“We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.” -- Max De Pree
Dear Team DPS,
This week, I shared my entry plan with everyone. In it, I describe the core beliefs and my personal values which motivate me. These beliefs and values form the foundation that drives me to accelerate our student’s progress. I know that to be the best urban district, we need to double down on what works and learn from the best in class educators and schools so that we can continuously improve and ensure that Every Child Succeeds. And this week, I also shared updates with you about the new structures that I will put in place in our central office to help us align our resources to this ambitious goal. These changes will impact us all, and I understand that change can be hard. But I have been inspired to know I work alongside dedicated team members who share my vision for our kids, our families and our communities.
I want you to know I am so grateful for your contributions to DPS. I know that every one of you is committed to achieving our vision, Every Child Succeeds, and I know that in your work, every day, you put our students first.
Today, I announced a reorganization of our central office support teams, which aligns our resources to the work that I believe will propel us forward. This includes investing money into our teachers’ salaries, creating new regional teams to support schools as well as a $17 million reduction in our central office budget and a reduction of more than 150 staffed or vacant full-time positions.
All team members currently affected by these reductions have been notified in one-on-one meetings. We also met with the teams who are impacted by the changes in group meetings to discuss their concerns. I chose to make these changes now so that all impacted team members have the opportunity to participate in the hiring process this spring both in the central office as well as in schools.
It is never easy to make changes of this scale, and we are working to support affected team members with a variety of resources, including future employment opportunities, benefits during transitions and access to the Employee Assistance Program.
What’s next?
We are restructuring our central office to intensely focus on a narrower set of high-impact priorities, eliminate redundancies in our work, and consolidate or realign teams that do similar work.
Because we are adjusting resources and restructuring teams to support new priorities, the reductions in force are not equal across teams. In other words, some new teams will be created while other existing teams will see larger budget reductions, and some supports previously offered by central office teams will no longer be available.
Additionally, central office teams have been instructed to identify ways to reduce spending on travel, professional development, technology and office supplies. Our goal is to be as efficient and cost-conscious as possible.
Our New Organizational Structure
Starting in July, current network teams will be structured to serve school communities in specific regions: Near Northeast, Far Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest and Central.
This new structure -- replacing our current network structure -- allows us to provide more targeted supports to our communities, develop deeper connections in regions, and be more responsive to the needs of our schools.
Our work at the central office and districtwide will be guided by three core beliefs in order to have the greatest impact on our kids, our families and our schools:
equity, instructional excellence and collaborative teamwork.
- Our Equity Office, to be led by Allen Smith, will empower, equip and hold all schools and departments accountable to make significant progress on equitable outcomes for our students. This includes academics, whole child supports and access.
- Our Academics Office, to be led by Debbie Hearty, will be designed to build coherence with tighter coupling of teaching and learning functions across the board. For example, we’ll look closely at academic strategies to improve graduation rates and ensure our students are college and career ready.
- We’re excited to recruit a dynamic leader for our new Schools Office. This team will focus on our neighborhoods’ or regions’ unique needs, including the support of partnerships and relationships among schools. It will also give us the ability to better focus on the whole child across schools as students transition from grade to grade.
- Amy Keltner will lead our Impact Office. This team will focus on strategies that help us achieve our long-term goals and ensure we have the right resources in the right places to get us where we're going. The team will progress monitor to make sure we're addressing persistent challenges, and partner with diverse stakeholders in and outside of DPS to understand needs and areas where we can have a greater impact.
Whether you work in a classroom or central office, I know you come to work every morning committed to making our schools safer, more joyful and more rigorous learning environments for our kids. You’ve dedicated your careers to our vision, Every Child Succeeds. This week’s reductions are painful because I know how hard you work to make a difference.
Thank you for all you do for Team DPS and our kids. If you have questions or feedback about the changes announced today, please email
Central_OfficeSupport@dpsk12.org
.
Warm Regards,
Susana
