New organizational chart defines Monett school leadership

Directors of learning titles redefine instructional specialists in revamp of district duties, monikers
 

As classes open in the Monett schools this month, a number of changes in the school district’s organizational structure will start kicking in. This includes the introduction of a director of elementary learning, a post held by Carrie Smith, and a director of secondary learning, Heather Romine.
    According to Superintendent Dr. Mark Drake, these are not really new positions, but rather a change of titles.
    “One of the things that came out of changing the assistant superintendent position was an organizational flow chart, how to improve communication up and down the system,” Drake said. “I challenged [incoming assistant superintendent] Isaac Sooter to get an organizational chart and determine how to rename and reorganize things to make them better.”
    The new chart was introduced at the school board’s April meeting, but its relevance has not become clear until people were placed in the new positions.
    “Formerly, we had two instructional specialists who worked district-wide,” Sooter said.
    Drake noted the district had as many as seven instructional coaches. As part of budget issues, some of those spots were absorbed, and some of those positions were reassigned to specific buildings. Two instructional specialists helped teachers across the district make curriculum changes, mostly in kindergarten to eighth grade, sometimes participating in teams. Sooter, as the high school principal, worked with the upper grades, aligning their curriculum with the lower grades.
    “I looked for clarity and communication,” Sooter said. “‘Instructional specialist’ is a murky title. It’s a broad title, defined locally by districts, but may mean much different things across the state. I wanted their focus to be specific, with one on the elementary and one secondary. They can and do work together. The secondary specialist hasn’t had much support before.”
    Drake observed that in the past, all the educators might think they should take their issues to the superintendent. What really happened, he noted, is he only deals with principals over budget issues. The new chart offers a more accurate reflection of how the system works.
    Under the chart, the district has three major functions: operations, academics, and student services. Operations, run by operations director Steve Garner, oversees the physical plant, food service and transportation. The student services division falls under what had been known as special services.
    Jenifer Graves now becomes the executive director of student services, and oversees all the special education, English language development specialists, gifted, daycare, the Monett Regional Learning Center, and support staff. Drake said the old title “didn’t make sense with what she was doing.”
    That puts Sooter, as assistant superintendent of academics, over the academics division. All the certified staff will run through the assistant superintendent.
    The directors of elementary and secondary learning directly oversee the instructional coaches, who also report to the building principals. Teachers, counselors, assistant principals, and the athletic director report to their respective principals or to the head of the Scott Regional Technology Center. The principals then turn to Sooter for guidance.
    “The chart defines what people do,” Sooter said. “The directors are there to partner with teachers, principals and the instructional coaches. The elementary director of learning will have more content experts at the lower level. At the secondary level, instruction is very specific to what’s being taught. We have math at all levels, but some people certified to teach math can’t teach the top classes. Some classes have a lot more specialized curriculum.
    “Algebra 1, for example, is very important in Missouri. It’s tied to the end-of-course assessment, and you must do well in it to get A+ money. Does the curriculum in the system support K-8 learning, and does that align to the high school? There can be gaps. The director of secondary learning will seek to find those gaps and collaborate to close them.”
    “In that role,” Drake said, “their job [as directors of learning] will be to look at standards and assessment to make sure they are aligned, and make sure students are successful in those classes. They will facilitate by asking questions, not to have independent standards, but facilitating, working with teachers and principals to ask the right questions. They know the standards vertically [what a student needs to know to master more learning at the next grade level]. Their job is to align the written curriculum, what’s taught, and the tested curriculum.”
    Smith, as director of elementary learning, has 25-plus years of experience as an elementary teacher in Monett, positioning her as very knowledgeable in understanding the challenges facing teachers of young students. Romine, who served as the principal at Monett Elementary for the past two years, has been a middle school science teacher, a freshman English teacher, and an instructional coach, broad experience that Drake said equips her to see her task “in both worlds” of elementary and secondary.
    “Their roles provide clarity with the title change,” Drake said. “They will have very limited interaction with the public. People with questions will have principals as their primary contact. They will never be shuffled to the directors of student learning.”
    The directors’ offices will be in the administration center, with Drake and Sooter. The former middle school building has multiple conference rooms and two uncommitted classrooms that will be used for training sessions.
    The new organizational chart, Drake added, “will hopefully provide peace to the staff, to know who is where and what their roles are.”