Decisions Decisions Decisions

Roles and Responsibilities

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Episode 34

From: Kerry
Decision-making
To: Chance sent - Gmail 6:29 PM

Hi Chance—

This is an unusual work day for me….no afternoon or evening meetings. I am home early, and I wanted to finish telling you about our new decision-making process….also I think writing it out is going to help me keep it straight….and will help me when I report our progress to the district office.

We started this process last year. We got derailed with Wanda. Then, as soon as I was named the interim principal, we started again.

We have devoted many meetings to listing all of the decisions that need to be made at the school….this means EVERYTHING! It took lots of time, and we still find things that we need to add to the list.

We created a spreadsheet, and we were able to see the scope of decision-making and who was making which decisions.

We prioritized the decisions. We noted when the decision was made. We figured out who needed to give input or consult on the decision. We also figured out who (or which committee) has the power and responsibility to make the final decision.

We gave each decision a score of 1-5 according to how the decision impacts the school community.

Some decisions, are handled by one person. Some decisions, such as ordering textbooks will go to a committee.

Other decisions, such as the school calendar, is decided at the district level, but we want to make sure someone from our school is on that committee. School calendars and state mandated testing are not decisions made at the school level.

All decisions about the budget belong in a hybrid category. The district tells us how much money is available for us. The budget committee seeks input for the budget. Each department requests funds for the next year. The budget committee proposes a school budget to the entire staff. The staff has developed a complicated system for approving the budget.

I am going to send this email, and I am eager to hear your questions. I know I have forgotten some aspects of decision making, but I’ll stop and wait for your questions.

Must go—I still have lots of work to tackle tonight.

Kerry

–—

Tuesday

From: Chance
re: Decision-making
To: Kerry sent - Gmail at 8:17 PM

Hi Kerry—

Thanks for the explanation. I would love to look at your spreadsheet.

What has been the best thing that has happened at your school since you actually named and defined all of the different decision-making roles?

Chance