90s40 Challenges

We had a district strategic plan in the 90s and it included a strategy to deal with budget shortages that we were facing at the time. It was referred to as “Strategy 2” and was the justification for cuts in several areas. It affected building staffing and budgets and created a lot of anxiety across the district. This journal entry reflects that as well as some other changes. The interesting thing is that the district is facing these same challenges today. We have been in the budget cutting mode the last two years and it looks like it will continue for a while.

Friday, March 26, 1999 – We are working on our staffing plan now. It looks like we will have two k, three 1/2, four 3/4, and three 5/6. Our projected enrollment is 258. I think it will be closer to 270, but we will just have to wait and see. We are also working on the building budget for next year. It will be about $4000. less than this year so we will have to use our carryover to make up the difference.

Administrators in Iowa City undergo a comprehensive evaluation. I was evaluated during the 1998-1999 school year. The process included parent, staff and student surveys. At the same time I was being evaluated I was evaluating teachers. It was all very time consuming and I was doing that on top of all of my other duties as a principal.

I am struggling to get my portfolio in some kind of acceptable format and just can’t seem to find time to work on it. I have received the external survey information from the staff and am waiting on it from the parents. The staff input is very positive. I expect some negative stuff from the parents. With all the external stuff in I can work on my self-evaluation. Hopefully, I can get this all done soon. I am also trying to finish up teacher evaluation for the year.

Being a superintendent has never been a job I was interested in. I was offered the position at Mediapolis the year I left but I never really considered it. It is a tough job and is too far removed from the kids for me. Superintendents have to make hard decisions and they eventually alienate a lot of people. It is just the nature of the job. This year we lost both the superintendent and the assistant superintendent the same year. I wasn’t surprised to see them leave and was curious about who we would find to take their place.

For our school improvement plan I will be asking each unit to come up with an objective that relates to our achievement goal and uses the data from our assessments as documentation towards the goal.
We will be replacing both Tim Grieves and Barb Grohe this year. That will be tough and there could be a lot of uncertainty for a while. Hopefully, we’ll get through it without too much trouble. Their support and expertise will be missed.