School District Shakeup

By Teresa Rochester

Jan. 18 -- If a proposed shakeup of the school district unveiled at Thursday night's School Board meeting was an earthquake it would have measured 7.5 on the Richter Scale.

The dramatic plan, laid out by Supt. John Deasy, will restructure the administration of the district and Santa Monica High School and implement continuous professional development for administrators, school principals and teachers in order to improve education.

The proposal, which likely will be in place by September, was met with applause by nearly two dozen parents when Deasy concluded his presentation at around 12:30 a.m. Board members also were excited by the plan.

"I think for the first time when we say we will offer the best for our kids it will happen," said Board Member Maria Leon-Vazquez.

Deasy's restructuring effort is in line with his promise last year to move the district to a well-managed corporate mindset that is customer driven, focused on results and the future and leaves room for continuous improvement.

"I'm making these changes in direct response to the hopes and dreams of students in person and in surveys," Deasy said. "It would be a huge mistake to look at this as a deficit model. The model is about continuous learning. It's about being relentless about student achievement."

The restructuring will result in the loss of about a dozen positions in the district. But Deasy noted that the changes did not reflect a dissatisfaction with personnel but were made to put in place a structure in the central office that improves instruction.

Under the new plan the current group of three assistant superintendents will be trimmed to two and will be overseen by Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Staff Dr. Joe Quarles.

One assistant superintendent will oversee educational services, which includes the offices of staff development and leadership, curriculum and instruction, assessment and standards and data and information services.

The district's grant coordinator and offices of instructional technology, child development services and adult education also will fall under the purview of educational services. District officials will soon begin searching for candidates for the job.

The second assistant superintendent will oversee student and family services. Deasy announced that Peggy Harris, currently the district's director of education services, would be promoted to that position pending a vote by the board.

Special education, outreach and all other student services, as well as community liaisons and psychologists, will be overseen by Harris' office.

The district's assistant superintendent of fiscal and business services will become the chief financial officer. The CFO, along with school principals, also will fall under Quarles' supervision.

Perhaps the most striking restructuring will take place at Samohi, the district's largest school with 3,400 students. A single principal, who has yet to be hired, will serve as the high school's chief executive officer. The principal will provide vision, communicate with all constituent groups, manage communications and exercise and oversee instructional leadership.

Current co-principals Kirsten Hibert and Mark Kelly will serve as associate principals. The associate principals will be split along academic lines, with one overseeing arts and humanities and the other sciences and technical sciences.

Two assistant principals will fall under the associate principal of arts and humanities along with a dean of students. Under the associate principal of sciences and technical sciences will be student service coordinators, an assistant principal and dean of students.

Instead of the traditional counselors on campus, Deasy is proposing 12 student service coordinators. "These administrative positions will serve a number of functions which will dramatically increase direct service to students and families," according to a report by Deasy.

The move to 12 coordinators -- who will craft individual learning plans for each student, serve as the first defense in mediating student and teacher problems and provide college and career assistance -- will result in a 40 percent drop in the current caseload of each counselor.

'The work of implementing this for September is no small task, but I don't want another parent asking when will something" big be done to improve student performance, Deasy said. "If I made an error in my thinking it is that I waited too long in implementing my plan."

One of the cornerstones of Deasy's plan is intense ongoing professional development for all administrators, principals and teachers. Principals were a particular focus of Deasy's presentation. As the individuals who serve as guides and directors of instructional improvement at individual schools, principals will go through a number of activities to strengthen their leadership skills.

Some of the activities include visiting high achieving classrooms and participating in monthly principal support group meetings, principal peer coaching, walkthroughs, district institutes, principal study groups and individualized coaching.

In order to improve instruction under this new structure, Deasy announced plans for the District to annually use the High Performance Learning Survey, developed by researchers of the Carnegie Institute for Middle Level Practices. The survey -- which is currently administered in 22 states -- will be given to all parents, students, teachers and leaders.

Information from the survey, which is time consuming to fill out and analyze, falls into areas such as "what students have learned and how well they have learned it, the teaching and learning processes of a school and its structures and processes." The data can then be used to find areas that can be improved.

When asked how much the restructuring would cost, Deasy responded "the cost is the last consideration on this plate."