Administration

This is a statement I read at the May 18 BOE meeting. I thought since there were not many at the meeting that I would share it here.

As many might know, I was very much against the hiring of an additional Administrator. I was very vocal about it – both at BOE meetings as well as when speaking to friends. My main complaint was if we had done without this position for 13 years, couldn’t we do without it for another few??

I have since had a strong change in opinion – and believe that the Administration team we have will only bring the best to the children of this district. Here are my reasons:

1. After the election, I met with Dr Rossi. Now that I was a member of the Board, he was able to give me further insight into some things that had been referred to as “falling through the cracks”. After the meeting I thought about the severity of those items that had been neglected. I’ve known Ed Hade for a long time, and any that know him would never question his dedication to this district or his work ethic. So things weren’t being missed due to lack of effort – my only conclusion was that they had been missed because it was impossible for one person to keep up with it all.
2. In that same meeting with Dr Rossi, I saw the list of responsibilities for the two Administrators – and it was mind boggling. If one person were to do it all, as we had in the recent past, what else on that list could possibly go unnoticed? and at what cost to the district?
3. After the election I did something else – I talked to people from other districts. I know people in some way connected to schools throughout the state – and I called them. I found a consensus among many – those schools that were of similar size to ours may have had less administrators, but at the same time they were also schools that were ranked anywhere from 250 in the state and down. We are number 98 on the NJ Monthly report – and I would love to see our Administrative team continue to push us higher on this list.
4. I thought about my own experience. For many years the “manager” of my department worked more as a co-worker than a manager. Things didn’t get done. People took advantage of the fact that if they didn’t work up to par, no one was watching to reprimand them. When she resigned, and a new manager was put into place, things changed. We now accomplish more and are more efficient than we ever have been – because we are all being held accountable by a manager who is observing our work on a daily basis.