California Association of School Business Of f icials
F all 2 018
Strategic planning
Six mistakes to avoid
The new citizenship
What you need to know to be a good digital citizen
When #MeToo comes to school
How the national conversation on sexual harassment is affecting schools
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The California Association of School Business Officials is the premier resource for professional development in all aspects of school business. Founded in 1928, CASBO serves more than 23,000 members by providing certifications and training, promoting business best practices, and creating opportunities for professional collaboration. CASBO members represent every facet of school business management and operations. The association offers public school leaders an entire career’s worth of growth opportunities.
As the recognized authority in California school business, CASBO is a member-driven association that promotes ethical values; develops exceptional leaders; advocates for, and supports the needs of, members; and sets the standard for excellence through top-quality professional development and mentorship, meaningful collaboration and communication, and unparalleled innovation.
For the past 15 years, CASBO has been dedicated to the organizational planning discipline as a method for guiding the association into a successful future. This year, the association embarked on its sixth such plan, CASBO by Design 2.0. This living, breathing document guides the association in its long-term planning process, which is grassroots in nature, invigorating in procedure and motivating in outcome.
CASBO has long been committed to organizational planning because the approach has consistently helped the association envision its future and determine the clear steps to get there. The road map that strategic planning provides has allowed CASBO to remain focused on its unique mission, goals and objectives and to respond effectively to a continually changing environment.
For more information on CASBO by Design, visit casbo.org > About > CASBO by Design.
publisher editor in chief communications manager features editor contributors
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Tatia Davenport
Joyce Tribbey
Julie Phillips Randles
Jerry Fingal
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Nicole Krueger
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Published September 2018
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A few weeks ago, I heard another presentation on generational differences in the workplace. Not long after, I listened to a webinar that outlined the statistics of our student population and the demographics of our state. A short time later, I had the opportunity to review and help initiate the CASBO Diversity & Inclusion Tool Kit on our website. At the time, it seemed as if everywhere I went, everything I read, and everything I was involved in revolved around the changes in our workplace, our society and our profession.
The message was loud and clear: To succeed and move forward, we must embrace our profession and appreciate our differences and our demographics. Embracing our profession means accepting our successes and our challenges with equal relish. It means understanding and appreciating the diverse workforce that makes up our profession. It means that I value the work we do, the people who do it, and all that our past and our future hold! This may sound very politically correct, but political correctness is not my goal and plays no part in how I embrace school business operations. Embracing our profession for me is about making use of the best talents, ideas and strategies to meet the challenges before us. It means respecting the history and wisdom of every generation and trying to collaborate to navigate our future.
My parents used to talk about the activities that the American public participated in during World War II. They told me they planted victory gardens and grew their own produce so the fruits and vegetables needed for our troops would be available. They talked about recycling aluminum foil, silk stockings and other materials that could be used in the war. They discussed voluntary rationing and how people came together to support the war effort. During that difficult time, Americans came together and embraced the war effort and the troops fighting abroad. They sacrificed to enable others to have what they needed to fight for our democracy. Given the current divisiveness in America today, these stories are amazing to recall! Would the same thing happen today? Would we collaborate despite our differences? I want to believe that this part of our country’s spirit is still there and would resurface in an emergency.
But challenges are not limited to the baby boomers – every generation is affected in some way. Currently, wildfires and other natural disasters are making headlines in California. These disasters don’t care about your salary, title, house size or political affiliation. When we face these disasters, just like the WWII generation, communities come together and help. They embrace the survivors and try to make the best of very trying circumstances.
CASBO membership is reflective of the demographics of our state and represents an amazing cross-section of humanity! Members come from a variety of professions and have skill sets that are hard to duplicate. Our differences, when connected by a common purpose, serve public schools well. It’s fascinating to me that this group of awesome professionals operates with little fanfare or acknowledgement.
One of my friends once said I had drunk the CASBO Kool-Aid. They thought I’d been converted to an appreciation of the profession. Well, I prefer to think of it as the CASBO champagne. I embrace CASBO and our membership because I believe in our mission and the value of our profession. Every day, I’m an eyewitness to amazing acts of leadership and dedication. I know firsthand the effect of our organization and our members. My passion is authentic, and I applaud our members for their professionalism and dedication freely and with great delight! z z z
Molly McGee Hewitt CEO & Executive Director
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If you’ve been in the work world for any length of time, you’ve read, discussed or heard about the value of collaboration. As a matter of fact, almost everything in our personal and professional lives began with intentional or unintentional collaboration.
Over 90 years ago, casbo was born out of the concept of collaboration. A small group of professionals who provided oversight and leadership in school business came together to network, compare notes and learn from each other. This collaboration resulted in the creation of casbo ! School business leaders joined together and found that their mutual interests and passion for leadership and fiscal accountability presented a valuable opportunity to create an organization where best practices and professional development could be shared, celebrated and encouraged.
History is packed with stories of collaboration. It’s the foundation of governments, clubs, fraternal orders, religious denominations, political parties and even personal relationships. Collaboration is a key element of our humanity. You might even say we’re naturally drawn to collaboration. It’s human to join forces and cultivate connections that help us move forward.
A few years ago, the concept of crowdsourcing became all the rage. Its premise is that you can identify an issue, need or problem; create awareness for it; provide a reward for the solution; and allow as many people as possible to tackle the issue, need or problem. The idea is that the more people who work on a problem, the better. The more ideas presented, the more out-of-the-box
thinking that occurs and the more talent that’s unleashed will bring about a faster and more efficient solution.
It’s worked numerous times, and on occasion, you still hear about this concept. The irony is that what we today call crowdsourcing has been going on since the beginning of time. Crowdsourcing is just another form of collaboration!
This summer, more than 100 key casbo leaders and professional staff came together for two days in Orange County to attend our sixth casbo Executive Leadership Forum. The event provided opportunities for professional development as well as opportunities for all of us to learn from each other, share our successes and our challenges, and celebrate our profession. In other words, we came to collaborate with each other. And, collaborate we did!
We had a chance to step out of our day-to-day professional lives and participate in an event where the only agenda items were collaboration and successbuilding. What impressed me at the event were the energy, passion and willingness of every attendee to voluntarily participate and collaborate. Collaboration really is at the heart of casbo
As you reflect on your own career, please note the part that collaboration has played in your education, advancement and success. No matter how proficient and successful you are at your work, no matter how many degrees or years of experience you have, and no matter how many hours you devote to your work, without the ability to collaborate with your superiors and subordinates, you simply can’t succeed and advance. As a matter of fact, being able
to build a network and lead effectively requires you to understand and embrace collaboration!
casbo has openings on committees and councils at both the state and section levels. If you haven’t gotten involved yet, why not? It’s rare that we meet a successful school business leader who doesn’t connect their success in part to their participation in and collaboration with casbo .
The opportunities are there for the taking. Join us as we collaborate for the success of our profession and the schools and students we serve! z z z
Christina Aguilar President
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By Nicole Krueger
KASSANDRA BOOTH HAS SPENT MORE THAN A DECADE finessing school budgets. In that time, she’s never known what it’s like to have enough money.
Booth launched her career as a financial analyst during the recession, when schools were wracked by severe budget cuts. At her first district, where she worked for the special education department, it got harder and harder to make ends meet as her budget continued to dwindle. By the time the money started coming back, she had accepted a position at Calaveras Unified School District, whose declining enrollment left it financially unstable even as the rest of the economy recovered.
“I haven’t been in education without having to make cuts every year,” says Booth, the district’s director of fiscal services. “I’ve never known anything else.”
The experience has taught her to wield a scalpel rather than a machete, making cuts with the precision of a budgetary surgeon. Since people tend to resist change when it’s imposed on them, Booth approaches each
situation by asking questions: Why do we do things this way? Is there a way to do it better?
“It’s not just about cutting [jobs],” she says. “How can we operate more efficiently and get better outcomes? How can we do things better so we don’t have to make cuts in the classroom?”
Coming from a long line of teachers, Booth understands the struggles education leaders face. Her great-grandmother was a schoolteacher in the Midwest. Her grandmother taught all over the country. Her mother and sister both work in education. She always knew she would work for schools in some capacity, but she realized early on that teaching wasn’t her passion. She chose the business side of things instead – and discovered her superpower.
“Efficiency is an area I excel at,” she says. “It’s half the battle at any organization.”
After working in the private sector for companies like Wells Fargo, Booth says using her talent to help schools operate more efficiently has given her a greater sense of meaning.
“When you create efficiencies within education, you’re doing it for the kids,” she says.
Her colleagues might struggle with change at times, but Booth isn’t asking them to do anything she isn’t willing to do herself. Since joining CASBO in 2007, she has relied on the association to help propel her own growth while moving up the ranks from financial analyst to chief business officer. Not only has she served as professional council chair at both the state and section levels, but she also led the Annual Conference Committee last year, giving back to an event that helps her return to work each year feeling reinvigorated.
“I don’t know where I’d be in my career without CASBO,” she says. “The networking really helps me in my job every day, knowing I can reach out to someone with questions.
“It helps knowing you’re not alone. Especially in a small rural school district, I often feel that way – like I’m the only one who has dealt with this problem. When you go to the annual conference, you realize you’re not alone. We’re all here for each other.” z z z
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By Nicole Krueger
by
WITH SCHOOL VIOLENCE IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT, school business professionals have grappled with some tough questions over the past year. How do you stop an active shooter? How do you keep students safe during walkouts? How should your school respond to news of another incident?
Once the media storm dies down, however, these concerns can lose their urgency as your staff gets caught up in the day-to-day challenges of running a school. Amid the flurry to meet new academic standards or contend with the latest budget cuts, safety can get lost among everything else on the school agenda. Trina Caton wants to change that. As the assistant vice president of loss control/risk management for Keenan & Associates, a CASBO Premier Partner that provides insurance solutions for schools, she works to keep safety front and center for education leaders.
“[Education leaders’] primary goal is to educate children and provide a safe environment for children and staff, and that’s something that we really work hard to do,” says Caton, who serves as CASBO’s Sacramento Section liaison
to the CASBO Associate Member Committee. Given how devastating a lapse in safety can be – emotionally as well as financially – risk management has become a hot-button issue for school business professionals.
“If something does happen, it’s in the public eye, and people are going to ask why are you doing this, why are you not doing this? It’s a difficult situation for schools because they’re under budget constraints, and here you have all these regulations they have to meet, and they’re struggling to get everything done.” Meeting regulatory safety requirements is just the beginning. We help education leaders keep safety front of mind, she says.
Thinking about safety comes naturally to Caton, who earned her degree in health and safety from California State University, Sacramento. After working in environmental health and safety for several years, she joined Keenan in 1995 and found out she loves supporting school business leaders as they strive to create safer schools.
Over the years, she has expanded her supportive role through her involvement
with CASBO, where she offers guidance and perspective on risk management to school business professionals. She also works hard to ensure members get the training they need to better serve their students – from helping to organize CASBO’s Associate Member Committee Speakers Bureau to arranging sponsorships and vendors for the spring conference and other events within her section.
Between her work with CASBO and a teenager at home and one away at college, she has her hands full. To decompress from her busy schedule, she spends time boating, camping, hiking and running. In the five years since she took up running, she’s completed three half marathons and several 10ks and 5ks. As much as she loves the outdoors, her biggest concern is what happens inside the four walls of a school building. She aims to help school business leaders develop a culture in which safety is woven into the fabric of the school.
“There’s just so much schools are responsible for, it’s really hard to pinpoint one thing to focus on. I try to make it easy for them.” z z z
By Jerry Fingal
Students today know what it means to be kind online: don’t be a cyberbully, don’t share personal information, don’t engage in “sexting,” be conscious of your digital footprint, use technology for positive purposes. In other words, be responsible out there.
In fact, students almost can’t help but know about proper online behavior. Just as many older adults learned in elementary school to stop, drop and roll in the event of fire, students today are being taught how to protect their identities and report cyberbullies. Out-of-the-box digital citizenship curricula abound, and many districts and even states are requiring students to learn the topic. California recently considered a law mandating that public schools teach digital citizenship alongside media literacy.
But for adults, digital citizenship is much less urgent. There’s an expectation that they already know better because of experience, maturity and the good judgment that usually comes with age. There’s an assumption that once you’ve reached a level of success, you know how to be responsible both online and off.
Still, digital citizenship is no less important for adults, especially those working in education. Technology has created a vast new landscape that is changing all the time, and everyone in education must have the skills to navigate and engage. It’s not only about not breaking rules but using technology to its fullest potential. And since “it takes a village,” all employees in a school district have a responsibility to demonstrate good digital citizenship.
“ It encompasses much more than that. It’s really about being able to navigate that environment. The same tools we supply to our students are very pertinent to office staff as well.”
“As we talk about digital citizenship, it’s an important conversation, and a lot of the focus has been on students, and [that’s] really just been focused on not doing anything negative online,” says Ryan Altemeyer, associate superintendent for business services at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, a casbo organizational subscriber. “It encompasses much more than that. It’s really about being able to navigate that environment. The same tools we supply to our students are very pertinent to office staff as well.”
Good digital citizenship for adults, especially school business leaders, means:
• Understanding safety and security. With so much student and financial data under their care, school business officials must be conversant with cybersecurity.
• Being aware of your digital footprint, including social media. The internet never forgets, so school business leaders need to be aware that what they do both professionally and privately reflects on them and the school district they work for.
• Knowing how to use the tools that are out there. Technology literacy is essential. All the magic of technology doesn’t mean much without knowing how to use it.
• Embracing technology. Use it to collaborate, seek solutions and tell your success stories authentically – a critical value in the digital world – without depending on a district communications person to do it for you.
Here’s a closer look at the basics of good digital citizenship for adults.
One of the pillars of digital citizenship is knowing how to keep yourself safe and your personal data secure. There are always predators on the internet looking to make a buck by hijacking data. An
ability to tell what’s real and what’s fake is essential, especially when students’ personal information and financial data are at stake, as well as knowing what legal requirements exist to guard against intrusion.
Altemeyer says internet savvy is becoming more important all the time.
“The biggest key now is being able to discern between what is real information and what is fake information,” he says. “The internet’s full of that. Employees can be fooled by fake emails or clicking on fake links.”
“For school business officials, it’s a huge issue,” says Mike Ribble, director of technology for Manhattan-Ogden Unified School District in Manhattan, Kansas, and the author of “Digital Citizenship in Schools.”
“There is so much data to protect. They’re being phished all the time. How do we recognize that an email isn’t legitimate? During training and phishing trials, 50 percent of people are falling for the phishing technique. People have to develop their Spidey sense about things.”
Everyone also should be able to identify risks, Ribble says.
“School districts tend to create their own databases on laptops. Data keeps getting shifted around. They’re taking laptops with data home or logging on remotely, which can lead to a data breach.”
Ribble says school districts need to provide ongoing, comprehensive training. “You have to overcome the attitude that ‘it’s never going to happen to me.’ You can’t just take a short quiz and then be good for the rest of the year. You have to do baseline training and realize it’s not just for yourself but for your organization.”
Having fully developed skills to discern what’s real also helps people
while doing their jobs, Altemeyer points out.
“You want to empower employees, and the internet is a very powerful tool for figuring out how to do your job,” he says. “We have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips that we never had before. If you can train your employees as well as students to harness that and find the information they need on demand, that’s powerful. That’s why every single person should have the research skills.”
The internet never forgets. Every Facebook post, every tweet, every Instagram photo enlarges your digital footprint and adds to your cyberprofile. And there’s no going back if you post something you later regret.
“You must assume that other people are going to see whatever you post,” Ribble says. “People copy it and link to it. It gets out there.”
As public employees, school business officials must be aware that their personal digital footprints might be revealed to others.
“School district employees have to operate by a different set of rules than everyone else,” Ribble says. “Even if it’s on a separate, personal account, people know you as a school district employee, and what you post reflects on the district. That’s especially true in smaller districts where everyone knows you’re working for the schools. Education is one of those professions that you don’t really step out of until you retire.”
Altemeyer says that common standards of conduct for school district
“You must assume that other people are going to see whatever you post.”
“ [Our emails] are subject to public record requests. Don’t put anything out there you wouldn’t want to see on the 5 o’clock news.”
employees carry over to digital citizenship.
“I think the professional standards guidelines that apply to all employees sort of spell out that common-sense factor that says, even when they’re not on, they can still be representing the district, so please be mindful of what you’re doing.”
In addition, as public employees, school business officials’ emails are subject to another level of scrutiny.
“We are a public entity and we serve at the pleasure of the public,” says Rolland Kornblau, director of information technology for El Rancho Unified School District in Pico Rivera. “[Our
emails] are subject to public record requests. Don’t put anything out there you wouldn’t want to see on the 5 o’clock news.”
Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco that helps parents, teachers and children navigate the worlds of media and technology, has long been a leading voice in digital citizenship. For the last eight years, it has supplied digital citizenship curricula that’s used in 72,000 schools around the country. Merve Lapus, the
group’s senior director of education and outreach, says the focus has always been on the possibilities presented by new technology.
Digital citizenship, Lapus says, has traditionally been very didactic and fearbased – stay away from this, be careful of that. “We’ve always looked at this as a balance of understanding safety and knowing where you should be and using that as a stable base or jumping-off point to do some amazing, innovative things with the tools that are available to you,” he says.
“Finding those opportunities is something we’ve always talked about.”
Lapus says to get the most out of tools, users need to feel confident in the landscape they’re navigating. A techliterate culture is essential.
At Monterey Peninsula Unified, employees are encouraged to be “power users” of tools to help them do their jobs better.
“We want our employees to be more than consumers of online tools – we want them to be power users and to drive that innovation and know that these tools exist,” Altemeyer explains.
He says they rely on Google to provide training.
“If you’re going to be doing anything online, you’re going to be dealing with Google, let’s face it,” he says. “We send our teachers and district staff through Google Certified Educator to teach them the effective use of tools.”
For example, something as basic as knowing how to navigate shared documents creates avenues for communication that didn’t previously exist.
At El Rancho Unified, spreadsheets from each department are used to share information during meetings.
“Departments can each have one to keep track of their projects, and other
Students aren’t the only ones who can be fooled by fake news content. Here’s how to tell fact from fiction.
Real news:
• Comes from reliable news outlets and can be verified on Snopes.com, FactCheck.org or PolitiFact.com.
• Has a domain or URL from an established news organization. These organizations have a standard look that you’re likely familiar with. Sites with such endings like .com.co should make you raise your eyebrows. Also note, reliable news sources don’t use all caps in headlines.
• Can be traced back to a website that discloses information about the news outlet, the company that runs it, and the mission and ethics of the organization. The language used to describe the outlet should be straightforward; if it’s melodramatic and seems overblown, be skeptical.
• Has a byline of the person who wrote the article, and the writer’s name can be searched to learn more about them.
• Includes attribution or quotes, and the professional quoted can be found in an online search. Lack of attribution may signify the article is suspect.
• Has a current date that allows you to see if other respected news outlets have picked up the story.
Sources: Westminster Libraries, NPR, International Society for Technology in Education
It’s common for school districts to have policies for the acceptable use of technology by students and even teachers, but similar digital-use guidelines for school business leaders are difficult to find.
Here are some points to include when creating a tech-use policy:
• Avoid policy points focused exclusively on “don’t do that” and instead include terms that provide a sense of empowerment around tech use.
• Require that users show respect for themselves and others when using technology, including social media.
• Require that users always give proper acknowledgement to others for their ideas and work.
• Insist that the inappropriate use of technology be reported, and be clear on the reporting procedure.
• Include a statement on the educational uses and advantages of the internet in your LEAs.
• Include a code of conduct for behavior on the internet and a description of consequences for violating that code.
Sources: Edutopia, Scholastic
departments can then have insight to what each is working on,” says Kornblau.
With the tools and knowledge in hand, Monterey Peninsula Unified employees are encouraged to blaze new paths.
“We do have ways we’ve always done things, but we want employees to look outside the box for ways we can more effectively use those resources that we have,” says Altemeyer. “They’re the experts at their jobs – the person in payroll is the expert in payroll.” He says that their employees are encouraged to use online resources and technology to
not only make their jobs easier but more effective by exploring new practices and processes.
As the concept of digital citizenship has evolved, the focus has shifted from the don’ts to the do’s: do use technology to collaborate and connect, to tell your stories, to be a positive force in the community. Being a responsible user of technology today means not just being a passive follower of rules but using it in a proactive way.
Lapus of Common Sense Media conducts hands-on Twitter training for district administrators, teaching them how to use it to create a positive image and share success stories to promote their districts’ larger goals.
He seeks to give administrators an understanding of what it means to have a Twitter handle, saying there should be a purpose behind it.
“You want to understand how it aligns to the outcomes of your community. If you’re focused on student achievements or collaboration or whatever it is, how does it align to the vision of your school? What are some of the broader initiatives?”
He starts by having administrators think of an event they are particularly proud of. He then has them compose a tweet by boiling down their written descriptions to Twitter’s 280 characters or less.
“It allows administrators to be the voice of their communities and not let the little things that pop up take over the whole school community. Those little things will always come up; the squeaky wheels are always really easy to hear. You can really build out and showcase all the things that you’re doing in a way that directly aligns to your purpose. You actually get a lot more out of that.”
He says it’s also important that the tweets have a consistent, authentic voice.
“So many of them had Twitter handles, but they were being managed by someone else. They had a communications person doing it for them. They didn’t own it. Allowing them to own it allowed them to tell better stories to their community.”
z z z
Jerry Fingal is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Oregon.
By Julie Phillips Randles
When you reach the corner office, how will your daily job change?
That’s perhaps a difficult question for Louis Freedberg, who accepted the executive director position at EdSource in 2011. You’d expect this position would free him to advise, to pen editorials, to shape thought. And yet you can still find his byline all over news stories in the education field, written with his signature fact-filled, no-nonsense style.
You can take the journalist out of the cubicles, but you can’t take the reporter out of Freedberg.
He comes by it honestly. He turned his bachelor’s degree in psychology (child behavior emphasis) from Yale University and Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, into a hardcore journalism career that includes a correspondent’s desk at the San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington, d.c. , bureau during most of the Clinton presidency; a foreign correspondent role with Pacific News Service, where he filed reports from Southern Africa, Central America, the former Soviet Union and Cambodia; and a founding role at Youth News (the precursor to Youth Radio), an award-winning national media project that trains high school students as reporters. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and National Public Radio.
Freedberg bleeds ink, and the majority of his work has centered on education.
His LinkedIn résumé is as straightforward as the news he reports, faithfully listing his role as founding director of California Media Collaborative (a statewide effort involving representatives from media, philanthropy, academia and other nonprofit organizations to devise new strategies for improved coverage of key California issues) and founder and senior reporter at California
Watch (a nonprofit journalism venture based at The Center for Investigative Reporting that focuses on critical state policy and other issues).
A career like that naturally racks up awards: a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University; a Visiting Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, d.c. ; and a Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
Freedberg’s experience couldn’t be a more perfect match for EdSource, which
has built the biggest education newsroom in the state and staffed it with experts on policy and school finance, student health and school climate, early childhood education, and college readiness. It’s a think tank, if you will, for a broad range of education reforms: early education and preschools, charter schools, school accountability, stem (science, technology, engineering and math) education, teacher evaluation, and obstacles students face in the math pipeline from pre-kindergarten to college.
In 2012 , it launched its journalism and communications arm, EdSource Today, which now comprises the largest education reporting staff of any newsroom in the state.
And you’ll find Freedberg in the heart of the action, his sleeves rolled up, his fingers on the keyboard, putting facts and statements ahead of his voice while still overseeing the nonprofit’s growth.
casbo sat down with him to discuss how he keeps this unusual balance and to invite him to share his views on our industry:
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you?
Can I recast the question? The best advice I received – life lesson if you will –was set by example. I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and the entire time I lived there – until I was 18 – Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on Robben Island in Table Bay near where I lived and where he was serving a life sentence. I could see his island prison when we climbed to the top of Table Town and never dared to hope that I would ever see him alive.
However, many years later, in 1994 , I was privileged to watch Nelson Mandela a few feet from where I stood casting his vote to end apartheid. About
10 days later, I saw him being sworn in as South Africa’s first black president. His lesson is to take the long view. However grim things might seem in the current moment, the forces of change are always at work, and nothing is permanent. In 1989 , there was a state of emergency in South Africa, tens of thousands of people were detained for their resistance to apartheid and others were on the run and in exile. Yet in 1990 Nelson Mandela was freed. Also, if Nelson Mandela could end apartheid in South Africa, we should not be daunted by what should be the much less formidable task to ensure successful outcomes for California’s children in our schools.
What’s the last book you read, and what did you learn?
I just finished reading Adam Hochschild’s book “Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 .” It’s an extraordinary account of the Spanish Civil War and idealistic young Americans who joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and went to Spain to fight on behalf of the Republican forces there against Nationalist forces led by Francisco Franco.
It was a reminder of how little we know about our recent history, including the stories of many people who were fortunate to survive the war and lived in California for decades after the war. It tells the story of the futility of war and the tragic Franco dictatorship that followed. It also shows the importance of including the human dimension in telling a story, something Hochschild, who is himself a journalist turned historian, has mastered, not only in this gripping account but in other books like “King Leopold’s Ghost” about the
Belgian genocide in the Congo a century ago.
You were a longtime journalist and have degrees in anthropology and child development. What led to your career change from reporting to leading an education nonprofit focused on education equity?
It really wasn’t as large a shift as it might seem. I have been in education in some fashion or another for most of my career. I started off working with autistic children as an undergraduate at Yale where I was taking courses at the famed Institute for Child Development, which at the time was headed by Ed Zigler, the founder of Head Start.
I later started a school for older autistic children and other students who were not being served by the public school system in the San Francisco Bay Area. I got into journalism while I was running a program based at Berkeley High School to mainstream some of these students and help kids who were on the verge of dropping out. I felt it would help the kids if they spoke out on the issues they were facing themselves. That’s why I started Youth News, based in Oakland –coincidentally across the street from where EdSource is now based – which trained high school students as radio news reporters.
EdSource was founded in 1977 When I came to EdSource in 2011 , the communications landscape had obviously changed dramatically from when the organization started. EdSource had been producing highly regarded, but very detailed, reports on various aspects of education reform – materials I highly valued and used when I was a reporter and on the editorial board at the San Francisco Chronicle. But there was a
need to rethink how EdSource produced its content – in shorter, more manageable formats that could be read online and on mobile devices – as well as to be able to respond more quickly to policy and legislative debates in Sacramento and elsewhere.
That, I think, is why the EdSource board hired me at the time. Sue Burr, who later served on the State Board of Education for much of Gov. Jerry Brown’s term, and Carl Cohn, who until August this year was director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, headed the search committee. Both recognized the need for a significant transformation at EdSource. I suggested that we add a journalism arm, and they both embraced that idea as a way to communicate more effectively with the education community. Since then, thanks to the support from over a dozen private foundations, we have grown our
journalism work, and we now have the largest team of education journalists in the state.
You’ve analyzed education reforms for 30 years. Is there one reform in the last three decades you think made the most difference for students?
The recognition of the importance of early education and preschool is clearly the most important reform that has made a difference for young people. This is also a reform where the evidence to back it up has been compelling.
If you could change one thing about education in the U.S. today, what would that be?
The excessive amount of testing and the lack of emphasis on learning for its own sake. In the post-No Child Left Behind era, there’s now an attempt to try to deemphasize the importance of testing
by encouraging incorporating other multiple measures to gauge student and school performance. With its emphasis on multiple measures, California is leading the way.
But we still have a long way to go. In recent years, there’s been a disproportionate focus on standardized tests, which are one-time occurrences, taken by students once a year, such as the Smarter Balanced tests aligned with the Common Core. But there’s been far less attention paid to the tests and exams that students have to take as part of the regular curriculum throughout the school year. For too many children – perhaps for most children – education has become a slog with almost no emphasis on learning for its own sake or promoting the enjoyment of learning.
What single reform would you enact in California?
California should extend transitional kindergarten to a year-round program, especially because of what we know about the importance of high quality preschool. It makes no sense to have a program that serves only one-quarter of 4 -year-olds, those who happen to have turned 5 between September and December.
What do you think about President Trump’s proposed merger of the U.S. Department of Education with the Department of Labor?
The idea of promoting more integration of education with the labor force is a good idea. It’s actually a central element of the current reforms in California and nationally. College and career readiness –preparing students for success not only in college but also in the workforce, whether or not they go to college first –is the goal of the Common Core. It’s
also a principle goal of California’s new accountability system. To measure it, California is developing a College and Career Indicator that will be included in the California School Dashboard. It also makes sense for the Department of Labor and the Department of Education to collaborate when it’s appropriate to do so.
But to take the notion that we should align what kids do in school to what skills they will need to succeed as workers and use it as a rationale to abolish the Department of Education is completely absurd. It’s just another variation on the multiple gop proposals that have been made over several decades to abolish the department. It also distorts the balance. Preparing children to succeed in the workforce is a worthy goal, but that should not be the single goal of why we educate children. It’s also not clear what combining the two departments would accomplish.
The only silver lining – a not insignificant one – is that the Trump administration proposal, like most of his budget proposals until now, is never going to actually happen. It was dead on arrival. But that doesn’t mean that the two departments shouldn’t be thinking about how they could work together, and educators shouldn’t be thinking about how what they do with kids every day contributes to their lifelong success as adults in and outside the workplace.
What effect do you think the ongoing uncertainties with respect to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will have (or is having) on California’s students and the future workforce?
There’s compelling research that shows that just the threat of deportation of a parent or other family members, let alone actual deportation, has multiple impacts
on the mental health and academic performance of even u.s. -born children. Clearly, the uncertainty immigrant students who arrived as minors, mostly with their parents, now face, and the real threat of deportation they face should the Trump administration get its way, will have a direct impact on those students’ ability to stay focused on their education and their careers.
The threat of deportation is making it hard for many of them to make long-term college plans. They would have to decide whether to take out student loans, for example. And there are cases like the one we wrote about at EdSource of a student who was admitted to the uc Berkeley School of Law but wasn’t sure she should start the program because she didn’t know whether she would be around long enough to finish it.
There are about 250,000 daca recipients in California. Most of the focus has been on the students – an estimated 75,000 are attending community college, California State University or University of California campuses. But the vast majority of daca recipients are in the workforce, something they were not legally able to do before this program started. So, it’s possible that nearly 200,000 younger workers will have to leave their current jobs and begin working in the shadows of the labor market, perhaps having to use counterfeit documents. Their earnings will be significantly depressed with lifelong consequences for them and their families.
Of course, the federal government has all their contact information and it would be easy to deport them if the Trump administration chose to do so, with a devastating effect, not only on the daca recipients themselves – many of whom have no memory of their countries of origin – but also on their families.
The impact on the economy is harder to determine. But some estimates say that if all 800,000 daca workers lost their right to work, it could cost the u.s. economy $400 billion. California’s share of that could be close to $100 billion. That would be quite a hit for the state’s economy.
What do you think will be the main education issue argued about in the upcoming midterm elections?
The fourth year of Smarter Balanced test results will be released in September, and it’s inevitable that these will become the focus of a lot of discussion, coming as they will just before the November elections. Everyone will be looking at the results to see if there are improvements over last year; whether the results will be essentially flat, as they were last year; or if they have declined.
Unfortunately, if we don’t see significant improvements, this may give at least some advocates a reason to declare California’s current Local Control Funding Formula and related reforms a failure. That in turn may put pressure on Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom – almost certainly California’s next governor – to rethink his public declarations to support the basic thrust of California’s reform initiatives going forward.
So, the next round of test results has the potential to have the most impact on the reform process than any of the previous results.
What initiative at EdSource are you currently most excited about?
EdSource is developing a plan, in coordination with leading institutions of higher education, to prepare the next generation of education journalists –one that mirrors the diversity of California. With the continuing erosion of the traditional media, the ranks
of experienced journalists have been eviscerated; and there’s an urgent need to build a pipeline of education journalists for the future.
Unfortunately, education is not an area that many journalists actually want to cover, so we have to figure out how to entice people to see this as a field that’s exciting and important to report on. Informing our thinking are some of the strategies we’ve been writing about ourselves to engage young people in career paths and to train effective teachers.
Along those lines, we’re fleshing out the idea of creating a “career pathway” for education journalists, perhaps beginning in journalism school, combined with short-term paid internships that could then lead to a year-long journalism residency. These in turn could lead to employment at EdSource and other reporting outlets. Or we could appeal to mid-career journalists who would like to explore education reporting, and we could create similar pathways for them. z z z
Get daily reports from EdSource by signing up for their email newsletter at EdSource.org.
Julie Phillips Randles is a freelance writer based in Roseville, California.
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By Jennifer Fink
If the words “strategic planning” strike fear in your heart – or conjure images of dusty binders on an office shelf – you’re not alone.
Once the purview of corporations, strategic plans entered local education agencies ( lea s ) in the 1970 s. But despite good intentions, “a lot of them were not successful,” says casbo ceo & Executive Director Molly McGee Hewitt. “In my career and personal life, I’ve probably been involved in 50 different strategic planning processes, and the overwhelming majority of them did not lead to anything substantial.”
casbo , however, has used strategic planning to successfully guide the association for more than a quarter of a century, and McGee Hewitt can point to specific initiatives and actions that are a direct outgrowth of casbo ’s strategic plan, including hiring an in-house legislative advocate, increasing autonomy for
its regional sections and creating online learning opportunities. lea s nationwide have used strategic planning to harness community support and boost student achievement. In some municipalities, strategic planning has helped them pass referendums and secure funding that eventually fueled necessary expansion and renovations.
So, what sets apart a successful, lea -changing strategic plan from one that molders on the shelf? “A good strategic plan is the umbrella for everything in the school system,” says Kevin Castner, executive director of Cambridge Strategic Services, a firm that helps guide lea s through the strategic planning process. “When you do a budget, you should see a paper trail to the priorities listed in the strategic plan,” Castner says.
Strategic plans that fail to lead to meaningful progress often break down due to one (or more) common mistakes.
In too many lea s, strategic planning is an every-oncein-a-while event rather than a constant process.
Here are six mistakes that can derail your strategic plan, as well as suggestions you can use to ensure that your plan leads to long-term gains:
No. 1
Thinking of strategic planning as an event
In too many lea s , strategic planning is an every-once-in-a-while event rather than a constant process, says Jim DeLizia, a consultant who provides strategic planning services to associations and businesses. “People think, ‘We’re going to have this meeting and create this plan and then we’re going to go home,’” DeLizia says.
But effective strategic planning is a cyclical, multi-step process. In fact, the Cambrian model, which is commonly used by lea s , includes 12 steps:
1 Confirm commitment and readiness.
2 Prepare for planning.
3 Build planning team.
4 Conduct first planning session.
5 . Communicate draft plan.
6 Build action teams.
7 Develop action plans.
8 Conduct second planning session.
9 . Prepare implementation schedule.
10 . Obtain board approval.
11 Systematize school planning.
12 Create continuously.
Consider strategic planning as an ongoing process
“This is about meeting change while still being consistent with your basic values,” Castner says. The plan you create should become a tool that guides all decisionmaking and resource allocation.
“If used properly, a strategic plan becomes a valuable management tool to
really guide direction and action in an organization,” DeLizia says. As new challenges and ideas arise, leaders can refer to the strategic plan to determine which action, if any, to take.
Neglecting to build in enough time for research and data analysis
“Coming into a strategic planning session with a blank piece of flip-chart paper and a marker and saying, ‘Gee, what do you think?’ is a waste of time,” DeLizia says. To build an effective plan, you need a solid understanding of your lea’ s assets and liabilities, both financial and otherwise. You need an awareness of educational trends and data that allows you to compare your lea ’ s functioning to other, similar lea s . That’s why DeLizia allots at least two months of preparation before engaging in any active strategic planning.
“You don’t want to come together without good intelligence to make good decisions,” he says. “You are going to be making critical decisions that you’ll ultimately use to direct, focus and align the resources of your organization.”
Use tech tools to help you sort through data and pinpoint areas ripe for intervention
“Data can often point to areas of strategic investments,” says Jeff Carew, managing director of Forecast5 Analytics, a casbo Premier Partner. “If you look at the data for any particular school district, you can get a really good sense of what’s important to them by looking at places where they are making significant investments. In many cases, we’ll also find that districts are actually
under-investing in an area that is important to them.”
5 Sight is a Forecast 5 product that allows lea s to pull and quickly analyze a large amount of data. “You can see how much you’re spending on salaries and benefits and how much your peers are spending,” Carew says. “You can get deep into the enrollment information, student performance and financial information of every California school district.”
With that info in hand, you can quickly see where you deviate from your peers. It may be that you have sound reason for investing heavily in a particular area – or it may be worth a call to a colleague to figure out how they manage to achieve similar (or better) outcomes with a smaller investment.
“The key to strategic planning is to get the information to the table so the planning group has the intelligence it needs to make good decisions,” DeLizia says.
Failing to engage stakeholders
Functional strategic plans are not imposed from up high. People tend to resist plans created by others – and embrace plans that include their ideas and values. For instance, lea s frequently run into trouble when they fail to adequately consider school board priorities.
“Sometimes there’s a disconnect between who creates the plan and who actually implements and funds the plan,” McGee Hewitt says.
The plan you create should become a tool that guides all decision-making and resource allocation.
It’s impossible to predict exactly what will happen next in education. So, although good data and planning can help lea s manage change, it’s important to build in flexibility.
Invite the school board
It’s important to include and inform your school board throughout the strategic planning process. Depending on your lea and the intended comprehensiveness of the final plan, board members may be invited to serve on the strategic planning team. But if they’re not, “You’ve got to find ways to engage the board,” DeLizia says. You may have informal discussions with board members or invite them to speak to the planning group. At a minimum, representatives of the planning team should update the board frequently.
Depending on your strategic plan’s goals, you may also need to build in time for community engagement. In the Cambrian model, the first step of the planning process can include a community-wide education summit to solicit input and engage parents, students and taxpayers.
“Siloed” strategic planning
All too often, the strategic planning process is undertaken without considering other important events and actions. “If the budget is done in May and the strategic plan is created in October, is the plan really driving the budget?” DeLizia asks.
Usually, the answer is no.
Align planning with other initiatives and milestones
Strategic plans should be completed –and re-evaluated – well before annual budgets are due. To determine optimal timing for strategic planning, write down
all important deadlines and initiatives, and work backward.
Remember, your strategic plan is an umbrella document for your lea . It does not take the place of your Local Control and Accountability Plan, but it should drive its direction. Similarly, your emergency, safety and facilities plans should align with the strategic plan.
No. 5
Not building in enough flexibility
It’s impossible to predict exactly what will happen next in education. So, although good data and planning can help lea s manage change, it’s important to build in flexibility. You want a plan that can persist despite unseen challenges.
Plans that are too specific often fail. “One district I worked with created a 10 -year master plan. It was obsolete in a week,” McGee Hewitt says.
Create contingency plans
“I encourage school districts to quickly run through different scenarios,” says Forecast5 ’s Carew. “If you’ve proactively discussed possible scenarios, when the final numbers roll in or variables are identified, you’ve still got momentum.”
Carew encourages lea s to create “best-case, worst-case and somewherein-the-middle” contingency plans to deal with uncertainties such as student enrollment and school funding. “Get your stakeholders involved in these conversations,” Carew advises. Such conversations add life to a strategic plan by pointing the path forward. Without such flexibility, a plan can quickly become irrelevant.
At the same time, it’s important to know when to adapt the plan in response
to unforeseen circumstances. The California wildfires, for instance, may be forcing some lea s to shift their stated priorities. “When these kinds of events take place, we can put our strategic plan on the back burner and deal with reality,” McGee Hewitt says.
Filing, rather than working, the plan
“You can have the greatest strategic plan in the world, but if it sits on the shelf, it’s of no value,” says Bill McGuire, deputy superintendent at Twin Rivers Unified School District, a casbo organizational subscriber.
Because it takes so much effort to develop a strategic plan, the final version is often considered the final product. But the goal of strategic planning isn’t simply to create an attractive blueprint; it’s to create positive change. In many ways, the production of a strategic plan should be viewed as the beginning of a change effort.
Create timelines, priorities and check-ins
Tie your strategic plan to your lea ’ s day-to-day administration and activities. Discuss it in departmental meetings.
Collectively talk about how to achieve the goals you’ve outlined, and begin assigning tasks and deadlines. For instance, Twin Rivers Unified wants to increase the percentage of its students performing at the proficient or advanced level in English and math to 40 percent. To reach that goal, the district has identified numerical goals for each school. A school that already averages a 50 percent proficient or advanced level, for instance, is now aiming for 65 percent; while a school that is currently at 20 percent is charged with attaining at least a 35 percent proficient or advanced level. Individual departments are also working toward goals that will help boost overall student achievement. “We have a goal that says we’re going to increase the number of meal participants because we know that if hungry students are eating, they’re going to learn better,” McGuire says. “We have goals for on-time transportation because we know that if we can get students to school on time, they can be ready to learn. We also have work orders to make sure our hvac system is in good condition, so the students and teachers will be comfortable. That’s how we connect operations to student achievement.”
Each lea should also create regular check-ins to evaluate progress and tweak the plan as necessary. For most lea s ,
Without a functional strategic plan, “you’re not going to accomplish anything.”
plans should be formally evaluated at least annually; comprehensive strategic planning can happen every three to five years.
Without a functional strategic plan, “you’re not going to accomplish anything,” says McGuire; you’ll get bogged down in the day-to-day challenges. “A strategic plan gives you a vision and goals to accomplish, and that keeps everyone focused on the big picture.” z z z
Jennifer Fink is a freelance writer based in Mayville, Wisconsin.
Do you recognize one of these mistakes in your own planning process? Tweet and let us know if one of our solutions appeals to you at #CASBO.
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A collaborative classroom is an interactive learning experience that pools equipment, materials and minds into a common area. We’re more than just office products, we’re people and solutions to help your school succeed.
By Jennifer Snelling
Since the #MeToo movement began, the pervasiveness of sexual harassment has become a national conversation across all professions, and schools are not immune. The culture as a whole is grappling with the definition of sexual harassment and how to handle it.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in 2017 , at least 26 public school districts, including some in California, agreed to $37 million in settlements stemming from allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault of students, teachers or other employees. While these cases represent some of the most egregious violations, there is a spectrum of sexual discrimination and harassment that can include everything from a joke to consistent comments leading to a hostile work environment to statutory rape.
When #MeToo comes to school
“ The thing about sexual harassment is that we think of the end result being a lawsuit, but the things districts are dealing with on a daily basis are internal complaints.”
It’s too soon to evaluate whether there has been an increase in lawsuits against school districts since #MeToo, says Stephanie White, senior counsel for law firm Lozano Smith, a casbo Premier Partner that represents California local education agencies ( lea s ), but there has been an increase in complaints filed. The number of sexual harassment training sessions requested of Lozano Smith has also increased significantly.
“The thing about sexual harassment is that we think of the end result being a lawsuit, but the things districts are dealing with on a daily basis are internal complaints,” says White. “The cost for investigating allegations and implementing training is significant.”
According to Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, a professional
law corporation and casbo associate member, the average cost to investigate and defend an employment claim is more than $300,000 , and claims average up to $1 million. The expense of lawsuits, training and the negative publicity once a lawsuit hits the news is causing many lea s to react proactively before potential issues arise.
One thing that has become clear, thanks to the #MeToo movement, is that sexual harassment takes many forms.
There are well-publicized cases, such as the one at Morgan Hill Unified School District involving the sexual assault of three elementary school girls over several years by a male teacher.
(The lawsuit contended that the district failed to investigate previous complaints concerning the teacher. Morgan Hill Unified denied liability and has declined to comment but did approve an $8.25 million settlement.)
However, far more common are situations such as the one Gina Lance, executive director for human resources at Orange County Department of Education ( doe ), describes: Two single co-workers started going to lunch together. One gave the other a few compliments about her appearance, and suddenly she wondered if she misunderstood his intentions. The next time a lunch invitation was offered, she gave an excuse. Their signals were crossed, and they weren’t sure how to get back to a strictly professional relationship.
The situation was salvageable, says Lance, because the employee reported the situation early, and both employees were open to additional training on appropriate workplace behavior. All lea s have policies that prohibit discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Employees should be informed of those policies when they begin their employment, and administrators should be required to attend training every two years. Additional training should be available upon request.
“The #MeToo movement hasn’t changed how we address and respond, but it has prompted us to be more deliberate in promoting awareness about what potential issues could look like and how we will go about addressing them when we know about them,” says Lance. “We hope, in turn, this reiterates our expectations for a safe and healthy work environment free of inappropriate behavior.”
While perception and intent are not always the same, an employee’s
perception of conduct, regardless of intent, can signal a violation of lea policy. In the case above, the fact that one employee was uncomfortable and unsure of the intention was enough to trigger a need for intervention.
“From a training perspective, it’s easier when you have the cut-and-dried cases,” says Lance. “It’s these little ones that we struggle with more often, when you’re just trying to help people with their own personalities.”
The situation that arose at Orange County doe was neither quid pro quo (where a supervisor uses his or her authority over a subordinate employee to gain sexual concessions) nor a hostile work environment (where the workplace is charged with actions or comments that are severe or pervasive enough to interfere with an employee’s ability to do his or her job).
“One joke doesn’t necessarily rise to the level of harassment,” says Jonathan A. Pearl, chair of the labor
employment and practice group for San Francisco-based Dannis Woliver Kelley, a casbo Premier Partner. Pearl provides preventive counseling and works with lea s in mandatory sexual harassment training for administrators. “But even that joke or comment about how someone looks needs to be addressed as early as possible so that it doesn’t rise to the level of being pervasive. Even if it’s a joke, employees should be counseled so they know what the expectations are.”
One key expectation is being “on notice,” which means that the lea , supervisor or human resources personnel knew, or should have known, about a potential violation of policy. Being “on notice,” whether formal or informal, written or unwritten, triggers an obligation to investigate. An lea should immediately take remedial steps to stop the behavior from continuing, which may include placing the employee on leave until the investigation is complete and preventing the situation from happening in the
Encouraging a culture of self-reflection, where conversations are more about understanding than accusation, can be an invaluable opportunity for workplace culture to grow in a positive direction.
future. Additionally, if an employee files an official complaint, the lea is required to respond.
Another #MeToo lesson is that reporting sexual harassment can be intimidating for victims. For this reason, Orange County doe has made an intentional choice to keep its complaint-filing procedure flexible. Complaints do not have to be in writing, and an employee has several choices of where to register a complaint. Orange County doe has even started the process of getting a hotline so that complaints can be anonymous, making the process even less intimidating.
“Overall, there needs to be a good balance in our approach – we can’t sacrifice a valid investigative and response procedure in favor of the human aspect,
and we can’t sacrifice the human aspect in favor of the procedure,” says Lance.
It is crucial to train administrators, staff members, and all education professionals who are in the classroom or on the ground with the kids on a daily basis. They are the ones who will see or hear potential Title ix violations, says Lozano Smith’s White.
The u.s. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights ( ocr ) is tasked with enforcing Title ix of the Education Amendments of 1972 , which states that no one can “on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education
program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Lozano Smith has had a record number of Title ix training sessions requested in the past year and, as a result, created a Title ix Impact Team. As of this year, the training includes harassment based on gender identity, sexual orientation and sexual identity. The Title ix Impact Team created a Title ix Toolkit and Client News Briefs that make schools aware of the law and any changes made to it.
The movement continues to play out in our national conversation and the political realm, even as lea s address issues. In 2017 , the Trump administration’s Department of Education issued interim guidance on schools’ responsibilities in addressing sexual misconduct and rescinded 2011 documents, which were both intended to provide more support for those making sexual misconduct complaints.
The new guidance places greater emphasis on the rights of those accused of sexual misconduct but lacks details, meaning lea s may need to seek legal consultation more often. It also changes how the department will evaluate whether schools’ procedures satisfy Title ix ’s procedural requirements. For example, it could loosen the timeframe for investigating sexual misconduct claims and raise the standard of evidence required to prove them. It may also provide new rights for the accused, including the right to interim measures and written notice of the accusations against them.
Further complicating the situation, California lawmakers are seeking to return to the standards laid out in the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter in Senate Bill 169 , which was approved by the Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature or veto. If the bill is signed, educational institutions may wish to
consult with legal counsel regarding potential conflicts between federal guidance and state law.
Another potential change coming down the pike involves the statute of limitations. Currently, a student can report sexual abuse until the age of 26 or within three years of discovery. Legislation has been introduced to raise the age to 40 . Judy Miller, director of risk management and environmental safety for Perris Union High School District, a casbo organizational subscriber, says this change could make it more expensive and difficult for an lea to stay protected within its joint powers authority (jpa) , a joint financing mechanism that allows lea s to pool their risk to fund the cost of liability coverage.
Miller, who has experience working with a jpa ’s claims and coverage, says that the culture within lea s must change so that we are all more aware of problematic situations. “It’s about having policies that set boundaries,” she says. “For instance, not taking a kid in a vehicle, not texting individually with a student or [not] covering up your windows. Everyone is busy trying to educate kids,” she adds. “But we don’t want to end up on the front page of the newspaper.”
While it’s hard to know yet whether the cost of settlements have risen as a result of the #MeToo movement, media outlets pick up these stories more frequently than they used to, making the stakes even higher for public employees.
Liability costs for an lea can be millions of dollars, but there is also an effect on workforce morale – not only with respect to the victims but also to those working with the individuals involved. An
uncomfortable environment can affect workplace culture and productivity, says Pearl. For this reason, a third party can and should report behavior that is inappropriate because it can help encourage a more respectful culture throughout the workplace.
Encouraging a culture of selfreflection, where conversations are more about understanding than accusation, can be an invaluable opportunity for workplace culture to grow in a positive direction. While there are some cases where violations are clear and egregious, small cases that require only straightforward conversation and training to resolve are more common.
As in the case with the two single colleagues whose frequent lunches led to a misunderstanding, retraining staff, explaining about perception versus intent and providing a structured opportunity for reflection can prevent people from being hurt and careers from being affected. Lance advises putting systems in place to receive and handle situations that arise, encourage early intervention, listen in good faith and ask what remedy the reporting employee wishes to see.
“Since #MeToo, we are acknowledging that there has been a culture shift,” says Lance. “We are letting people know that, while there are those big stories, it’s more likely something smaller. If something makes you uncomfortable at work, we want you to report it. Those big things aren’t the only things we’ll protect you from.” z z z
Jennifer Snelling is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Oregon.
Has the #MeToo movement changed your workplace culture? Visit our Facebook page and let us know!
In “Learning Leadership: The Five Fundamentals of Becoming an Exemplary Leader,” authors James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner attempt to answer the age-old question: Exactly how does one learn to be a leader?
Yep, that’s a big question, but this comprehensive guide tees up a framework to help individuals at all levels and functions take charge of their personal leadership development to become the best leaders they can be.
Think of it as a guide book to leadership that includes first-hand stories, coaching tips and practical actions to help you find the capacity and the context to help you succeed as a leader.
After all, the authors argue that everyone has the capacity to lead. Getting there is just a matter of coming to terms with five takeaways: believing in yourself, aspiring to excel, challenging yourself, engaging support and practicing deliberately.
Readers say the book is easy to digest, practical and a good reminder to be a lifelong learner. Reviewers also appreciate how the authors bring real stories, research and 30 years of leadership experience to the text.
By Molly McGee Hewitt CEO & Executive Director
Leaders are tasked with training, advising and providing guidance to those they supervise. But those responsibilities come in two forms: mentoring and micromanaging.
Think about it. Are you a mentor or a micromanager? And do you subscribe to a particular methodology for all employees or do you customize your approach?
Micromanaging is generally seen as overkill, even dictatorial. It puts employees in a position of having little opportunity for self-determination or individual initiative. You tell them exactly what you want done, how to do it, when to do it and in what format you’ll accept it. You dictate nearly every detail. Then, employees must do it your way if they want to succeed.
Usually, those adept at micromanaging believe they know the right way to do things, and they want staff to embrace their methods. Many micromanagers believe this approach provides quality control over projects. It’s a positive, they tell themselves.
Other leaders are micromanagers as a last resort. If an employee is struggling, they turn to micromanaging to get the job done. They see it as a short-term solution to orient an employee and drive success.
Leaders who mentor their employees have an entirely different approach. They want to help their employees be successful, but they also want them to take responsibility for their success. They offer direction, guidance and support, but they require a higher level of critical thinking from them. Rather than figuring it out for them, these leaders ensure employees have the tools to figure it
out for themselves. They see mentoring as a long-term approach to building success and empowering employees.
As parents, we begin as micromanagers – perhaps because parenting begins with infants who simply can’t care for themselves. Still, successful parenting is about demonstrating, modeling, supporting and training children to take personal responsibility. As much as we may not like all of our children’s choices, we need to allow them to develop their own characters and values.
The most successful parents give their children the freedom of selfdetermination and allow for both success and failure. That’s not easy. Parents who can’t let go hover around their children and micromanage every detail of their lives. The lucky ones among us have parents who shifted from micromanager to mentor early on.
history. How things evolve into the future should be the priority.
Today’s employees deserve more involvement in decision-making. They have ideas and want to play a role regardless of their titles or longevity in their organizations. They have different work styles, work ethics and personal needs. They’re more educated and technologically advanced, and they communicate more directly than past generations. They’re also more open to leaving if a position doesn’t meet their needs.
It’s interesting to note that many who practice micromanagement don’t appreciate being micromanaged. If this is you, it’s time to do some self-discovery and review. “Do as I say and not as I do” is a powerful statement. It promotes a double standard and creates a divisive workplace.
Given the dynamics of today’s workforce, leaders must have a variety of methods for handling employee development. While micromanaging may be necessary on occasion, mentoring is the best option for employees’ long-term success.
But let’s face it, supervising adults in the workplace isn’t easy – it might even be harder than parenting! One approach does not fit all.
Successful leaders must continually study and explore leadership concepts. How we manage reflects not only who we are as leaders, but also our ability to face challenges and embrace the diversity and differences in our workplaces. How it was done in the past is just interesting
Given the dynamics of today’s workforce, leaders must have a variety of methods for handling employee development. While micromanaging may be necessary on occasion, mentoring is the best option for employees’ long-term success. Understanding your style and enhancing your leadership skills are always the best investments you can make in your career. z z z
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For over a quarter of a century, SISC has provided our members with solutions for all their insurance needs.
We feature:
• Unique plans and services
• A wide range of options
• A long track record of stable and affordable rates
We currently cover:
• 430 School Districts
• Over $2.2 Billion in Annual Payroll
• Over 300,000 member lives • Over $12.1 Billion in Total Insured Value
We offer:
• Workers’ Compensation
• Health Benefits
• GASB OPEB Trust
• SISC Investment Pool
• Property and Liability
• Risk Management Services
• SISC Defined Benefit Plan
• SISC Flex Plan (Section 125 Plan)
Please contact SISC by calling 800-972-1727 for more information or visit our website at www.sisc.kern.org
A Joint Powers Authority administered by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office, Mary C. Barlow, Superintendent
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9 !
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Building a visionary company requires one percent vision and 99 percent alignment.
Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, “Built to Last”
51%
In a nationally representative survey of 6,251 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 26-Mar. 11, 2018, about half (51 percent) think the increased attention to the #MeToo issue has made it harder for men to know how to interact with women in the workplace, while 12 percent say it’s made it easier for men and 36 percent say it hasn’t made much difference.
Pew Research Center, “Sexual Harassment at Work in the Era of #MeToo,” April 4, 2018
” How you behave online is how you are in real life. That’s you. There’s no separation. You’re a person who says those kinda things.
Mitch Gerads
Of a typical workforce doesn’t understand its organization’s strategy. On Strategy 95%
” There’s a high degree of
sensitivity
now to this subject and, if anything, in this climate. This duty to [notify proper
authorities],
I believe, is much more on the forefront of the minds of most educators.
Dean Eggert, attorney who has trained school administrators on addressing sexual harassment and other complaints
Of U.S. recruiters and hiring managers have rejected candidates based on information found online.
Career Builder 70%
Piper Jaffray California Public Finance
Piper Jaffray is a leader in providing financial services for California school districts and community college districts. Our team of dedicated K-14 education finance professionals has more than 150 years of combined experience and service to the education industry.
• General Obligation Bonds
• Certificates of Participation
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Timothy Carty
Managing Director
310 297-6011
timothy.p.carty@pjc.com
Elaine Reodica
Associate
310 297-6034 elaine.v.reodica@pjc.com
Mark Adler
Managing Director
310 297-6010
mark.j.adler@pjc.com
Rich Calabro
• Interim Project Financing
• Debt Refinancing/Restructuring
• GASB 45 Liability Funding
Managing Director
310 297-6013
richard.n.calabro@pjc.com
Gauhar Bauyrzhankyzy Analyst
415 616-1627
gauhar.x.bauyrzhankyzy@pjc.com
Pam Hammer
Office Supervisor
310 297-6023
pamela.a.hammer@pjc.com
Jin Kim
Senior Vice President
310 297-6020
jin.y.kim@pjc.com
Trennis Wright
Senior Vice President
310 297-6018 trennis.l.wright@pjc.com
Piper Jaffray California public finance investment banking offices are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and Orange County.
Ivory Li
Managing Director
415 616-1614
ivory.r.li@pjc.com
Ilya Barats Analyst
310 297-6016
ilya.x.barats@pjc.com
Let us help you achieve your financing goals.
Visit www.stifel.com/institutional/public-finance or contact a member of our School Finance Group:
Northern California | San Francisco Office
Bruce Kerns
Managing Director (415) 364-6839 bkerns@stifel.com
Erica Gonzalez
Managing Director (415) 364-6841 egonzalez@stifel.com
Roberto J. Ruiz Director (415) 364-6856 rruiz@stifel.com
Southern California | Los Angeles Office
Dawn Vincent Managing Director (213) 443-5006 dvincent@stifel.com
Robert Barna Managing Director (213) 443-5205 rbarna@stifel.com
Stifel is the leading underwriter of California K-12 school district bonds.* We assist local districts in providing financing for facility projects and cash flow borrowing, including new construction, modernization, renovation, and technology improvements. Our work with California school districts includes general obligation bonds, Mello-Roos bonds, certificates of participation, leases, bridge financings, TRANs, and the refinancing or restructuring of previously issued bonds.
We give back to the communities we serve by providing college scholarships to graduating high school seniors through Stifel’s annual Fabric of Society essay competition and by supporting school-related foundations and functions through the Stifel Education Program (“StEP”).
* Source: Thomson Reuters SDC, by par amount and number of issues for negotiated transactions in 2017. Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated