[Winona Online Democracy]
A couple of points on site teams...
Site-based management is a concept that I've always assumed came out of
Deming, Glasser, the Total Quality people. (Help me out, Randy!) I think
the key concept is decentralized decision-making for school buildings,
recognizing that each has unique problems and resources. In site-based
management, some decisions are given to the building that formerly would
have resided with central administration.
Site-based management can incorporate some degree of shared decision-making
at the building level, with the team taking on decisions perhaps formerly
made by building administration alone, or by teachers, or some combination.
With a lot of shared responsibility, a site team might be responsible for
budget, scheduling, staff development, hiring, whatever. Without much
shared responsibility, a team might only have responsibility for a few
narrowly defined areas.
It's great to hear from Dick Gaffron that the site team at Rollingstone has
been functioning so well. While I was on the site team at WSHS (2000-02),
we also had times when the mix of perspectives helped us sort out and solve
important problems. Our parent and community reps were in attendance and
very constructive. I think policy on who needs to be on site teams is
pretty well established.
Where I think the policy is lacking is on delineating the responsibilities
of the site team. In the absence of a clear policy, it is up to the
building administrator how much decision making gets shared with the site
team. In my experience, we had too much conflict at meetings over what was
or wasn't appropriate for the site team to address, or even talk about (or
even put on the agenda.) That's why I think a clearer Site Team policy from
the Board would help these teams reach their awesome potential. Without
clear guidelines about how much shared decision-making is expected, there
is too much potential for dysfunction. And then it becomes hard to recruit
people to contribute their time and energy.
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"There are years that ask questions and years that answer."
Zora Neale Hurston
sent by:
Scott Lowery
461 Sunnyview Drive, Rollingstone MN 55969
home phone: (507)689-4532
school phone: (507)450-2256
home email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
school email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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