New Superintendent Update Archive
2007-08 School Year
Dr. Richard Voltz, Associate Director
Media Relations
Presentation
Created by Eric
Robinson, CEO of Frontline Public Strategies,
Inc.
Presented at the 2007 IASA New Superintendent Workshop
(password required)
June
16, 2008
More Wellness Information for You
Again, I couldn’t resist sharing some information with you through
another Update. Recently, I subscribed to a great Podcast, “Fitness
Rocks,” and have been listening to the Podcasts when I run in the
morning.
May
26,2008
How much time have you spent on curriculum and instruction
during your first year as a school superintendent?
I couldn’t resist writing another Update based on some recent
readings regarding continuous school improvement. It has prompted a
New Idea to start a new professional development program for
superintendents based on the topic of curriculum and
instruction.
May
21, 2008
Make plans to attend a
Follow-up Workshop to Alan November’s IASA
Keynote!
For those of
you who attended Alan November’s Keynote address at the Spring IASA
Conference and were interested in a follow-up session, we have
great news for you. IASA has contracted with November Learning to
present two one day workshops in Illinois in June. These workshops
will be presented by an associate of November Learning and are
scheduled from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm on Monday, June 16th
in Springfield at the new IASA office and again on Tuesday, June
17th from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm in Glendale Heights (close
to Lombard). These workshops will count for administrative academy
credit and participants will receive a copy of Alan November’s
latest book Web Literacy for Educators.
May
19, 2008
You are ALMOST second year superintendents
Congratulations! You have
survived your first year and you will soon be considered a “second
year” superintendent! However, there is a distinction between
“second year” and “seasoned.” Second year superintendents have
learned how to perform their roles as school superintendents and
have been thru one year of forms, school board meetings, crises
within the district, complicated personnel issues, evaluation of
administrators, and much more. There is still much more to come in
your career as a school superintendent and you will continue to
experience new situations as you mature in this
business.
May
16, 2008
More
Wellness Information for YouAgain, I couldn’t resist
sharing some information with you through another Update. Recently,
I subscribed to a great Podcast, “Fitness Rocks,” and have been
listening to the Podcasts when I run in the morning. You can access
this Podcast via the “Fitness Rocks” website at http://fitnessrocks.org or by going
to the iTunes Store, clicking on “Podcasts,” then “Heath” and you
will find “Fitness Rocks” as one of the highlighted health
Podcasts.
May 9,
2008
Group
Norms
I learned a
very interesting and successful strategy from the Assistant
Superintendent at Ball-Chatham, Carrie VanAlstine. The strategy was
to develop group norms when meeting with a committee. Carrie had
approached me three years ago about changing the teacher evaluation
program at Ball-Chatham. She was interested in adopting the
Danielson teacher evaluation format as she had researched and
studied the method while in graduate school at the University of
Illinois at Springfield. Riverton Superintendent, Tom Mulligan, is
an adjunct professor at UIS and teaches the Danielson Framework in
a personnel course.
April 30,
2008
Follow-up to Alan November’s
Presentation at the IASA Conference
I hope you
had an opportunity to listen to Alan November’s General Session
presentation at the IASA Conference titled Transforming
the Culture of Teaching and Learning. If you attended that
session, you may have left with the feeling that many of our
schools and may I add, superintendents and other educators, are far
behind, in this global world where our students will need to
competitive.
April 17,
2008
Making Expenditure
Projections
This is the third
in a series about working on your 2008-09 school district budget.
The first article dealt with predicting general state aid, the
second gave information and resources for predicting revenue and
this one will concentrate on the expenditure
side.
April 9,
2008
More Budget
Ideas
Last week I wrote about
how to estimate the increase in general state aid based on the
Governor’s information revealed at the budget address. This week we
will review local revenue estimations with information regarding
state and federal revenue estimations to follow next week. Then a
series will be presented about expenditure
predictions.
March 26,
2008
Time to
start working on FY 09 Budget
While embarking upon the remaining months of
your first year as a school superintendent, you need to start
shifting gears and thinking about the 2008-09 school year. You
should have already been thinking about staffing concerns for next
school year. If the school district is growing, you will need to be
attracting new teachers. If there are financial concerns or the
school district is losing enrollment, you should have already made
plans to RIF certified and non-certified
staff.
March 17,
2008
St.
Patrick’s Day Massacre
Having been born and raised on the south side
of Chicago where the annual Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade is
held, I used to consider St. Patrick’s Day as one of my favorite
holidays. Upon becoming an administrator, March became the month
when, as a principal, recommendations were made to the
superintendent regarding the continued employment status of the
non-tenured teachers and also in some years which tenured teachers
to start on remediation. The vision of parents and colleagues
supporting a teacher that was being recommended for non-renewal
will forever be sketched in my memory.
March 10,
2008
Part I: Success in
Action
Recently I had the
opportunity to attend a conference in which the author and
professional entertainer Dan Thurman performed. Dan performed in
front of over 1,000 educators and kept the audience’s undivided
attention for 90 minutes. Of course, watching Dan ride a six foot
high unicycle and juggling a sword, a hatchet and an axe while also
lecturing on why individuals do or do not take action would have
maintained your undivided attention also.
March 4,
2008
Part III: Time
Management
This is the third in a series
of articles on the topic of time management. The core content for
this series is based on a lecture given by Randy Pausch, a
professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who is best known for his
lecture titled The Last Lecture. Randy is dying of
pancreatic cancer and was a recent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Over one million downloads have been made of his last
lecture.
February 25,
2008
Part II: Time
Management
This is the second article in the series on the topic of time
management. The core content for this series is based on a lecture
given by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University,
who is best known for his lecture titled The Last Lecture.
Randy is dying of pancreatic cancer and was a recent guest on the
Oprah Winfrey Show. Over one million downloads have been made of
his last lecture.
February 21,
2008
"Time
Management"
You may remember in my
series on Fit to Lead that I referenced a friend of mine who
has been diagnosed with cancer. His prognosis is not good as his
pancreatic cancer is not operable. Aware of this news, one of my
sons forwarded me a video of Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture.” Randy
Pausch is 47 years old, has three young children, was a computer
science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania,
and also has pancreatic cancer.
February 12,
2008
Part III -
Fit to Lead
This is the third of a
three part series on the topic of “Taking Care of You.”
School administrators have been encouraged to exercise, eat better,
spend time with family and friends and, generally, to think of
themselves first from time to time.
February 6,
2008
Part II –
Fit to Lead
This is the second of a three part series on the topic of
“Taking Care of You.” As you may recall , I have been
advocating for school administrators to take better care of
themselves by eating healthy , exercising regularly, spending
quality time with family, taking time for friends and, in general,
to take a break from your hectic life as a school administrator to
“smell the roses.”
January
28, 2008
Part I –
Fit to Lead
With the beginning of a new year, many people
make a resolution regarding a health issue. This will be the
beginning of a three part series on the topic of “taking care of
you.” As you know, I have been advocating to you beginning
superintendents the importance of taking care of yourself so you
can lead your school district at top efficiency. As a school
superintendent for eighteen years and a school administrator for
thirty years total, I exercised on a regular basis, spent quality
time with my family, and took care of my spiritual self as well. As
a result, I believe I have exited the administrative profession in
excellent health.
January 23, 2008
Part V – Plan for Board Meeting
Success
This is the fifth and final part of a series
about communication between a board of education and the
superintendent. The sources for this series are Dr. Voltz’s
practical experience as a superintendent and information obtained
from a Michigan Association of School Administrators article on
“Administrators’ Tricks of the Trade.” Some key points to
superintendent/board relations were identified through a MASA
survey. You may access the full copy of the article at http://www.gomasa.org/Resources/ContinConv/BdSuptTips.htm.
January 14, 2008
Part IV – Plan for Board
Meeting Success
This is the fourth
of a five part series about communication between a board of
education and the superintendent. The sources for this series are
Dr. Voltz’s practical experience as a superintendent and
information obtained from a Michigan Association of School
Administrators article on “Administrators’ Tricks of the Trade.”
Some key points to superintendent/board relations were identified
through a MASA survey. You may access the full copy of the article
at http://www.gomasa.org/Resources/ContinConv/BdSuptTips.htm.
December 21, 2007
Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season
I would like to
take this opportunity to wish you and your family best wishes
during this holiday season and break. The focus of this message is
for you to step back from your position, spend time with family,
relax, recharge and get ready for the second half of your first
year.
December 17, 2007
Part III – Plan for Board
Meeting Success
This is the third of a five part series about communication
between a board of education and the superintendent. The sources
for this series are Dr. Voltz’s practical experience as a
superintendent and information obtained from a Michigan Association
of School Administrators article on “Administrators’ Tricks of the
Trade.” Some key points to superintendent/board relations were
identified through a MASA survey. You may access the full copy of
the article at http://www.gomasa.org/Resources/ContinConv/BdSuptTips.htm
December 10, 2007
Board/Superintendent
Relations
This is the second of a five part series
about communication between a board of education and the
superintendent. The sources for this series are Dr. Voltz’s
practical experience as a superintendent and information obtained
from a Michigan Association of School Administrators article on
“Administrators’ Tricks of the Trade.” Some key points to
superintendent/board relations were identified through a MASA
survey.
December 3, 2007
Bid
Letting
At
our last On-Line Round Robin session for new superintendents, a
request was made for a process to follow for bidding. The following
procedure was developed by IASB and is a good resource for you when
bidding for equipment, goods or services over $10,000 in value. If
your district is a member of the IASB you can find this policy in
the IASB PRESS Policy Service on the IASB website. I also have
developed a tutorial on how to use this resource on the IASA
Podcast link.
November 21, 2007
Preparing for Collective
Bargaining
For those of you who
attended the New Superintendents’ Summer Conference you may
remember that I suggested putting the teacher association president
at the management table. I developed this philosophy based on my
experiences with collective bargaining.
November 5, 2007
Meeting for new
superintendents at Triple I
This is a
reminder that we will be having our third scheduled session for new
superintendents at the Triple I Conference. We will meet at 1:30
p.m., on Friday, November 16, 2007, at the Hyatt Columbus Room G-H,
which is on the Gold Level of the East Tower. This session will be
dedicated to a Round Robin discussion. You will be divided
into the same groups that were used at the ISBE Conference. The
groups will be 1) Elementary District Superintendents; 2) High
School District Superintendents; 3) Large Unit District
Superintendents (over 1,500 students); 4) and Small Unit District
Superintendents. IASA President Tom Leahy, IASA President-Elect Bob
Gillum, IASA Executive Director Brent Clark and I will again serve
as the moderators.
October 29, 2007
You may want to start thinking about your 2007 Tax
Levy
A
very good resource for information relating to the tax levy process
is the ISBE publication; State, Local and Federal Financing for
Illinois Public Schools 2000-01. You may access this
publication at http://www.isbe.state.il.us/sfms/pdf/slf01.pdf Even though this
publication has a 2000-01 publish date, it is a great reference for
school finance. I have used this publication as a main text when I
teach at Eastern Illinois University.
October 22, 2007
Round Robin
Sessions
Our next Round Robin
discussion session is scheduled for Monday, October 29, 2007, at
noon. I think this is a very good way for new superintendents to
network with other superintendents and listen to discussion on
similar problems. We have hosted one practice session and the
participating superintendents felt it was a good
experience.
October 15, 2007
Superintendent’s Communication to Parents
As a district superintendent, I wrote a regular column
that our local newspaper was kind enough to publish. This concept
of writing to the community was derived from a conversation I had
with an important citizen. We were trying to pass a referendum and
he mentioned to me that the school district should communicate to
the public on a regular basis, not just when the district needed
money for buildings, staff, etc… This really impacted my thoughts
and from that time forward I wrote a regular column to the public
about the school district, which is similar to the regular updates
I write to you as new superintendents.
October 8, 2007
Bidding
Several questions have been raised this fall concerning
the bidding process for school districts. According to the Illinois
School Code 105
ILCS 5/10-20.21. “All contracts for supplies,
materials, or work involving expenditures in excess of $10,000
shall be made in accordance with the State lawbidding procedure, unless specifically
exempted.”
October 2, 2007
Contact your legislators – you can make a
difference
State Superintendent Chris Koch wrote the following message to all
superintendents this week. You can make a difference. Contact your
senator and representative today! I can tell you from personal
experience that calling and talking to your representatives does
make a difference. When you call this time you will be asking your
representatives to pass the funding bill to fund K-12 education at
a level they have already agreed to in prior legislation. Remember
to thank them if it passes and also remember to contact them in the
future to just talk about happenings in your district. Our state
representatives want to talk to you at various times, not just when
you area asking for something.
September 24, 2007
There have been several instances of students bringing guns or
weapons into schools already in this young school year. I would
advise you (as you are new to the district) to review your school
crisis plans. Each of your schools should have a school crisis plan
on how to handle situations that endanger student and staff safety.
We are entrusted to keep the children of the community safe at
school. If an unfortunate incident should occur in one of your
schools, your goal is to keep everybody safe.
September 17, 2007
IASA may be receiving grant
money from the state to develop plans for a mentoring program to
begin for the 2008-09 new superintendents. The planning funding is
being held up in the legislative process the same way that your
additional general state aid is being delayed. In anticipation of
such funding, some preliminary work on developing a mentoring
program may be initiated. Two recently retired superintendents from
central Illinois approached me recently about volunteering as
mentors as a service to their former occupation. I worked with
these two superintendents for many years and I think they will do a
good job of working with new superintendents.
September 7, 2007
Recently I attended training
at IPA on using the software program Elluminate, to provide
professional development to IASA members. Elluminate is a program
that allows a facilitator to offer professional development
opportunities to its members via the Internet.
August 24, 2007
We hope to see you at
the 30th Annual State Superintendents’ Conference
hosted by ISBE on Thursday and Friday September 6 and 7,
2007. Registration for the conference is still open and the
registration brochure can be found online at http://www.isbe.net/supts_conf/supts_conference_reg.pdf. The registration deadline is Friday, August
24, 2007.
August 17, 2007
By now, many of you will have
probably held your opening day teacher institute and your first day
of school or will soon. It is a good idea to hold a “debriefing”
session for all staff that helped prepare and/or participate in
these activities. At this “debriefing” session you can talk about
what was successful or worked well, what (if anything) did not work
well, and what staff members recommend doing differently next year.
You can then file these suggestions away so you will have a
starting point when planning for next year.
August 13, 2007
It has been two weeks
since our New Superintendents’ Conference and I am sure you are
busy getting ready for the new school year. To help get
conversation going on the New Superintendents’ listserver, I
thought I would write this update to generate some
postings.
