[Ous-lp-rp13] EDAD 6020, Response to Answer for Question # 2

[Jessica Orr]

Molly,

After reading your answer and considering what I wrote in mine, it seems as
though the professional structure is consistently portrayed in a positive
light. Would you agree? In your explanation of how your school displays a
professional structure, you mentioned several positive aspects, such as
stakeholders’ needs being met, mandated structures being followed, and
staff feeling valued and in control; similarly, your example of how your
principal delegated the task of staff members seemed to illustrate a
practical and efficient implementation of a professional structure. I also
found it intriguing that you mentioned teachers having a voice in
state-required safety drills. Until this year, I had assumed that these
drills were strictly bureaucratic and that rules were implemented in a
top-down fashion; however, when, during our final tornado drill of the
year, our assistant principal and I noticed a flaw in the system, his
reaction surprised me. I expected that he would independently devise a
solution that I would be obligated to implement, but instead, he arrived at
my classroom, asking my students and I to reenact the drill in order to
collaborate and construct a new solution. As you alluded, not only did I
feel like my voice was heard and appreciated, but the students did as well.

Throughout the past two weeks, I have realized that a perfect system does
not exist, but rather a combination of systems is likely to be most
effective in a variety of situations. The professional system seems to
exist in a middle ground, somewhere between a chaotic structure and an
authoritarian one. The professional structure meets the needs of both the
organization and its stakeholders, at times it represents all four
perceptual lenses, and it involves both transactional and transformational
leadership when appropriate. The professional system allows for some
stakeholder autonomy, yet it requires that they adhere to specific rules
and processes that have been established from an apparent bureaucratic
perspective. Unquestionably, there is not a one-size-fits-all system of
organizing a school district, yet it seems like the professional structure
is balanced enough to meet the needs of a variety of districts. While it
would be misguided to assert that the professional system is perfect for
all situations, it certainly does demonstrate a compromise between outliers
in the authoritarian-versus-chaotic spectrum.


On Fri, Jun 15, 2018 at 9:28 AM, Sylvia, Molly <msylvia at greenbobcats.org>
wrote:

> The structure at Green High School most clearly resembles a professional
> structure. It's my opinion that this decentralized structure has been
> created over time by our current administration who places a lot of
> authority and faith in its specialized staff members. Of course, our system
> does have necessary bureaucratic characteristics, such as hierarcy, rules
> and regulations, policies and a normed social process. However, our
> administration places a strong emphasis on the human resource perceptual
> lense which allows for the professional structure to prevail. For example,
> our principal recently placed it in the teacher's hands to create our own
> OTES walkthrough tool. The system he was using was clunky and expensive. As
> a district, we are becoming more comfortable with Google, so it was
> suggested in a BLT meeting that a walkthrough tool be created on a Google
> form. Around this same time, our district had been deeply exploring DOK
> levels. Our TBTs and BLT felt like the walkthrough tool could be
> personalized by department so that our principal could have specific
> "look-fors" that could help him easily identify what DOK level is being
> taught no matter what classroom he is evaluating. Our principal simply put
> it in our hands to create our own walkthrough tool. Within a few weeks, our
> staff had developed one that satisfied the needs of OTES and our high
> school staff. This dispersion of power is no exception. Our administration
> was active, as they set deadlines and checked in with us informally to make
> sure there was proper completion of this task, however it was up to us to
> create the tool in our own way and by our own means. Additionally, our
> administration looks to their employees to maintain their own classrooms by
> their own authority and to make decisions about student discipline,
> scheduling, rules, policies, and even state required safety drills. As a
> result, our staff feels a strong sense of control, self-worth, morale, and
> professionalism which in turn enables us to follow our administrators when
> they cast vision or when they do take on an authoritative voice, as is
> sometimes needed.
>
> The structure at Green High School least resembles a chaotic structure. In
> my years at Green, there have been very few times that staff have expressed
> dissatisfaction due to a lack of structure, a sense of disorder, or even
> lasting dissension between employees. Again, our administration are strong,
> effective managers who maintain a healthy sense of bureaucratic structure
> which is necessary to prevent a chaotic structure from penetrating. We have
> typical procedures, rules, and deadlines to follow as a staff for leave
> requests, fundraisers, submission of SLO's, and time sheets. Staff knows
> what is expected of them and we know what to expect from management, as
> expectations are communicated regularly throughout the building.
> Administration keeps communication strong by holding quarterly staff
> meetings and sending weekly blogs and updates from the superintendent's
> office. Additionally, our building principal takes time to speak to each
> teacher on a regular basis about our personal and professional goals,
> helping us move forward to reach our highest potential. Each of these
> examples show how our administration is made of competent managers and
> leaders, focused on maintaining orderly day to day operations while
> developing leaders within our buildings, which allows us to maintain a
> professional, not a chaotic system.
>
> *Molly Sylvia*
> *7th/8th Grade Social Studies Teacher*
> *Jr. High Quiz Bowl Advisor*
> *Youth in Government Advisor*
> Green High School
> 4057 Gallia Pike
> Franklin Furnace, Ohio 45629
> office 740.354.9290 ext. 3212
> fax 740.354.9904
> *BELIEVE*
>
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>


-- 
Thank you,

*Jessica Orr*
English Teacher
Department Coordinator
Chillicothe High School
Phone: (740) 702-2287, ext. 16231

"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you
have something to say."
       --F. Scott Fitzgerald
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