Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Friday, December 24, 2010
SUPERINTENDENT RESPONSIBILITIES
This time of Christmas Holidays is a good time to consider the responsibilities of the superintendent during holidays and breaks in the school calendar. Having worked in several different school districts varying in size and complexity, I feel qualified through experience to speak to this issue. As aspiring superintendents, or at least as aspiring superintendent certificate holders, it is important that each of you consider the demands of the job BEFORE you have an opportunity to seek such a position.
Most people, including many school district staff, believe that the superintendent and his staff are also on holiday during school holidays. In larger districts, in which many of the responsibilities can be delegated to other staff, the superintendent does have the luxury of enjoying some "down time" during school breaks or holidays...UNLESS a serious incident occurs at one of the schools or at a school event or, in some cases, incidents involving a school employee or even a student. In such instances, the media, the police, or family members may ask the superintendent for assistance...even though he/she is in the middle of a school holiday.
First, it is important to realize that school boards hire a superintendent to be the Chief Executive Officer of a school district 24/7 and 365 days/year. Certainly, superintendents usually have vacation days and the school calendar provides other days in which it is not necessary for the superintendent to be in his/her office. However, when a serious incident related to a school facility or school personnel occurs, it is usually best for the superintendent to be available to respond to such an incident.
In smaller districts, where "face time" is important, superintendents may feel the need to attend holiday basketball games or host a meal at a holiday basketball tournament or cheer on the band at a holiday parade. If a sprinkler pipe breaks in one of the high school gyms spraying water on the new wooden floor, the superintendent is probably not the first person who would need to respond. However, depending on the size of the district, the superintendent probably needs to be present as the district responds and would need to make the board aware of the incident.
If a staff member is involved in a high profile crime during the holidays, the superintendent may be contacted. This is especially true if the crime or incident is related in any way to students.
These thoughts are not intended to suggest that superintendents never get a vacation or time away from their responsibilities. However, they are intended to motivate future superintendent certificate holders to consider and be aware of the likelihood that your holiday plans may not be free from district responsibilities. A superintendent must be prepared to respond to district issues--even during the Christmas Holidays. Merry Christmas!
Most people, including many school district staff, believe that the superintendent and his staff are also on holiday during school holidays. In larger districts, in which many of the responsibilities can be delegated to other staff, the superintendent does have the luxury of enjoying some "down time" during school breaks or holidays...UNLESS a serious incident occurs at one of the schools or at a school event or, in some cases, incidents involving a school employee or even a student. In such instances, the media, the police, or family members may ask the superintendent for assistance...even though he/she is in the middle of a school holiday.
First, it is important to realize that school boards hire a superintendent to be the Chief Executive Officer of a school district 24/7 and 365 days/year. Certainly, superintendents usually have vacation days and the school calendar provides other days in which it is not necessary for the superintendent to be in his/her office. However, when a serious incident related to a school facility or school personnel occurs, it is usually best for the superintendent to be available to respond to such an incident.
In smaller districts, where "face time" is important, superintendents may feel the need to attend holiday basketball games or host a meal at a holiday basketball tournament or cheer on the band at a holiday parade. If a sprinkler pipe breaks in one of the high school gyms spraying water on the new wooden floor, the superintendent is probably not the first person who would need to respond. However, depending on the size of the district, the superintendent probably needs to be present as the district responds and would need to make the board aware of the incident.
If a staff member is involved in a high profile crime during the holidays, the superintendent may be contacted. This is especially true if the crime or incident is related in any way to students.
These thoughts are not intended to suggest that superintendents never get a vacation or time away from their responsibilities. However, they are intended to motivate future superintendent certificate holders to consider and be aware of the likelihood that your holiday plans may not be free from district responsibilities. A superintendent must be prepared to respond to district issues--even during the Christmas Holidays. Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Think Like a Superintendent to Prepare to be a Superintendent
I appreciate the comments and activities that many of you have referenced in the blog in the last few weeks. As you work your way through the activities in your Internship Plan, I encourage you to think about these issues and activities from the superintendent's perspective rather than from the perspective of your current position. For example, as you address budget issues in your plan, the perspective of the superintendent must consider the entire district and often includes political pressures and perhaps even politically negotiated agreements to spend money on certain campuses or to divert funds to address specific issues. As a principal or assistant principal, one's perspective is much more limited and one can afford to be more focused on the individual needs of students and campus issues. As you work through your internship plan, try to address the issues and activities from a superintendent's perspective. You will see that, in many cases, it is a different perspective than the one you might have in your current position. If you do see differences in perspectives from the superintendent's position and your current position, point out those differnces as you descirbe these activities in this blog.
Here's another interesting thought for your consideration. In recent education reports (Education Week, Today's Education, etc.) there have been references to the possibility that the federal department of education could be abolished or at least scaled back significantly. It might be interesting to ask your campus supervisor how they would feel about the U.S. Department of Education being abolished? I suspect that we will see a diverse response among our superintendent candidates. Depending on your location and the interaction with the feds, I predict that the responses will vary from jubilation to indifference to deep consternation. Share your response with us on this blog.
I know you are all working hard in Dr. Nicks' course and I encourage you to continue working through the internship plan as well. Do not allow yourself to get behind on these activities. Don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.
Dr. Creel
Here's another interesting thought for your consideration. In recent education reports (Education Week, Today's Education, etc.) there have been references to the possibility that the federal department of education could be abolished or at least scaled back significantly. It might be interesting to ask your campus supervisor how they would feel about the U.S. Department of Education being abolished? I suspect that we will see a diverse response among our superintendent candidates. Depending on your location and the interaction with the feds, I predict that the responses will vary from jubilation to indifference to deep consternation. Share your response with us on this blog.
I know you are all working hard in Dr. Nicks' course and I encourage you to continue working through the internship plan as well. Do not allow yourself to get behind on these activities. Don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.
Dr. Creel
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
FACULTY BLOG EXPECTATIONS
As you continue with the second course in the Superintendent program, you should be working to complete the items which you identified in your Internship Plan according to the timeline that you established. We will ask you to comment on this blog at least one time each week regarding your progress toward completion of your Internship Plan. While you have other avenues to address questions regarding your next course, you are certainly welcome to address current course issues or questions at this site as well. Your professors will be monitoring this blog and will also be contributing from time to time. Remember, in your first entry, please include the following information:
Please post a comment:
• sign in and share your Action Research blog name and blog address
• provide your frequently used email address and a contact telephone number
• provide an email address, and if possible, telephone number for your site supervisor(s)
Also, since your Internship Plans require you to gather data and conduct research in some cases, we have included a copy of a posting by Dr. Jenkins in a previous course as a cautionary reminder to maintain professional protocol in your work.
• Student confidentiality is important, even if they can’t sue you.
The Supreme Court (U.S., not just Texas) has decided that parents do not have the right to bring a private suit against a school district and/or its employees for violating FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Does that mean it’s OK to engage in casual conversations about students in the faculty lounge? ABSOLUTELY NOT! First, it’s just not the right thing to do. Second, it’s still prohibited by federal law and a school district could lose federal funds. Finally, if school employees become too comfortable with a “they can’t sue me” attitude, it’s virtually guaranteed that Congress will amend the statute to allow for private suits. So be very careful to protect student privacy and confidentiality of records.
• While we’re talking about student confidentiality . . .School district employees should be regularly reminded of their obligations to protect student confidentiality. This applies to all situations, and if you are going to conduct a research project involving individual students or wishing to survey parents, be sure to refer to district policies and procedures for conducting research (this information should be available from your online District Policies and Procedures Handbook).
And in general remember this leadership advice, only employees that have a “need to know” are entitled to specific information about kids. Parents are entitled to all (with a couple of narrow exceptions) information about their children, but are not entitled to ANY information about other folks’ children. We may not discuss any disciplinary action about a child with any parent other than his/hers. While this may be hard for parents to comprehend and accept (e.g., the dad whose kid came out on the losing side of the fight), it is federal law and we must stick to our guns (pardon the pun)!
• Hippo, Hippie, HIPAA – which one is it & why do we care?
We provide this information to guide you on privacy issues concerning colleagues and/or students that may participate in your research project. HIPAA is an acronym (just what educators need-another acronym) for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a federal law that includes a “Privacy Rule” which often applies to school districts. If a school district is a “covered entity” under HIPAA, then it must comply with the rules concerning use and disclosure of “protected health information.” School districts generally will be covered entities and subject to HIPAA privacy rules in two circumstances: (1) if the district provides health insurance for its employees through a self-insured plan, and (2) if the district participates in the Medicaid program known as SHARS (another acronym-School Health and Related Services) and the SHARS billing information is transmitted electronically.
There are some helpful exceptions to the HIPAA rules. Most importantly for school districts, health information that is considered an education record under FERPA (yikes-another acronym) is excluded from the HIPAA privacy requirements. However, health information that is not covered by FERPA (e.g., oral communications about student health issues) must be protected under HIPAA. There also are exceptions for information held by a district in its capacity as an employer (rather than an insurer), such as medical leave certifications, and for disclosure of workers’ compensation records to a district as an employer. In general, do not make statements or declarations in your research regarding an individual’s mental or physical health. On the other hand, it is certainly appropriate to report aggregate data (e.g., 95 students at Hood Elementary have been identified as students with learning disabilities; or 25 students have been identified as dyslexic).
Please do not hesitate to contact one of your professors if you have any questions or concerns about your work.
Dr. Jimmy Creel, Dr. Steve Jenkins, Dr. Elvis Arteberry, Dr. Roy Benavides, Dr. Robert Nicks
Please post a comment:
• sign in and share your Action Research blog name and blog address
• provide your frequently used email address and a contact telephone number
• provide an email address, and if possible, telephone number for your site supervisor(s)
Also, since your Internship Plans require you to gather data and conduct research in some cases, we have included a copy of a posting by Dr. Jenkins in a previous course as a cautionary reminder to maintain professional protocol in your work.
• Student confidentiality is important, even if they can’t sue you.
The Supreme Court (U.S., not just Texas) has decided that parents do not have the right to bring a private suit against a school district and/or its employees for violating FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Does that mean it’s OK to engage in casual conversations about students in the faculty lounge? ABSOLUTELY NOT! First, it’s just not the right thing to do. Second, it’s still prohibited by federal law and a school district could lose federal funds. Finally, if school employees become too comfortable with a “they can’t sue me” attitude, it’s virtually guaranteed that Congress will amend the statute to allow for private suits. So be very careful to protect student privacy and confidentiality of records.
• While we’re talking about student confidentiality . . .School district employees should be regularly reminded of their obligations to protect student confidentiality. This applies to all situations, and if you are going to conduct a research project involving individual students or wishing to survey parents, be sure to refer to district policies and procedures for conducting research (this information should be available from your online District Policies and Procedures Handbook).
And in general remember this leadership advice, only employees that have a “need to know” are entitled to specific information about kids. Parents are entitled to all (with a couple of narrow exceptions) information about their children, but are not entitled to ANY information about other folks’ children. We may not discuss any disciplinary action about a child with any parent other than his/hers. While this may be hard for parents to comprehend and accept (e.g., the dad whose kid came out on the losing side of the fight), it is federal law and we must stick to our guns (pardon the pun)!
• Hippo, Hippie, HIPAA – which one is it & why do we care?
We provide this information to guide you on privacy issues concerning colleagues and/or students that may participate in your research project. HIPAA is an acronym (just what educators need-another acronym) for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a federal law that includes a “Privacy Rule” which often applies to school districts. If a school district is a “covered entity” under HIPAA, then it must comply with the rules concerning use and disclosure of “protected health information.” School districts generally will be covered entities and subject to HIPAA privacy rules in two circumstances: (1) if the district provides health insurance for its employees through a self-insured plan, and (2) if the district participates in the Medicaid program known as SHARS (another acronym-School Health and Related Services) and the SHARS billing information is transmitted electronically.
There are some helpful exceptions to the HIPAA rules. Most importantly for school districts, health information that is considered an education record under FERPA (yikes-another acronym) is excluded from the HIPAA privacy requirements. However, health information that is not covered by FERPA (e.g., oral communications about student health issues) must be protected under HIPAA. There also are exceptions for information held by a district in its capacity as an employer (rather than an insurer), such as medical leave certifications, and for disclosure of workers’ compensation records to a district as an employer. In general, do not make statements or declarations in your research regarding an individual’s mental or physical health. On the other hand, it is certainly appropriate to report aggregate data (e.g., 95 students at Hood Elementary have been identified as students with learning disabilities; or 25 students have been identified as dyslexic).
Please do not hesitate to contact one of your professors if you have any questions or concerns about your work.
Dr. Jimmy Creel, Dr. Steve Jenkins, Dr. Elvis Arteberry, Dr. Roy Benavides, Dr. Robert Nicks
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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