At a presentation before a Board of Education meeting Tuesday, consultant Robert Schiller called Wake County Public School System administrative services “strong,” but offered some suggestions for improvement.
Schiller audited the district as part of a package Superintendent Tony Tata brought with him after graduating from the Broad Center, an organization that prepares retired professionals for careers as education leaders. WCPSS did not have to pay for the audit.
“I was stunned by how consistently you are lean, with very little redundancy, and by the quality of people you have in so many posts who are top rated,” Schiller said.
He said budget cuts could make it difficult to operate effectively.
“It would be a shame to find areas slip that are so good because of budget constraints,” he said.
He cautioned that technology was one area that could benefit from an increased staff. He also sketched out some suggestions for restructuring district leadership to reduce strain on key positions, such as area superintendents.
Tata took these suggestions and offered to the board charts that included three new positions: Deputy Superintendent for School Performance, Chief Transformation Officer and Family and Public Engagement Officer.
The new positions are intended to create more accountability for increasing academic achievement, one of the district’s primary goals.
Tata also proposed adding an additional area superintendent in the western part of the county to reduce the loads of existing area superintendents. The six area superintendents oversee an average of 28 schools each, about 10 more than those in comparable districts, according to Schiller.
Following Schiller, Tata wants each area superintendent to be the “face” of his or her portion of the district.
Tata presented a timeline to the board that would have the new positions filled and the reorganization complete by the new school year.
He did not say how much the new positions would cost the district.
bleclaire@raleighpublicrecord.org
