TWO CAPTAINS AND ONE SHIP EQUALS A SHIPWRECK

from the associated administrators of los angeles weekly update

Week of June 9, 2008 - The Beaudry Ship (some might say ark) is commanded presently by two captains.

One steers the ship from the 24th Floor while the other one guides from the 11thFloor.

Under normal school district circumstances, the Senior Deputy Superintendent and the Superintendent of Schools would sit side by side at meetings with senior staff. Apparently, such is not the case at Beaudry. Every other Friday, the Senior Deputy Superintendent meets with the Local District Superintendents,and on the alternate Fridays, the Superintendent meets with the same group. Neither attends the other’s meetings.

The Senior Deputy Superintendent has almost all senior staff reporting directly to him. This begs the question of why we need a Superintendent or should the Senior Deputy become the Superintendent. Recently, the Senior Deputy Superintendent, who has been back in the District approximately two months, published an organization chart that AALA hopes will evolve into a meaningful management structure.

It is unfortunate for those staff members who may receive different marching orders depending upon which "captain" provides daily directions. An example of a collision course is when the Superintendent indicates there may be a need to furlough all employees and the Senior Deputy Superintendent indicates that the need may only exist to furlough upper echelon staff. Reasonable line-staff relationships dictate that this matter should have been addressed behind closed doors and a unified message arrived at, before going public.

AALA’s many friends described the current District structure as "constant bearing, decreasing range." Translated – The ships are headed for a collision. And, "in extremis."  Translated – Both ships must take action to avoid collision.

For the sake of students and staff, AALA sincerely hopes that one captain will emerge so that the good ship Beaudry does not flounder on the rocky shoals of confusion and ineptitude.

2008-06-09 UPDATE.pdf (application/pdf Object)