Superintendent Entry Plan 20092010 Westbrook School Department

1
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• Dr. Reza Namin, Superintendent
• Westbrook School Department
• August 19, 2009

2
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• The purpose of this entry plan is to assist me in
  developing a
• comprehensive picture of the Westbrook School
  Department,
• including the students, staff and community
  stakeholders that will
• help me to better understand the school system
  and will lead to the
• creation of a report and recommendations. My plan
  will consist of
• interviews with various individuals and groups,
  open forums, well as
• a review of plans and documents, in an effort to
  develop a sense of
• the system and provide a basis for future goals,
  objectives and
• activities.
• It is my plan to present a report of my findings
  to the Westbrook
• School Committee and the community in
  August-September of 2009.
• These findings will also include my
  recommendations for future
• actions.

3
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• General Goals
• to get to know the school district and its people
  as fully as possible in a brief period of time,
  outside the daily context of crisis and problem
  solving
• to examine key issues in the school system's
  past, in order to make sense of how such issues
  are handled and to identify the norms which
  affect how the organization may function in the
  future
• to identify the tasks which need to be done and
  to rank them in order of priority
• and
• to establish how these tasks should be
  accomplished.

4
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• Specific Objectives
• To examine the ground rules and procedures which
  have governed how the School Committee has
  conducted business in the past.
• To develop with the School Committee a set of
  ground rules and procedures that will govern how
  we operate in the future.
• To determine the issues on which the Committee
  believes we should concentrate in the next year
  and then to ask the Committee to rank these in
  priority order.
• To develop charts of the predictable tasks on
  which the Central Office and School Committee
  will work in the next year. The chart will not
  only list what has to be done but also describe
  how it is to be done.
• To determine the issues which District and School
  leadership face in their work next year.
• To determine the norms, procedures, and processes
  which govern how each of the tasks of the
  District and School leadership is accomplished.

5
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• Specific Objectives (Continue)
• To develop work plans for the predictable tasks
  which District and School leadership will
  undertake next year. The work plan will describe
  not only what has to be done, but how (the steps
  in the process, the time frame, and the roles/
  responsibilities).
• To determine what the keys issues are at the
  building level
• To clarify the role and responsibilities of
  Principal and how they coordinate with Central
  Office administration, as well as how the work of
  building leaders can best be supported.
• To examine all possible Administrative
  Restructuring that would best improve our
  students support, attitude and performance as
  well as the school climate, participation,
  involvement and ownership of all stakeholders.
• To develop a three years Strategic Plan that
  would address the recommendations made by this
  reports findings, State Reports and NEASC.

6
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP The superintendent will
  communicate a
• vision to the staff and community for a world
  class school system,
• which emphasizes high expectations for student
  and staff
• performance supported by data-driven results.
• Goal 1 Improve academic achievement for ALL
  students while
• closing achievement gaps.
• Goal 2 Establish and maintain school climates
  and facilities that are
• safe, orderly, nurturing, and support quality
  teaching and learning.
• Goal 3 Provide services to enhance the
  management, efficiency,
• effectiveness, and accountability of the school
  division.
• Goal 4 Implement policies, procedures, and
  programs to promote the
• recruitment, professional development, and
  retention of a quality
• workforce.
• Goal 5 Promote strong home, school, and
  community relationships.

7
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• The superintendent has established the following
  guiding principles
• Ethical Responsibility We have an ethical
  responsibility to assist all students in
  realizing their full potential. Educators must
  manage fundamental change to the core functions
  of teaching and learning. Community must
  demonstrate the will to support quality education
  through an appropriate and adequate investment in
  our children.
• Systems Thinking Our approach to galvanizing all
  members of the organization for improved student
  achievement is a systems approach, where every
  area of the school division is interrelated and
  functions in unity for a singular purpose. We
  will have a shared vision, personal commitment to
  excellence, and dedication to lifelong learning.
• Communities Committed To Learning We are
  creating Communities Committed to Learning,
  where children and adults, individually and
  collectively, are continually increasing their
  capacity to produce the results that are
  important to us.

8
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• Continue
• High stakes accountability for the Maine
  Standards of Excellence and
• the federal No Child Left Behind legislation
  requiring continual
• learning. Our schools will be professional
  learning communities in
• which the teachers and administrators
  continuously seek and share
• learning and then act on what they learn. They
  will enhance their
• effectiveness as professionals so that students
  benefit. Learning
• communities will also extend classroom practice
  into the
• community, bringing community personnel into
  schools to enhance
• curriculum and learning opportunities for
  students.

9
Superintendent Entry Plan 2009-2010Westbrook
School Department

• New Initiatives
• Subcommittee Re-Organization
• Implement New Emergency Communication
• Implement Virtual High School as a Pilot
• Implement an Inclusive process
• School Council
• Superintendent Parent Advisory Council
• Superintendent Student Advisory Council