District Administration - January 2007 - (Page 58)

Warning : session_start : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : session_start : Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 10 FINANCE MANAGEMENT emergency grant to help the school district pay some of its bills. By then, however, it was too little, too late. Already some $14.5 million in the red, the district was forced to relinquish board control of its fi nances to the Illinois School Finance Authority, or SFA, an agency mandated to save troubled school boards from bankrupting themselves. Today, Round Lake is one of two Illinois school districts currently operating under an SFA. staff members want to come and get answers to their questions.’” Stonewa ll came from Danville School District 118, where he was business manager. He had gained notoriety by helping turn $9 million in red ink to double-digit black. Instead of agreeing with board members to issue more bonds, he convinced them to tighten its spending to control spiraling debt. Most school districts make decisions that benefit people without thinking of the financial outcomes, Stonewall says. “To me, that’s the biggest mistake that most school districts make.” T he fi nal piece of the SFA puzzle fell into place in 2004 when it found Elenbogen, who at the time was director of compliance reporting at Chicago Public Schools. Her credent ia ls were impressive: a state-certified teacher, a former superintendent , and special education program administrator. Elenbogen had been relatively unknown in the school system until she discovered a halfbi ll ion dollars in untapped federal funding. It was this kind of entrepreneu r ia l effort, the SFA agreed, that was needed in Round Lake. Reclaiming Magee School In 2003, John T. Magee Middle School closed due to electrical, roofing and traffic concerns. Several architectural firms made recommendations, but one specializing in school design—Gilfillan Callahan Architects—stood out. Meeting with Round Lake district CEO Dennis Stonewall and CFO Walter Korpan the firm assembled three scenarios for Magee: 1. Make minimal repairs to re-open the school $5 million 2. Demolish parts of the school and build an addition around its best features—the gymnasium and cafeteria $14 million 3. Completely level the school and build a new one $22 million Understanding that the community was vital to the decision-making process, the firm created bilingual brochures and invited the public to a Saturday forum, which attracted more than 100 residents. Firm founder Mike Gilfillan and architect Alejandro Lopez also joined Stonewall in a local radio call-in program. Due to the community’s positive attitude toward the district, a $17 million referendum passed a year ago. This allowed the district to earmark funds to rebuild Magee School, using the second scenario of demolishing parts of the building and erecting an addition around the gym and cafeteria. Magee is scheduled to re-open in August 2008. THE NEW CHIEFS Seek i ng a solution in 2001, the agency replaced Round Lake’s tradit iona l superintendent structure with “The Three C’s”—a Chief Execut ive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Educational Officer. This emergency measure would force the school district to operate more like a for-profit business and hopefully end the district’s slide into bankruptcy. T he SFA hired Korpan as CFO in July 2001, Stonewall as CEO in 2003 and Elenbogen as Chief Educat ion Officer in 2004. She replaced another education officer, Stanley Mims, who was only on the job for a year. “There were people in this dist r ic t hungry for leadership,” recalls Stonewall, who is retiring this summer after four years on the job. “We knew we’d eventually have to ask the community for their fi nancial help down the line, so it was importa nt for us to take this fi rst step.” And Korpan saw the district’s accounts and payroll riddled with errors due to poor accounting and lack of protocol. “The business office didn’t function, which was disturbi ng because our business is educat ion,” Korpan says. “There were no procedures in place, no support, and no training. At my fi rst staff meeting, I said, ‘We have to work together to resolve these issues that are faili ng. We need to make our business office a place where parents and BUSINESS MODEL Deem i ng themselves more as businessmen instead of administrators, Korpan and Stonewall view a school as a business, and insist it should be managed as so. “Our employees are the stakeholders,” says Stonewall. “The parents are our shareholders. The taxpayers are the investors. We have 6,000 individuals here called ‘products’.” With the public in mind, they made themselves more accessible. “This building is open 65 hours a week, and usually until 6 or 7 at night,” Stonewall says. “People need to know that they can come here seven days a week and find an administrator who can make a decision. We invite parents to have coffee with our CFO every day at 6 am.” 58 January 2007 District Administration duoJP.indd 58 12/13/06 3:41:49 PM Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2007

Contents
Editor's Letter
Update
Inside the Law
Curriculum Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Overheard on the Pulse...
Teaching Techniques for Supervisors
Why Buy New When Used Might Do?
Past Becomes Future
Financial Rescue
Speaking Out
The Online Edge
Research Corner
Problem/Solution
Computer Literature
New Products
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - January 2007

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