Deer Park Union Free
School District
Deer Park Union Free School District
Deer Park Union Free School District, nestled in a self-described “blue
collar” community in Long Island’s Suffolk County, provides educational
structure for almost 3,800 students. Housed in five buildings (two primary
schools, an intermediate school, a middle school and a high school), the
programs provided have been of consistently high quality, and performance
evaluations, when compared against County and State criteria ¾ such as
reading, math, percentage of graduations and main-streaming of special needs
students, show Deer Park in the highest percentiles.
However, community financial concerns had, in the recent past, has imposed
an austerity contingency budget on the District, and there was a need for
alternatives to reduction in services and diminution of academic excellence.
To explore options that would allow District programs to remain in place,
Deer Park applied for and was approved for a New York State Department of
Education Efficiency Grant, and, with this funding in place, employed the
services of Value Management Consultants to provide recommendations for
staffing efficiencies among the District’s administrative personnel.
VMC’s President, Dr. Charles J. Ganim, who holds a Doctorate in
Organizational Communications, led a team of consultants in gathering
information, conducting structured interviews with administrators (including
building principals and assistant principals), Chairpersons and Directors,
reviewing documents and contingent budget requirements, and analyzing the
State Comprehensive Assessment Report, classroom observations, job
descriptions and labor agreements.
Initially it was determined that the greatest information would result from
structured conversations with the study area personnel. Therefore VMC
developed an “Interview Protocol.” When all of the data was sorted and
analyzed, it was found that morale within the ranks of the District’s staff
was exceedingly high, a noted response to active professional District
management. Job performance appeared to be high. The principle concerns
identified were a lack of technological support and an absence of clear
lines of supervision (it was noted that some Directors were unsure as to who
was their immediate supervisor).
VMC made a number of recommendations centered around possible administrative
staff reductions though projected retirements, and classic work time
formulations with the help of which time and task priorities could be set
and regular administrative schedules devised. Specific budget workshops were
called for so that the financial control, so time consuming without proper
expertise, could be reduced to a single element in each organized day.
Finally, VMC reviewed the staff realignment and reassignment plan being
developed by the District’s Superintendent and his cabinet, and conferred in
what has become a minimally intrusive, yet highly functioning administrative
staff.
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