Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata is getting a lot of credit for AdvancED upping the accreditation status of the school district's high schools.
As noted in today's article, AdvancED said in its new report that the school system has made "significant" progress to address the issues it had raised in its March report. Throughout the report, AdvancED cites Tata as being a major factor for the change.
"A common theme during interviews was the significance of the Superintendents’ influence on the direction of the system in providing governance and leadership focused on student learning and system effectiveness," according to the report. "Described as a 'calmer' Board, stakeholders attributed this change unequivocally to the Superintendent’s leadership."
The report also notes Tata's role in developing the new student assignment plan.
"The change from Board leadership to the Superintendent and staff implementing the Student Assignment Plan represents a significant shift in procedures," according to the report."However, this change was more widely accepted because of the Superintendent’s focus on “student achievement.” Reportedly, he seems to be active throughout the community and focused on communicating the Student Assignment Plan."
The report goes on to note how Tata formed the student assignment task force.
On the issue of improving the way board meeting agendas are set: "One board member was clear when alluding to some initial mistakes with the approach used, but the Board has begun moving in the right direction with the Superintendent being a stabilizing force."
Tata is also getting credit from school board members.
“The last six to nine months, the board has been working better together,” said Republican school board member John Tedesco. “A lot of the credit for that goes to the superintendent. We made lemons out of lemonades.”
Sutton also credited Tata, both directly and indirectly, for helping bring about the change since his hiring.
“When we changed the direction of the (student assignment) plan, I think it helped things,” he said. “It took it out of the hands of the board members and back in the hands of the superintendent and staff."
Sutton also pointed to Tata's work getting them to develop a strategic plan.
Sutton also said that the fact that Tata was new to his job caused board members to rally around him, which helped improve the climate too.
Tedesco and Sutton disagreed though about whether the review, which was prompted by a state NAACP complaint, was politically motivated.
"It was a political stunt by Rev. (William) Barber and the NAACP and AdvancED jumped in," Tedesco said.
"I don't think it was politically motivated and the report shows evidence of that," Sutton said. "The report was fair and objective. I know some may disagree with that. I do think it was helpful for the system. I think it made us as a system peel back the onion and see how we're governing."
Tata tried to deflect the credit on Thursday, talking about how it was a team effort.
“If you look from really a year ago, the board has been more cohesive, and dating back to February, we have been working very hard to become a cohesive team that inspires confidence in stakeholders,” Tata said.
The AdvancED report essentially bookends Tata's first year on the job. Soon after Tata started Jan. 31, he found himself being interviewed by AdvancED and then dealing with their report. Nearly a year later, Wake appears to be moving toward getting back full accreditation without any strings attached.
Comments
No doubt
Fri, 01/27/2012 - 18:20 — logosisdeadMany of the previous board's issues would not have arouse if they had trusted the superintendent from the get-go.
Eh...
Fri, 01/27/2012 - 19:31 — Bob_SconceSure. If they had trusted him, then they would not have had those problems. Instead, they would have had an entirely different set of problems revolving around the Superintendent sabotaging their policy goals. The former assignment-for-diversity policy was Burn's baby, as was Wacky Wednesdays, the H12 school site and MYR schools (recall that he was concerned with the diversity of the voluntary year-round schools and wanted to be able to forcibly assign poor students to them. Also recall the malicious way schools were converted before they needed to be). The Board had good reason not to trust him with undoing those things.
Instead, they should have fired him immediately and quicky put in their own person. But, they didn't.
What Tata has done,
Sat, 01/28/2012 - 13:11 — logosisdeadand you could argue how effectively, is listen to and respect the democratic members of the board, allowing room for their voice while continuing the agenda he was hired to support. So, effective leadership means trusting that your opposition's point of view includes some validity that should be understood before it is dismissed. I undersand that you disagree with this and would rather further your own agenda without listening to any opposition before moving ahead. That is why you think Burns should have been fired from the outset.
really?
Sat, 01/28/2012 - 14:46 — Bob_SconceNow you claim to know why I think what I do?
Your premise is that because they moved quickly, the then-majority did not listen to their opposition. Has it occurred to you that, perhaps, they listened to the opposition well in advance of the '09 election? Heck, Margiotta had been listening for 6 years.
It sounds like you're saying, approximately, "we know you've heard and rejected our position. But, now that you're on the board, you have to set that all aside and start from square one again. We must have yet another chance to convince you that we're right before you can act." That is a screwy way to run a government.
And what did they get for
Fri, 01/27/2012 - 19:43 — loriacAnd what did they get for trying to work with Burns? He did not have the decency to inform the board prior to his public resignation. Everything was done for effect - he nothing to lose (retirement in hand), but he was able to announce in a public forum that he just couldn't possibly do his job any more. This got the GSIWs and pirates all riled up. What really got me mad was holding press conferences on the taxpayer dime, talking about why he wouldn't do his job. He was a jerk.
How do you trust a
Fri, 01/27/2012 - 18:28 — starsonoursHow do you trust a subordinate who tells you he doesn't want to do what you ask him to do?
No doubt....
Fri, 01/27/2012 - 08:28 — Bob_SconceMany of the previous board's issues would not have arose if they had a trusted superintendent from the get-go.
Trust
Sat, 01/28/2012 - 11:02 — Solon77Trust is earned and the board at the time did not create a climate of trust from the start. Introducing new agenda items with no notice to the superintendent or the non GOP board members certainly did not earn any trust. With the new agenda items there was very little if any data or thought/analysis put forward. I don't consider "campaign promise" as qualifying data. There are ways to successfully implement change and there are ways not to - clearly the old board is a case study on what not to do.
...
Sat, 01/28/2012 - 15:21 — SideburnsAre you suggesting that Burns would have stayed if he had been more aware of the upcoming changes? If so, his public speaking tour with the news media after he quit looks more like a temper tantrum than I thought.
Burns would have stayed ?
Sat, 01/28/2012 - 17:35 — Solon77Bob's premise is that the board came under review because of an unsupportive superintendent. Even after Burns left Hargens filled in and basically went along with the board and still the board behavior did not change - JT leading the assignment plan and moving students around.