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Schools

Formula would add school administrators

Superintendent Heather Fiorentino's proposes increasing central office staffing according to increases in student enrollment.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published July 6, 2005

LAND O'LAKES - Pasco County school superintendent Heather Fiorentino is in a tough spot. She's fiscally conservative, supported by people who want smaller government. But the school district she manages now is growing at an astounding rate: more than 3,000 students per year.

On Tuesday she looked that dilemma in the face and decided, she said, "to bite the bullet." Fiorentino recommended the School Board increase the administrative staff by at least two top-level positions this year, with plans to add another four mid- to upper-management slots within the next five years.

She also proposed developing a formula by which the district would increase central office staffing according to increases in student enrollment. "Our idea is not to get top-heavy," Fiorentino said. "Just to have enough top to cover the bottom."

If all the additional staffing changes were made in one year, they would cost about $700,000 per year, chief financial officer Chuck Rushe said. But under Fiorentino's scenario, the reorganization would be phased in over five years, with the most immediate changes costing $400,000 in fiscal year 2005-06.

Fiorentino said it's unsafe to operate a 60,000-student school district with the same number of district administrators as there were when there were only 30,000 students.

Among her key proposals:

Create an assistant superintendent of elementary schools and an assistant superintendent of high schools during the upcoming school year.

Currently, Ruth Reilly oversees the district's elementary and middle schools. And Bob Dorn oversees all the high schools in addition to handling many other departments, including new construction, maintenance and information services. Their jobs would be split into two.

Revamp the responsibilities of the assistant superintendent of transportation, currently the retiring Dorn's job. His replacement would take on responsibility for human resources, employee relations and communications.

Develop a formula that would force the School Board to consider increasing mid-level staffing as the school district grows.

Fiorentino said she didn't envision having any such formula in place until the 2006-07 school year, when the district is up to 75 schools and possibly 69,200 students.

The idea would be that as the district hit certain student population levels, the school district would automatically begin reviewing whether some departments need additional employees.

Already, the district increases staffing at schools depending on population growth. This proposal would extend the same logic to the district office. Florida School Boards Association chairman Wayne Blanton said the scenario is not unusual in some of the state's largest and fastest-growing districts.

Make the assistant superintendents of elementary, middle and high schools each responsible for "feeder patterns" of schools. A high school and all the elementary and middle schools that feed in to it comprise a feeder pattern.

The feeder pattern idea is a bit of a compromise on Fiorentino's part. Fiorentino floated the idea of "area superintendents" during her campaign last year. She said Tuesday that she recognized people feared such a scenario would divide the district geographically, causing area superintendents to be at odds with one another.

Giving the assistant superintendents responsibility for feeder patterns, Fiorentino said, would create more fluid transitions for children as they move from elementary to secondary school. Principals from feeder patterns might meet together once every quarter.

"The whole idea is to make sure the schools have more connections," Fiorentino said.

Institute an administrative salary study beginning this fall. Fiorentino said she didn't yet know the cost of such a study, but felt it was needed to address inequities in pay from assistant principal on up.

The School Board will vote on whether to accept Fiorentino's proposal during its July 26 meeting.

"I'm happy to see she gave up the idea of area superintendents," School Board Chairman Marge Whaley said, "and I think the idea of feeder patterns is a good one."

Whaley was skeptical a few months ago after the Florida Association of District School Superintendents issued a report recommending a slew of potentially costly organizational changes.

Lynne Webb, president of the local teacher's union, called the plan "functional" and "thoughtful." But she later questioned the impact of developing a formula to increase district staffing based on student population increases.

Currently, administrators who want to increase staffing simply make bids to their superiors. "It's usually the person who begs the hardest," who gets a new staffing position, chief financial officer Rushe said.

Webb said that method might not be fun, but it's a good way to justify a new expense. She worried that establishing a formula might make it easier for the School Board to begin spending money in the district office instead of in schools.

Rushe said that even with the changes, Pasco will continue to have one of the state's lowest administrative costs per pupil.

[Last modified July 6, 2005, 00:50:11]