, in a late addendum to the Personnel agenda item, that High School Assistant Principal Rainey Briggs ($75,971) is also leaving the district.  Word on the street is that he has been offered a Principalship in the Madison school district.  Hmmm?  Don't we have a Principal position open here in Sun Prairie? At Creekside elementary?  Was Briggs interested in that position?  Was he interested but Culver was not, n'est ce pas?  Enquiring minds are wondering.

Briggs has developed a reputation as a charismatic, inspiring, and aspiring leader within the district and the community.  We've heard anecdotal tributes to his efforts to work with kids at the high school and middle school level.   We're hoping we didn't let him go without a fight.  In fact, the board meeting got a little edgy when 3 board members voted AGAINST accepting his resignation.  It came down to poor Terry Shimek having to cast the final vote to accept the resignation of Briggs as well as the Sound of Sun Prairie leaders who resigned amid stormy allegations.  It was the right move for Shimek...they couldn't really deny these folks...right? (although Briggs had technically committed to honoring his contract earlier this year).   You can't force people to stay when they wish to go...right?

The harder question, however relates back to the HR Diversity issue.  Wasn't retention of existing diverse staff as important as recruiting new staff?  District administration can hold up their hands and try to lay this on the school board, but the motion was clear:  go ahead and hire the HR Specialist within your existing allotment of FTEs--and there seem to be plenty of those available.  Administration chose NOT to fill the position.  Apparently it wasn't as high a priority as, say, an administrative assistant for Business Manager Phil Frei.  And here's a better question:  why did they need a new position to RETAIN existing staff?  Isn't a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?  To what extent did administration work to retain Rainey Briggs in our district?

The Diversity Issue: Robbing Peter to Look Like Paul

We apologize in advance for the length and detail of this post.  Those that care about the growing diversity conundrum, however, will want to consider ALL the pertinent data before making any pronouncements or decisions.


At the May 9th school board meeting, the topic of budget parameters came up, which in turn re-opened the discussion regarding hiring a $75,000 Human Resources Specialist focused on staff diversity recruiting. One woman from the community advocated passionately for the position. She appeared to be under the assumption that the HR position had been voted down, since the board was acting on a motion to remove the $75,000 budgeted for the position in 2011-12 from the 2011-12 budget.

Most of the board didn't know what to do or say. Thankfully, John Welke, who originally made the motion heard round the district (or most of it, anyway), explained that the board vote was to allow the position to be filled within the existing allotment of FTEs. In other words, no new personnel funding would be approved (in light of the tight budget climate). Given that the district already had at least 2 vacant positions, and arguably is over-staffed in Administration and Administrative Support, the board vote represented good compromise.

The district found itself in a quandary. Administration has repeatedly said that this HR Minority Recruitment Specialist was their consensus top priority. Really? Well here was the chance to show it, rather than just mouthing the words. Instead, the district has quietly opted to fill its two vacancies and NOT hire the HR position. We have nothing to suggest that they even CONSIDERED out-of-box thinking, such as job sharing, or making each of the two vacancies and the HR position something like 65% FTE positions each. That could have been done within the board's directive. Isn't something better than nothing? Or was this a case where the district was SAYING they wanted the position, but really didn't value it that highly? Was administration looking to hang their lack of commitment on the school board?

In the end, this district has to follow its own mantra and use RELIABLE data to make the best decision. The data which can spotlight the issue is readily available on the DPI website. In fact, they recently updated their files to include 2010-11 data. That's about as good as it gets. So...time to duct tape the district spin doctors to a chair and look at the uncensored data. We did that. Take a look at the graphics provided in this post. As always, we back up our words with data. The data doesn't lie. We apologize in advance for the length of this post, but there's a lot of stuff to consider here. Time to get it all out on the table. Let's spill the FACTS jar, shall we?

Is the HR position REALLY the answer?
Board members have questioned it, many staff quietly question it, and there is even some indication that the district office itself is not convinced that hiring a Minority Recruitment Specialist is going to solve our our diversity woes.

It's no secret that the district has tried many things already...to no avail. While nobody wants to talk about it, the simple reality is that the Sun Prairie school district community still has a lot to improve upon with respect to establishing itself as a multicultural comfort zone. You can buy all the books and attend all the training on diversity issues, but in the end, attitudes must change universally in order for Sun Prairie to be the minority-friendly school district it desires to be.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Unless you've been in a coma for the last few months, you must have heard or read that many struggling (read: NOT growing) districts are facing massive staff cuts or layoffs. Janesville, Beloit, and Milwaukee have all been in the news regarding potential cuts. Many of the districts that are in this situation have larger percentages of minority staff. Logic would dictate that at least some of these individuals may be low hanging fruit on the seniority tree. This could in turn create a uniquely large pool of minority candidates.

Without the need for any additional HR recruiting, there is a significant probability that many of these teachers that are either cut or in danger of being laid off or released may seek out a growing district that is actually INCREASING staff. Seems pretty logical...doesn't it? All it would take is a phone call to the teachers union in the affected districts, and we may have a large influx of diverse applicants.

The numbers speak for themselves
Part of the school board's mission statement is to maximize each student’s learning by using data to drive instructional decision-making. In order to use data in decision-making, we need to have data. And let's add to that fact that we need uncensored, RELIABLE data.

The simple fact is that NONE of the 424 public school districts have a staff whose diversity matches that of its students. Certainly, some get closer than others. The problem is: how do we measure whether or not a staff matches the diversity of its students. Must the percentages be the same? Milwaukee, as many would guess comes closest. In that district there are 47 kids of color for every staff member of color. Of the larger districts, Madison ranks 2nd with a ratio of 54, followed by Kenosha(65.7), Beloit (67), and Waukesha (79). Sun prairie sits at a ratio of 87.4.

And these numbers are just totals of ALL minority staff; it doesn't even begin to address the the issue of having a staff that truly mirrors its student body. For that we have to look at percentages of individual ethnicities. If we look at Black/African American licensed staff in public schools statewide, there are a total of 1263 individuals. 960 of them (76%) are employed by the Milwaukee school district. Add in Racine, Madison, and Beloit, and that covers 90% of licensed African American staff. Sun Prairie actually ranks 6th statewide for its percentage of African American staff, and ranks 2nd among the 20 districts similar in size.

Robbing Peter to Look Like Paul?
The simple fact...as borne out by the data...is that there are not enough minority licensed staff to meet the statewide complexion of student bodies. Statewide 25.4% of all public school students are minorities. Comparatively, statewide only 4.5% of licensed staff positions are held by minorities.

Statewide there are a total of 3074 minority public school licensed staff. To match the overall diversity, we would need to replace 14,222 licensed staff with minority candidates. That would mean just shy of a 500% increase in diversified candidates! Where are we going to find these people? Arguably, that would be the role of the HR Minority Recruitment Specialist. But still...what is that person going to do? Raid other districts and entice their staff to come to Sun Prairie? With what as a bargaining chip (other than a Taj MahHighSchool)?  It's not like they could offer them a hiring bonus. That would also be tantamount to robbing Peter so that we could look more like Paul...in a manner of speaking. Only...if we lure minority candidates, then THAT district's minority picture changes. Is it really every district for itself? Screw the other guy...we need to improve OUR diversity even at a cost to yours!??? Or should it more appropriately be a cooperative venture? Robbing Peter to look like Paul helps one set of kids, but at the sacrifice of kids elsewhere.

Isn't this the kind of thing that the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) could (should?) be helping with? Is the problem the lack of minorities earning Education degrees?  One would think that we need to answer that question.  And, if so, how do we steer young people of color into the teaching profession?

The Bottom Line
It just seems that, until the pool of candidates is better filled with minorities, throwing a position at the problem is not the answer. The district is spending $30,000 on this new AVID program which theoretically will be spent to provide options for about 30 Talented and Gifted kids. While we agree that is important, is it perhaps more important to spend that money to do SOMETHING for the 2000+ kids of color?

Clearly we need to do something...but the HR Specialist position is not the answer.  One thing we DO need to do is to provide the SPASD HR Department with the necessary tools to be effective.  Exit interviews are great...but if they aren't captured in a database, how can the information ever be effectively--and efficiently--used?


Don't Just Blindly Trust Us. Look at the Data for Yourselves.
2011 Public Enrollment by District by Ethnicity
2011 Statewide (by District) Licensed Staff Ethnicity Report
2011 Statewide (by District) Administrator Ethnicity Report

Positions are counted based on FTE (full-time equivalency), not head count.

“Licensed staff” is defined (DPI) to include: Department Head, Educational Interpreter, Guidance Counselor, Instructional Technology Integrator, Librarian, Library Media Specialist, Program Coordinator, Reading Specialist, School Audiologist, School Nurse, School Occupational Therapist, School Physical Therapist, School Psychologist, School Social Worker, Speech/Language Pathologist, Subject Coordinator, Teacher, Teacher In Charge.

The Motion Heard 'Round the District

At last Monday night's school board meeting, the Minority Recruitment HR position came before the board for the umpteenth time.  Each time, a decision has been made not to fund the position.  Back in February, the position was about to die, when a Hail Mary move was made to postpone a decision until more information was available on the 2011-12 budget (a good call).  That motion was split with Camber-Davidson, Shimek, Stackhouse, and Welke voting to table and Diedrich/McCourt/Whalen voting against (wanted to move forward to hire).


So here we were in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs (Camber-Davidson and McCourt were absent).  Would Charlie Waffles make an appearance and vote to approve the position?
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Instead, right out of the gate, board member John Welke asked board president if he was planning to summarize the issue.  If not, Welke added, he had a motion to make.  Whalen invited Welke to proceed and make his motion.  And that's when the game changed.

Motion

Hire up to 1.0 FTE, 260 days per year, Human Relations and Recruitment Specialist as soon as practical using the approved job description. This position would be a "project position" expiring at the end of FY 2012-13 unless specifically reauthorized by the School Board after January 1, 2013. This position would be in the Administrative Support Staff group with a salary not to exceed $55,016 ($26.45 per hour) per school year with funding coming only from grants and/or existing or reallocated administrative or administrative support staff FTE.

Motion by John M Welke, second by Terry Shimek.

Tim Culver about fell out of his chair. "Are you telling us to eliminate one of these vacancies [Spec. Ed. Program Manager, Admin.  Assistant]?", Culver asked.

Welke responded that his motion did not direct Administration to eliminate anything.  It simply offered a choice to fill the HR position, but to do it within the existing Admin/Admin Support FTE allocations.  It offers the District Office flexibility.  "Everyone needs to tighten their belts", Welke added.

Culver responded, "I'm trying to understand..." and "If Administration decides that they cannot live without filling the two vacancies...".

Dave Stackhouse countered by noting that all administration has agreed that the HR position is a top priority and willing to make cuts to have it.  Stackhouse added that the reason he would be supporting Welke's motion is that he doesn't believe that this one position is enough to make a difference.

John Whalen commented, "I said I was willing to make cuts  [to fill the HR position] but I likely will vote 'No' on this.  I want the position, but I'm not comfortable with the strings attached."

Back to Culver again, " I want to be really clear--you are not directing us to cut an Administrative Support position.  In my mind [hiring the HR position is dead on the vine...but we'll talk about it.  You are taking it out of the [2011-12] budget, even though it fits the board parameters.  It's not about what we want...we just present the need.  I don't want an expectation that this [position] is going to happen."

Diedrich commented that she felt, " ...like I'm on a sinking ship and I have to choose between saving my twin sister or my mother."

Stackhouse called the question.

Motion & Voting

Hire up to 1.0 FTE, 260 days per year, Human Relations and Recruitment Specialist as soon as practical using the approved job description. This position would be a "project position" expiring at the end of FY 2012-13 unless specifically reauthorized by the School Board after January 1, 2013. This position would be in the Administrative Support Staff group with a salary not to exceed $55,016 ($26.45 per hour) per school year with funding coming only from grants and/or existing or reallocated administrative or administrative support staff FTE.

Motion by John M Welke, second by Terry Shimek.

Final Resolution: Motion Carried

Yea: David Stackhouse, John M Welke, Terry Shimek

Nay: Caren Diedrich, John Whalen

The Beauty of Welke's Motion
Welke crafted a motion that addresses all angles of this discussion.  It is taxpayer friendly by not introducing a new $75K position into the budget.  It does not use any SPEA or Local 60 FTE allocations that had been previously discussed as a means to fund it in the current year.  It allows the position to be filled immediately, hopefully taking advantage of this opportunity, with 71 openings to be filled, to increase the diversity of the teaching staff.

It comes with a sunset clause.  If the position is not successful in increasing staff diversity and cultural acceptance within the district, then we are not "stuck" with the position.  Nobody is placed in a difficult role of cutting the very thing we are trying to implement.  If it's not successful, it will not be renewed.  That simple.  At the same time, the motion allows the position to be renewed and made permanent if significant positive impact is observed.

Finally, the motion offers flexibility.  The district has loudly and clearly proclaimed that the position is their top priority.  They have it in their diversity action plan.  It's time for the rubber to hit the road and administration to buck up and make the hard decisions for which they get paid the big bucks.  Big boy (and girl) pants time!

Culver Exposed
It was abundantly clear that Culver wants to both have and eat his cake.  While all along he has emphasized what an important piece of the puzzle this position is, he backpedaled quicker than Darrelle Revis Monday night.  The only way this position would be allowed on Culver Island is if the position came as a NEW position, ADDING to the total Administrative salary pool.

Culver's simple statement, "In my mind [this HR position] is dead on the vine." spoke volumes.
Welke can play with the big dogs!

A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a  good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.' 
---Barack Obama 

HR Position Tabled AGAIN-- Whalen Putting $$ Where His Mouth Is

In his 5-year tenure with the school board, has John Whalen EVER seen an expenditure he couldn't pass up? Has he EVER used the word "cut" in a sentence that didn't have food as its subject? At Monday's school Board meeting, Whalen surprised us all. Apparently he is SO convinced that hiring a new Human Relations and Recruitment Specialist position (to the tune of $75-80,000 in salary and benefits) is the the preeminent panacea to solve the district's growing diversity puzzle--- that he used the "C" word.  

“This is an item that I am willing to support right now.  I am willing to cut other items in order to make it work. We have talked about this for a long time, we can continue doing that, but it is an item I feel like I need to put my money where my mouth is, and I’ll support it again.”
---Board President John Whalen

Whalen's voting buddy Jim McCourt used the "C" word during a plea to support an earlier agenda item.
"We need to cuts somewhere else to [implement the district's new AVID program]"
---Board Treasurer Jim McCourt

How did other Board members react?


We have to start taking action on this.  Our track record [for recruiting and retaining teachers of color] is abysmal, and I think we have to make it better. Regardless of what happens in the budget, we are going to have turnover of teachers. We have turnover of teachers every year. I think we have got to get this person in here now and not wait.”
---Jim McCourt

"I was against this before and I haven't seen anything to change my mind."
--David Stackhouse

"I encouraged bring this forward, but as I look through the action plan, a lot of the things we've tried have not been overly successful.  I'm not sure throwing a position with no sunset date will fix it.  I, too, would like to postpone [this decision]."

"A couple of you  have talked about cuts; I look forward to hearing them on Monday [Feb. 21st, scheduled School Board Work-study session on the budget]."

--- John Welke

"I'm not going to vote for it tonight.  There's too much uncertainty [in the state budget picture].

---Board Vice President Terry Shimek

“I still am uncertain as to how hiring one person is going to change the culture of our school district.  We need to be looking at exit surveys. We don’t need to hire someone to do that. We should have that in place right now.  The last thing I want is to turn around and say we don’t have the money to support the position, and we need to let you go.  That is the worst thing we need."
---Jill Camber-Davidson

_______________________________________________________________________
(3rd) MOTION: TO POSTPONE ACTION ON THIS ITEM TO THE FEBRUARY 28 SB MEETING

Motion by Terry Shimek, second by John M Welke. Final Resolution: Motion Carried

In Favor: Caren Diedrich, Jill Camber Davidson, John M Welke, Terry Shimek

Opposed: David Stackhouse, Jim McCourt, John Whalen

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Note1: Don't be misled by Stackhouse voting against postponing the motion.  He clearly does not support hiring the position.  We believe his vote reflects a desire to vote the position down and be done with it.)

(Note 2: In  Caren Diedrich's characteristic tradition for zaniness, she initially made the motion to approve the position.  Then --after seeing that wouldn't be flying---she withdrew her original motion and made a second motion to postpone the issue until the board's March 14th meeting.  That motion failed on a 2-5 vote.)

Nothing Else Works? Throw a Position at It!

On Monday night the school board will vote whether or not to hire a new "Human Relations and Recruitment Specialist at a salary of $55,000 per year (plus about $25,000 in benefits).  The goal of this position is to:

"...work to identify minority candidates through outreach efforts within the community and the broader employment market, and then work with Principals and the candidates to increase the diversity in our applicant pools.  This individual with also work with our current minority employees to establish support groups to provide ongoing connections with the larger school community designed to increase employee retention."

Since August of 2007, the school district has engaged in a plan to increase minority recruitment (and retention).  Despite action taken to date, it has been related by HR Director Annette Mikula, that the sum total of efforts yielded 1 minority hire out of 40 new hires this past year.


What has never been shared with the public....and one can likely surmise why....is how many minority hires have "left the building" for one reason or another in recent years.  Is too tall an order for even the legendary little Dutch boy?


While we fully support the goal of a more diverse workforce to better reflect the diversity of our community and school district, we have some concern that we're just throwing a position at a problem.  Our question is a simple one:
 "How can ONE individual-- in a school district of about 1,000 employees and 7,000 students-- repair what 3 years of efforts could not?"

It seems that we need to repair the intra-district culture before we continue with any plan.  As Yoda might opine, one person cannot a culture change.  What's the plan if this doesn't work out?  Is there an exit strategy?

...And the Line Holds

Many of you may have turned off the Packer game in disgust to check in on the school board.


The main issue of the night was DO WE or DO WE NOT hire a new administrative Human Resources position specializing in minority relations and recruitment.


As board member went around the table, it sure started to look like John Welke would stand alone in his no vote.  But Stackhouse was pretty quiet and that';s usually an indication that he's not supporting something.  Then Jill Camber-Davidson, who had apparently been leaning to vote Yes, voted "no:.   So here it was:  McCourt/Diedrich and Whalen in favor of hiring the $69K position and Welke/Stackhouse/Camber-Davidson opposed.

What would Shimek do?  In a surprising move, Mr. Shimek voted "NO"---as he did two weeks ago-- and the line held firm at the goal line.  Kudos to Mr. Shimek for standing pat like a newbie holding a pair of kings at the blackjack table.


Do we--as a district-- need to clean our own house a bit as it relates to multi-cultural acceptance?  Absolutely.  But hiring a new HR position is not going to solve that problem.  That message needs to comes from the top: Tim Culver.  And it has to be a message of zero tolerance that is backed up by the HR equivalent of a trip to the woodshed.


People in this district, and some in the community, need to come to grips with the reality that Sun Prairie has not been a farm town populated by European or Scandinavian descendants for quite some time.  The world is a melting pot, and Sun Prairie is just a bowl from that pot.  Having a minority recruitment specialist is not going to change peoples' attitudes.  Attitude adjustment therapy needs to come from the top.

What'll it be for TV? The Pack? Or the Shimek Shuffle

Tomorrow night is gonna be a tough one, folks.
Of course, there's the Packer game to watch.
But...like all those enticing new fall shows, you also have the option of seeing if Terry Shimek will once again do the Shimek Shimmy & Shuffle and change his original vote, this time voting to spend $69,000 to hire a NEW administrative position.  Just what we need...right?  For a guy that wants to be pegged a fiscal conservative, he sure changes his votes and supports a lot of administrative fluff.

And of course they say $69,000...but that's ONLY salary.  Tack on another $30,000 or so to cover benefits.
Yes...we DO need to increase the diversity of our district staff.
But...and without going into detail...this district KNOWS that there's some....shall we call it "housekeeping" to be done before we're really ready to do that.

The community is hurting, the district is in need of serious climate changing...so we think this position needs to be put on hold...as the board voted 2 weeks ago.

Minutes of the September 13, 2010 school board meeting.
5.04 Approval of a 2010-2011 Proposed Budget
Motion by John Whalen, second by Jim McCourt
 TO APPROVE THE2010-11 PROPOSED BUDGET WITH A REDUCTION OF $670,000, AND ADD
HUMAN RELATIONS AND RECRUITMENT SPECIALIST FOR $69,000.
Motion Failed
Board members who WANTED to add the position:
Yea: Caren Diedrich, Jim McCourt, John Whalen


Board members that did not
Nay: David Stackhouse, Jill Camber Davidson, John M Welke, Terry Shimek

For those keeping score at home...if this vote passes tomorrow night, you may wanna chalk up another $100,000 that the tax levy can be reduced in 2 weeks.  They can vote for it, but we, the people, do not have to support a levy to do so.