Tuesday, August 10, 1999
State schools chief seeks better ties with districts
Zelman meets administrators
BY CHARLEY GILLESPIE
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — School administrators from across Ohio met with the state superintendent Monday for the first time since a study depicted the state Education Department as inefficient and overly bureaucratic.
“This conference is about rekindling the partnership between the Education Department and the school districts,” state Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman said.
Ms. Zelman said she is bringing a business philosophy to the department and promises to work with districts to meet their needs.
“Schools are our customers and the core reason we exist,” she said.
Jeff Weekly, superintendent of Southern Local School District in Columbiana County, hopes the meeting will help turn around the relationship between local districts and the state.
“The school districts looked at the state department as mandating changes for the districts without providing the necessary means to adjust to those mandatory changes,” he said.
Mr. Weekly said people in the state department are making themselves much more accessible to the district than they were in the past. He said his district has been given some extra resources and a contact to assist in problem solving.
“They are coming down and wanting to work with school districts actually getting to know the people there on a first name basis,” he said.
The study noted deficiencies ranging from pattern of agency employees not returning phone calls to a perception that the department views local schools as an enemy rather than ally.
Ms. Zelman ordered the study soon after taking office in March. Conducted by management consulting company KPMG, it cost $380,000.
“I did a lot of field work before I took this job and I was not surprised by the findings of the study,” she said. “The study gave us information to see where we are now and measure where our progress in the future.”
Many of the superintendents attending the conference had questions about whether the department is ready to help districts once statewide performance standards kick in next year. Districts meeting fewer than 10 of 18 minimum standards will be put on academic emergency or academic watch.
Ms. Zelman said she has reorganized the department and created an Office of Regional Services that will target different districts on academic watch or academic emergency and will work with them to make sure that each and every child in that district succeeds.
Euggle Robertson, superintendent of Waverly City Schools, said she looks forward to the department helping get her school district off academic emergency.
Ms. Robertson said the department promised to do some assessment and show the district what it can do to make improvements.
“Right now, my concerns are getting enough desks in all the classrooms,” she said. “Meeting the one teacher to 15 students ratio is difficult. When you start trying to find the space and the people, it becomes a challenge.”
Jan Osborn, superintendent for the Putnam County Education Service Center, which represents nine local school districts, said he is encouraged by Ms. Zelman's leadership.
“I think they are making a strong effort to share their concern and support local schools,” he said.
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