Interview with Bickley Lucas, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Dayton Public Schools
In 1988, the Dayton Public Schools developed a strategic plan that provided the foundation for the district's philosophy on participative management. In the fall of 1989, then Superintendent Franklin Smith commissioned the Dayton Area Higher Education Consortium to develop a participative management process manual that would serve as a guide to implementing site-based management. During work sessions in the 1989-90 school year, a 40-member planning group conceptualized the process. The group included school board members, the superintendent and his cabinet, central office administrators, principals, teachers, union heads, parents, and citizens.
Today, 11 of Dayton's 49 schools participate in a site-based/participative management pilot. The participants were selected through an RFP process that required 100 percent of a school's building staff to "sign off" on the application. However, the pilot has not expanded pending refinement of the RFP process and other decisions related to decentralization.
During the first year, the pilot schools each received $10,000 planning grants. These schools have increased responsibility for decisions involving curriculum development, instructional delivery, staff development, budgeting, personnel, school climate, student life, and parental and community involvement.
Because of some ongoing concerns over decentralization, the district has elected to make site-based management a gradual and natural process, without using site-based management as a defining term. The district's current focus is on facilitating a "school improvement process with greater building level decision-making."
In 1992-93, district policies will offer individual schools the ability to determine and budget their own staff development plans and replacement textbooks. While individual schools will develop their own plans, funds will be allocated through the lead principal in each school cluster. (There are three school clusters in the district, each with a lead principal who is appointed by the superintendent.)
Schools that have not been selected for the site-based/participative management pilot are encouraged to draw on the input of faculty, parents, and community to create programs that support student learning. After working through issues and problems with parents and the community, two non-pilot schools submitted proposals to the superintendent and board to become year-round schools. The proposals were accepted. "This is probably the best example of site-based management, even though the schools don't have an official designation."
Six factors guided decisions to decentralize in Dayton:
Dayton principals have been offered training on management styles and the role of an instructional leader. Also, policies for textbook purchasing and allocation of staff development funds are being adapted to promote greater decision-making at the building level. Finally, schools can use money saved on energy costs as discretionary funds.
Many factors have impeded Dayton's decentralization efforts, including:
Training "Local districts need to move slowly in decentralizing and provide focused, ongoing training for administrators and faculties as they move towards new sets of roles and responsibilities."
Standards and accountability "Policies at the state level regarding curriculum, instruction, and assessment should be further decentralized to the local level. State departments should set standards for achievement and hold each district accountable. State proficiency tests set a standard that really mandates a statewide curriculum, without providing adequate preparation and support at the local district level."
Posted on April 26, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-1dayt.htm