March 9, 1999For Release March 9, 1999
New Organizational Charts NEW DISTRICT CENTRAL OFFICE STRUCTURE REDIRECTS RESOURCES TO SCHOOL SITESSAN DIEGO—The Board of Education today approved a dramatic central office redesign that will streamline San Diego City Schools administrative functions and redirect to 174 school sites substantial new resources aimed at improving student achievement through support of teaching and learning in the classroom.
Board President Edward Lopez stated: "These are difficult decisions to make, but if we are serious about improving student achievement, we cannot continue on a ‘business as usual’ course. We will make the hard decisions because they are the right direction for the district to take. I am convinced that we will not see the increased student achievement our community expects unless we change the way the school district conducts its work. One of the key elements here is to restructure the relationship between district offices and school sites."
Approximately $8.3 million in central office resources will be available for school site-based staff developers and other site needs as a result of the 13 percent reduction in central administrative expenditures spelled out in the District Organization Structure for 1999-2000. The cuts, contained in a plan submitted by Superintendent of Public Education Alan Bersin, includes a 12 percent reduction in the number of central office staff, amounting to 104.5 positions. The "central office" designation refers to any district or instructional administrative cost center not directly involved with students.
Focusing on services and operations, not individuals, the reorganization identifies central office functions to be eliminated, reduced, shifted or consolidated. Financial and human resources are reallocated accordingly. Some aspects of the new organization structure become operational immediately, while others will be implemented between now and June 30, 1999.
"Additional resources for our schools can only be generated at this juncture by reducing the number of administrative positions through consolidating or eliminating functions at the central office," Bersin said. "The new organization will strengthen the district’s management structure, resulting in more efficient support for the classroom and significant new resources allocated to schools."
The review of staff functions culminating in today’s action began in January after the Board directed the Superintendent to reduce central office expenditures by at least five percent for the 1999-2000 budget. A task force was designated and all central office managers were required to review their respective department budgets and submit recommendations for reduction. Task force members then identified functions and areas of program responsibility that could be reduced or eliminated either because they are not mandated by any funding source or Board policy, or could be consolidated readily with the work of another department or employee.
"The task force members spent hundreds of hours deliberating proposals before making recommendations. Their first consideration, always, was the impact of the recommendation on student achievement," Bersin said. "The needs of our classrooms where teachers and students are and where teaching and learning takes place took first priority."
In his presentation to the Board, Bersin noted that the 1999-2000 Organization Structure is the second phase of central office reorganization and function reduction which began in July 1998 when he commenced his superintendency. At that time, Bersin announced the creation of the Institute for Learning under the leadership of Chancellor of Instruction Anthony Alvarado, and of the Office of Administrative/Operational Support under Chief Administrative Officer Henry Hurley.
The reorganization approved today serves to further locate and align curriculum assessment and professional development functions with instructional leadership and compliance responsibilities within the Institute for Learning. At the same time, it continues the consolidation of finance, business and information services, and human resource/personnel functions in the Administrative Operational Support Office. Staff support services, such as legal and public affairs and communications, will remain in the Office of the Superintendent.
"The intent of the restructuring in each case" said Bersin, "is to update the organization in light of contemporary circumstances and challenges. No similar functional review and realignment has been conducted in many years in our district. The mounting demands today on our system of public education requires that this be done."
One example of the new structure that meets contemporary needs while more closely aligning district services with student achievement and school operations is a redistribution of functions within the Integration and School Choice Department. Instructional Leaders in the Institute for Learning will assume district responsibility for magnet/instructional program at sschools, VEEP (Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment Program) and AEA (Academic Enrichment Academies) programs, and the Institute will manage Magnet Instructional Assistance. Responsibility for integration reporting and compliance has been transferred to the Office of Legal Services, under the leadership of General Counsel JoAnne SawyerKnoll, as has been the Office of Placement and Appeal which supervises, among other matters, student suspensions and expulsions. These functions and programs will be supervised directly in the Office of the Superintendent together with the Race/Human Relations and Guidance Academy and the Comprehensive Health, Physical Education and Wellness Office.
"This does not diminish at all the district’s commitment to integration and integration efforts," Lopez said. "We will continue to build upon past successful practices. However, if we are to close the achievement gap for Latino and African American children, we must reduce central office bureaucracy to support our students and teacher at our underachieving schools. We can no longer tolerate the persistence of the achievement gap."
An analysis of clerical and support staff operations at school sites as well as administrative support functions in the central office will be addressed in a continuing review over the next several months. A thorough review and revitalization of the district’s Human Resources Division will accompany the appointment of a new senior executive for the department, anticipated later this year. In addition, the task force will review the organization and delivery of services in the Special Education Division as it continues to meet the district’s compliance obligations under state and federal mandates. Finally, the next phase of the reorganization will include the design of a strategic planning process that will address the revitalization of visual and performing arts, counseling and guidance, and athletic programs in the San Diego City Schools.
In other action taken today, the Board approved the Academic Achievement Council, a new element in San Diego City Schools efforts to improve student achievement and school performance. Composed of a broad-based group of district, local and national leaders, the Council will review and make recommendations with respect to the district accountability system, assessment and data reporting systems, as well as related matters. The Council will present a progress report and timeline for its work to Superintendent Bersin and the Board of Education early this summer.
"Today’s Board approval of the Academic Achievement Council is an important step in support of our goal to improve student achievement, with a focus on enhancing our district’s accountability system and on narrowing and then closing the academic gap that exists in our district as it exists across the nation," Bersin said. "The Council places our district at the forefront of efforts to engage the educational community and the community-at-large in a frank and wide ranging discussion of public education and strategies for meeting high standards of student achievement and school performance—with ‘no exceptions and no excuses.’"
