EDLD 5342, School Finance Week 5

EDLD 5342 School Finance

Week5, Part 1

Accepting money in return for awarding a vendor a contract is an example of TAC (Texas Administrative Code) of ethics, standard 1.2. This standard states that an educator shall not knowingly misappropriate, divert, or use monies, personnel, property, or equipment committed to his or her charge for personal gain or advantage.  This type of action can result in the district not being able to hire the most cost efficient, high quality contractor to provide a needed service.  This could result in the termination of all school official involved as well as open up the district for lawsuit from vendors who competed for the job.  Additionally, all parties involved could face criminal prosecution.  To prevent this sort of behavior, have all vendors present in an open forum and establish vendor selection procedure that force all decisions to be publically noted. 

The TAC Code of Ethics Standard 1.4. states that the educator shall not use institutional or professional privileges for personal or partisan advantage.  High ranking school officials are very aware that their job security could change should the composition of their school board change.  Using school district professionals and resources (i.e. phones, manpower, office space, etc.) to elect contact community members compelling them to vote for certain members of a school board.  This action would result in an un-fair election.  If this was discovered, it could result in removal of a board member and/or district employees.  The most damaging, long-term result would be that this type of conduct results in community mis-trust of school officials.  In order to prevent this sort of action, publish the existence of a reporting hotline and allow the anonymous posting of any concerns.  Additionally, establish procedures to investigate any and all concerns. 

TAC Code of Ethics Standard 1.7. states that the educator shall comply with state regulations, written local school board policies, and other state and federal laws.  An example of this would be if campus principal was caught allowing teachers to combine classrooms in order to give certain teachers an “earned” day off without having to officially record an absence.  Board policy states that teachers should have a substitute teacher provided in their absence and that all absences are recorded through our AESOP system.  This allows all teachers to take the days allotted by either the state or the district.  The action that this principal could have taken would have compromised the education of all the students who were in those combined class rooms because there were less instructors per student.  This could have resulted in grievances filed by others teachers or parents who were upset about the instructional arrangement of their child.  The existence of an anonymous hotline would be of benefit in this instance as well. 

Two additional example of unethical behavior can come from the following misapplication of the TAC Code of Ethics that dictates ethical conduct towards professional colleagues.  A violation of standard 2.3 is when a high ranking school official hired his son to serve as a campus athletic director even though candidate did not have any teaching or coaching experience.  This resulted in an unqualified candidate filling a position.  School district official must always follow written local school board policies and state and federal laws regarding the hiring, evaluation, and dismissal of personnel.  A second example comes from TAC Code of Ethics, standard 2.6. A high ranking school district official hired a single vendor to provide a multitude of services.  After the school district official retired, it was discovered that there were many more cost-efficient ways to provide the same required services.  Additionally, the retired school district official and his spouse promptly went to work for the vendor after retiring.  School district officials shall not use coercive means or promise of special treatment in order to influence professional decisions or colleagues.  Had this been discovered during this school district officials career, he could have been terminated.    

According to the state competencies for the superintendent he/she should be able to : “exhibit understanding and implement policies and procedures that promote district personnel compliance with The Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators”  as well as deal with all of these situations in a fair and ethical manner.   Additionally, “the superintendent should be able to monitor and address ethical issues impacting education as well as apply laws, policies, and procedures in a fair and reasonable manner”.  Any administrator who violates a TAC Code of Ethics standard risks termination.  A superintendent should be fully aware of each of these standards and increase employee knowledge of these standards to ensure compliance.  To make an error is part of human nature but, we can make the best decisions if we are fully aware of the established standards and how they relate to day-to-day professional conduct.

Week 5, Part 2

I marked all of the Administrative competencies above as a “C’, indicating that I feel competent enough to oversee each of these standards as they occur In my district but, I did not mark any as a strength.  I do not feel I could lead my district without extensive, day-to-day practice in each of the areas.   Much of the superintendent’s role requires this leader to have an understanding of each of the School Administrative Competencies to survive in the position; however, in most medium and large districts, there are school district officials who will serve as experts to carry out the detailed functions of each position.  I still will continue to work towards gaining a deeper understanding of each of the School Administrative Competencies to ensure I am prepared to take and pass the Texas Superintendent’s certification exam as well as utilize my growing understanding for the benefit of my current organization.

Lastly, I do not want to miss mentioning that I will focus on the competencies related to managing one's own time and the time of others to enhance district operations as well as applying legal concepts, regulations, and codes as required.  These are two areas that I feel superintendents often struggle with, as indicated in one of my interviews with my school superintendent.  Additionally, mastering these competencies will also benefit me in my current position through better management of my current responsibilities as well as ensuring that my current district complies with all legal and local school board policies, especially in areas that apply to my current responsibilities.


Week 5, Part 3

This course could not come at a better point in my career.  I have had at least one other school finance course; however, the focus of this course forced the student to understand the budgeting process, examine sources of revenue for the district, develop an awareness of the various accountability measures in existence that are used to measure the financial health of a school district, and, lastly, an application of the Texas Administrative Code of Ethics regarding school finance.  This course involved members of an assigned group working together to formulate answers.  Much of the responses required were very detailed; however, working as a group we were able to divide many of the assigned tasks, work together to answer many of the complex questions, and check our understanding. 

Superintendents in medium and large sized districts will likely have a person who handles all of the financial operations of the district.  The superintendent must still have a deep understanding of the functions of this school district official to ensure that all legal and local school finance policies are followed.  I now feel that I have a much deeper understanding of how to fulfill this role.  Additionally, the knowledge I have learned will help me in my current position.  I now understand the impact of accurate PEIMS records and can now quantify the cost of inaccurate PEIMS accounting for students who would give additional weight to the ADA (Average Daily Attendance).  Presently, we have the lowest ranking/paid person on each campus serve as the PEIMS clerk.  Additionally, there is very little district level training for these individuals and thus, many PEIMS errors are a result of lack of training and inconsistent application of PEIMS recording regulations.  This course has certainly helped me form a rationale as to why additional support is needed throughout our district and it has helped me sell the need for change to my superintendent. 

EDLD 5342 Week 4 Part 5

How is the external auditor selected?

In GPISD, the first step to finding a financial auditor is to ensure that the professional chosen meets the following criteria:  TEC 44.008(a) requires a financial audit to be performed annually by a certified public accountant holding a permit from the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy” (TEA FAS guide, pg 4).  To begin the process, GPISD requests that all interested auditors first submit Request for Qualifications (RSQ).  Our district then requests letters of reference for candidates meeting the qualification criteria.  Candidates are then selected based on their ability to perform a quality external audit.   

How does the auditor conduct the audit?

TEA has three standards the auditor must adhere to:

1.          A person or persons having adequate technical training and proficiency as an auditor must perform the audit.

2.          In all matters relating to the assignment, an independence in mental attitude is to be maintained by the auditor or auditors.

3.          Due professional care must be exercised in the performance of the audit and the preparation of the report (TEA FAS guide, pg  17-18).

Additionally, auditors must also follow the Government Auditing Standards as well as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

The overreaching goal of the external auditing process is to describe the degree to which the district appropriately uses federal, state, and local funding.  This auditing process does not occur only at one point during the year.  It is a process which occurs continuously over the entire fiscal year.  The external auditor must provide the district with an unbiased opinion regarding where the district is spending funds appropriately and what needs to be fixed.  In meeting with the district CFO, I inquired about the general types of findings revealed in the external auditors report.  He stated that if items are found, the external auditor helps to remedy the issue by providing guidance and timelines for the resolution of the problem.    The district is then responsible for responding to the guidance. 

The auditors final report has the following components:

·   Audit procedures used

·   Items reviewed

·   Finding of audit

·   Future recommendations

This report is completed once the books are closed at the end of the fiscal year.  The report is then shared with the Board of Trustees and with TEA.  This process holds the district accountable for sound procedures when spending district funds and accounting for these expenditures.  This process works toward eliminating the misuse of district funds.

EDLD 5342 Week 4 Part 4

When meeting with my CFO, I learned about the impact that personnel salaries have on district budgeting decisions.  Presently we are experiencing less funding from the state compared with previous years.  Because of decreased state funding, and because of the fact that personnel salaries comprise the largest expenditure in the maintenance and operations budget of any district (85.5% of total expenditures), many districts throughout Texas were forced to eliminate teaching positions.  Additionally, many districts in Texas were unable to provide raises for teachers.  Providing a 5% raise would cost almost half of the amount currently present in fund balance.  Since many districts, including my own district, are dipping into fund balance to remain solvent in the face of decreased state funding, providing a 5% raise would be impossible.

EDLD 5342 Week 3, Part 4

Based upon the latest Statement of Finances released by TEA on October 31^st, 2011, Galena Park ISD has a maintenance and operations budget equaling $69,523,894, based on the compressed rate used to determine funding of this function.  Of the total revenues, 59% are from the state, 40% are local, and 1% are federal.  The monies received are allocated to fund several functions.  The largest of these functions is the regular program allotment which is used to fund regular education.  The second largest allocation is used to support the education of economically disadvantaged students, followed by an allotment to fund special education students. 

Funds allocated through Tier I (as indicated on the Summary of Finances) generally match the allowed expenditures listed on the AEIS report or district snapshot.  A few of the programs actually spend less, such as the regular allotment.  One item that shocks me is the lack of expenditures tied to fund the education of students in a bilingual or ESL program in our district.  In 2009-10 GPISD spent $1.8 million dollars to fund these programs.  By comparison, GPISD spent $17,277,899 to fund special education programs in the district.  What makes the funding between these two programs interesting is the number of students.  GPISD served approximately 6,000 students in bilingual/ESL programs while only about 9% of GPISD students are served through our special education program. 

EDLD 5342- Superintendent’s Roles and Responsibilities in the Budgeting Process

The superintendent is ultimately responsible for overseeing the budgeting process; however, in medium to large districts, the superintendent must rely on a business manager to handle the more intricate details of determining district revenue as well as predict expenditures.  While the details of the district budgeting process may not be part of the superintendent’s daily tasks, establishing processes to communicate the budgeting process as well as gain input from key stakeholders are part of the superintendent’s responsibilities. 

According my superintendent, the success of the budget adoption process depends largely on the superintendent’s ability to communicate of all factors affecting the budget.  Additionally, the creation of clear, concise goals that explains all expenditures works to garner support of a finalized budget or any required amendments. 

EDLD 5342: Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process

Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process-

Ø  Central Office Administrators and Staff

o   These key individuals will provide input regarding the budget specific to their program(s).    They will submit their budget, along with budget codes, to the CFO for review.

Ø  Principals

o   Principals guide the budget setting process at their campus.  They are responsible for the creation of a campus improvement plan (CIP) that should guide the budgeting process.  The body which creates the CIP is the SBDM (site-based decision making committee); however, the responsibility of the task lies with the principal.  The budget and CIP must be turned in to the Senior Director of Academic Support who will send the documents to the Superintendent and CFO for approval.

Ø  Site Based Decision Making (SBDM) Committees

o   These committees should exist at every campus.  According to Education Code 11.253(e),” the campus-level committee shall be involved in decisions in the areas of planning, budgeting, curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and school organization. “

Ø  District Improvement Committee

o   This body reviews the BOT (Board of Trustees) goals and works to make goals for the district.  These goals are reviewed by the Superintendent and her Cabinet) to fashion the District Improvement Plan (DIP).

Ø  Teacher Organizations

o   Members of several teacher organizations are members both in campus SBDMs and the District Improvement Committee.  They represent their organization through these activities.

Ø  Key Stakeholders

o   These individuals are involved in the goal setting and budgeting process through site based decision making as well as the district improvement committee.  Additionally, Town Hall meetings are held to inform key stakeholders.

Ø  Board of Trustees

o   The BOT creates the goals for the district.  Once these goals are created, the Superintendent listens to the Board goals.  The Superintendent works with the Board finalize the budget for the district, giving several budgeting options.  The BOT and the Superintendent work together to finalize the district budget and include additional district professionals when input is needed.

Upon speaking to the Superintendent about the budgeting process, one can begin to see that the process must include key stakeholders from throughout the district community to ensure all goals are included and funded in the district budget.  Additionally, the budgeting process is not a once a year endeavor.  It is a back and forth process between several organizations within the district and evolves over the year before its adoption.  Tis process is even more critical in times when the budget is projected to vary greatly from one year to the next.  My district has relied heavily on this process of involving many key stakeholders in the budgeting process to ensure communication of a decreasing budget and providing a reason why the district must make budget cuts.

EDLD 5342- Review of TEA Budgeting Guidelines

The TEA Budgeting Guidelines walks the reader through all aspects of the district budgeting process.  A school district budget is a document that describes the allocation of resources to achieve stated goals.  This document even lists indicators (SEA- Service Efforts and Accomplishments) for a district to use when evaluating a district budget.  Many districts, however, have a difficult time properly identifying district needs.  To prevent this sort of oversight, the TEA budgeting guidelines provides multiple sources of templates as well well-articulated district processes for the school district to follow when planning, preparing, and evaluating the district budget.  I will now switch to a question and answer format to further describe my reflections of the TEA Budgeting Guidelines.

Why do school districts have budgets?

District budgets allow citizens and taxpayers to hold district officials accountable for the use of district funds.  There are many budgeting requirements spelled out in Texas law as well as legal board policy. 

Is there only one way to set a budget?

No, the TEA budget guidelines describe several ways to establish a school district budget.  GPISD uses a line-item approach.  This is the most simplistic approach; however, many districts have found this process burdensome because it requires the Board to approve budget amendments.  It does afford a great deal of district-level control of expenditures.  Because of this, we have found this to be the preferred method.  Additionally, one other downside of this type of budgeting is that it provides little useful information for decision makers.  Expenditures are listed only by category and not by actual expense.  If given a choice, I would choose to use the zero-based budgeting process.   The process of ranking goals based on a ranking process is ideal in a time where budgets are decreasing.  Additionally, in this type of budgeting, district expenditures are directly linked to district goals.  I believe this would more closely align with the reason Texas school districts have budgets in the first place, to allow citizens and taxpayers to hold district officials accountable for the use of district funds

Who is responsible for setting the budget?

The Superintendent and Board of Trustees decide on the delegation of budget-setting responsibilities.  The TEA Budgeting Guidelines gives a detailed template describing stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities.  Additionally, this document lists procedural guidelines, a calendar of budgeting processes, and another template describing action items and individuals responsible to guide the budget-setting process.

How does a district set the budget?

There must be a public hearing held before the Board adopts the budget.  This hearing occurs after the Superintendent reviews the budget as well as the Board of Trustees.  After the budget is set, the budget must be monitored.  The TEA Budgeting Guidelines provides information of how budgets should be monitored. 

What’s next?

Sometimes budgets must be amended.  There is a procedure described in the TEA Budgeting Guidelines to assist.  Moving forward, school district finance experts are involved in financial forecasting for upcoming years.  The TEA Budgeting Guidelines spends time giving guidance for this process.  This document also includes accounting for funds from grants as well as determining the financial impact of multi-year construction projects.

Final thoughts-

In summary, this document (TEA Budgeting Guidelines) can be used to guide the district budgeting process as well as set budgeting methodology for a district.  The templates contained within this document help to prevent oversight of critical budgeting requirements.

EDLD 5342- Defining and describing a goal driven budget

A goal driven school district budget should be carefully created to realize the shared vision of a given school district.  The budget for any district should be aligned to the school board goals as well as district and campus improvement plans.  Each of the documents should be fashioned with maximum stakeholder input to ensure communication of the budget creation process and to allow multiple entities to contribute.    Additionally, school district budgets should include a process of evaluating goal attainment.  Districts budgets should include funding to support a continual needs assessment to support this endeavor.

As demonstrated in the TASBO Budget Development Power Point, the school district budgeting process should culminate before the beginning of the current fiscal year with a board-approved budget; however, the process should extend the entire year leading up to the state-articulated deadline.  The school district budget should reflect needs uncovered through a continual needs assessment of the prior year’s budget along with consideration for any budgeting adjustments required due to an increase/decrease in the school district funds.  The beginning of the GPISD district improvement plan begins with a statement of most recent student performance data, state and federal accountability indicators, and required compliance measures.  These indicators are followed by an evaluation of needs.  Upon reading the district goals, it is easy to see the goals reflect district improvement needs as well as the maintenance of successful programs. 

School district funding comes from multiple sources.  The district estimates revenue from the state foundation school program and local property taxes.  Federal and funding from private sources should not be forgotten.  Delinquent tax collections, fees money collected from extracurricular services, and grant funding are often much smaller sources of revenue that must be accounted for in the budgeting process.   Forecasting the amounts received from these aforementioned sources are critical to budget planning.  During an interview with the GPISD superintendent, we discussed the impact of recent decreases in state funding of public schools in Texas.  Since majority of any district’s budget funds employee salaries, staffing formulas are dependent on an accurate revenue forecast.  Districts must often reduce staffing when a large budget shortfall is projected.  If a budget shortfall is projected, the district must reduce staffing while still work to achieve district and campus goals.  Communication about these challenges must be communicated to school district community members as well as school district employees.

As discussed in the week 1 lecture of EDLD 5342, the school district budget, just like any other district-level planning document, must include input from all key stakeholders to capture their input as well as communicate the status of the budgeting process.  This is especially important when the budget is forecasted to vary greatly.  In this type of event, district goals and budgets will need to be realigned to adjust for an increase/decrease in revenue.  The budgeting process should start well in advance of final approval right before the beginning of the fiscal year, with the first glimpses of district revenues described through a district budget forecast.  The district and each campus should involve their site-based decision making committee in the goal and budget-setting processes.  Since site-based decision making committees are required to include educators as well as parents and business leaders, a district can ensure that stakeholders from key parts of the school community are involved in the budget process.  Additionally, these individuals will understand the goals of the district as well as the challenges, should the district budget decrease.

EDLD 5395: Final Reflections on Lessons Learned

The superintendent self-assessments were one of the first activities experienced in this course.  They were the first glimpse into the required skills of the competencies needed in the superintendent role.  During this activity we were required to review each competency and guesstimate if we felt this area was a strength or a weak area where we needed growth.  The second assessment then involved completing a Texas superintendent certification assessment.  This exercise was revealing because we could then compare the results of the self-assessment to the areas or strength and weakness revealed through the practice exam.  Many of the course participants reflected on their blogs that they missed questions because they were not considering global perspective when answering the questions. Building Wiki’s and Blogs allows a user to become technologically proficient in an online communication tool.  Wiki’s are great tools to allow multiple individuals contribute to a single body of work, no matter where they are located.  Blogs encouraged collaboration during this first superintendent certification course through reviewing a blog postings of fellow colleagues.    These tools facilitated action research between the members of our superintendent cohort where we all worked together to complete course requirements. This course required all participants to interview their superintendent.  I felt very fortunate that my current superintendent made the time to sit down and talk with me one on one to answer my questions.  The questions I asked were directly aligned to the superintendent competencies.  It was very interesting to hear a practitioner’s view point and as I reflected on this exercise, I began to realize how critical it is to have a working knowledge of the competencies so that they can be used to guide actions and problem solving in an effective manner.  Dr. Williams, Galena Park ISD Interim Superintendent, discussed that a superintendent must have clear yet, concise vision that she and all members of the community can communicate.  If the vision is too complicated or unclear, the message will get lost.  The superintendent intern plan was one of the most time consuming exercises because it required the application and understanding of each of the superintendent competencies to create a relevant activity.  This exercise was fruitful because we were required to post the document to our Wiki and then were required to comment on one another’s work.  Additionally, we were required to meet with our site supervisor the following week to further review the working document.  The culminating activity required us to meet with our Lamar program supervisor to further review and discuss the plan.  I am further inspired about this process because I now understand that the internship plan is a working document and open for change.  I truly expect this document to evolve as I progress through the activities and gain further insight into the process. As I reflect on each of these activities, I realize that this course is a very worthwhile opener to a certification course.  I now better understand the skills required of a superintendent and I have a better grasp on areas where I need to grow.  This program is much more meaningful for me because of this first course because I was guided to dig through each of the competencies and apply this knowledge to formulating an internship plan.  I further augmented this knowledge through interacting with my fellow classmates to give and receive feedback on course assignments.  I look forward to expanding my knowledge through the remainder of the program.

Superintedent Professional Development Plan Review

A professional development plan should include activities that address each of the three competency domains.  Specifically, the plan should address areas of needed growth demonstrated in the superintendent self-assessments taken at the beginning of the first course of the preparation program.   Additionally, the plan should incorporate the evolving needs of the superintendent so that they are informed of current trends in education and state law. 

Presently, the state’s funding of schools is of great concern.  Learning to properly inform trustees as well as the larger community will be critical to a school district’s financial viability.  Additionally, as the state’s political landscape changes, learning to guide voters to common understanding of the need for increased state funding of schools will ultimately result in increased taxation.  Keeping voters informed of the need for increased taxes will likely result in the success of increased funding for school districts.  Professional development to build this skill set must be included in a professional development plan.

As the state and federal accountability and assessment programs evolve, superintendents must navigate and inform all key stakeholders on the need for change.  Professional development must occur that will inform the superintendent with operating knowledge of what the change is and how it will impact the district’s instructional programs.  Additionally, collaborating with other superintendents addressing how they are meeting these goals will be a critical aspect of development. 

Developing a professional development plan that addresses continuing as well as changing needs to the superintendent is critical to success.  I look forward to developing as well as experiencing this on-going process of learning.

Revised Intern Plan based on Site Supervisor feedback

A conference with my site supervisor, Elizabeth Lalor, Senior Director, was held on Wednesday, September 14^th, 2011 which took place over about an hour.  During this meeting I reviewed each of the activities and tied them back to a competency.  We also discussed the activities themselves to ensure the proper resources were listed.  We both decided that I should re-organize the list of activities by due date to facilitate timely completion.  Additionally we reviewed the site supervisor agreement letter along with a description of the site supervisor assignment description. 

We spent a great deal of time discussing the required strengths of a superintendent and analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of previous superintendents, as we saw it.  We then compared our perceptions to a description of the competencies.  We then examined my practice assessment and examined the areas of needed growth determined by the practice test.  We reviewed the activities and searched for appropriate activities to align internship experience with needed growth areas.  After the conference my plan was revised to reflect the needed changes.

Revised Intern Commentary

I left my intern plan fairly unchanged based on classmate feedback.  The comments made very very positive and confirmed that the plan was clear, concise, and covered the required competencies.  I did refine several activities after reading other classmate's plans.  I found their chosen activities to be more relevant than my earlier choices.  I highlighted those in yellow on the post below. 

Revised Intern Plan

Activity # ____ You may give the number corresponding to the 38 activities from the text to identify one of the activities. Make as many cells as necessary to address all 38 leadership skill areas.	TExES comp.#___ You must have activities that represent each of the 10 Superintendent competencies.	Summary of Activity - Describe the activity you plan on implementing or participating in during your internship – you may use any of the internship activities identified in the School Leader Internship, 2nd edition, pp. 19 – 68.	Resource  Person	Projected Date to be Completed
1c	2	Review the district vision of two separate districts, one urban poor and the other suburban, middle-class.  Note strengths and weaknesses of each, and make recommendations.	District web sites	October 1st, 2011
2e	2	Develop a strategic plan to ensure all educators understand how to use accommodations to increase student learning.	Lina Esquivel, Terri Moore, Dollie Mayeux	April 1st, 2011
3b	2	Review Board Policy regarding data collection, assessment, and evaluation.  Determine the degree to which the policies are being implemented.  Write a reflective statement describing ways to ensure compliance in this area.	E. Lalor	October 1st, 2011
4b	3	Write a letter to colleagues communicating newly released information from TEA.   Survey persons receiving the memo, obtain advice on its organization, clarity, and intent as well as any recommendations for improvement,	Central Office/Campus Leadership Colleagues	October 1st, 2011
5c	2	Utilizing a committee of district and campus leaders, revise current in-district procedures for ensuring the security of state-mandated assessments.  Use consensus building to guide the revision process.	Central Office,/Campus Leaders involved in state-mandated testing	December 1st, 2011
6a	2	Observe a team of district administrators deciding on how the district will count STAAR End of Course assessments as 15% of a student’s final grade in a course.	EOC Committee, E. Lalor	October 1st, 2011
7d	5	Interview individuals involved in implementing district curriculum.  Describe the implementation process, noting successes, concerns/problems with the process	D. Mayeux, T. Moore, Curriculum Program Directors, Instructional Specialists	December1st, 2011
8c	5	Meet with administrators responsible for schedule changes at the high school level.  Discuss the number of changes, rationale for changes, and ramifications of changes. Write a reflection examining ways to better meet student needs.	M. Epps J.Bollich	October 1st, 2011
9a	5	Interview a district-level instructional supervisor.  Assess current needs, goals, and level of service provided by the central office instructional staff.  Make recommendations.	M. Merrit	December 1st, 2011
10a	6	Reviewed methods to encourage motivation in the classroom.  Read two articles from refereed journals on motivation strategies, and discuss readings with selected administrators and faculty.	D. Mayeux, T. Moore, possibly principals	February 1st, 2012
11c	6	Interview persons responsible for assessing technology software.  Describe the process used.  Evaluate the process used, and discuss concerns and give recommendations for improvement	D. Lovinggood	January 1st, 2012
12b	6	Review the distribution of scores for the Algebra I EOC district assessments.  Devise, distribute, and collect a brief needs assessment related to the strengths and concerns of the testing procedures and grading policy used.	D. Mayeux, M. Merritt	February 1st, 2012
13a	5	Work collaboratively with one teacher in the planning and supervising of a co-curricular activity.  A critique of the learning experience will be written and included in the intern notebook.	Shane Goforth, Band Director at NSSH	February 1st, 2011
14b	7	Gather the yearly district staff development plan.  Analyze the plan with respect to the district mission, student achievement, and teacher evaluations.  Provide a copy or overview of the plan and it’s relationship to the above variables.	C. Murray, D. Mayeux	December 1st, 2011
15b	10	Meet with a current leader who changed the way the district communicated information to principals.  Find out why we moved from paper folders and multiple emails to online documents delivered monthly.  Following the meeting, survey several people affected by the change to assess the support or non-support for the change.	T. Moore, K. Wallace, D. Lovinggood	December 1st, 2011
16c	6	Review discipline referrals during the second six-week period of the first semester.  Compile the data to show grade level, special education status, race, and gender.  Report a summary of the findings and recommendations for improvements.	E. Lalor, S. Johnson	March 1st, 2012
17c	10	Interview a school nurse to discuss the major requirements, concerns, and goals for the health program.  Address issues such as AIDS, abuse, sex education, and any other current issues.	M. Epps	April 1st, 2012
18c	8	Observe the office secretary for a period of time in order to assess the needs and demands of her position.  Following the observation, substitute for the administrative secretary in duties agreeable with the secretary and administration for a set period of time.  Write a brief summary of the needs and demands of this position, along with any recommendations for improvement.	M. Flores	October 15th, 2011
19b	8	Meet with the district attendance officer.  Discuss the rules, procedures, and ramifications of attendance on law, finance, and general school/district operations.  Write a brief summary.	E. Lalor, T. Wilson	November 15th, 2011
20b	9	Meet with the head custodian to review job responsibilities and schedules of staff.  Observe a custodian.  Write a brief report from the interview and observation stating the needs, concerns, and overall assessment of work performed.	J. Moore, M. Rideaux	October 15th, 2011
21c	9	Review the district policies for student transportation.  Evaluate the extent to which the district is in compliance.  Be sure to consider home-to-school, school-to-home, and co-curricular procedures.  Write a brief summary of your findings.	J. Moore	December 15th, 2011
22a	9	Interview the district food services manager to discuss the current requirements, concerns, and issues of the program.  Write a summary of the findings from the interview.	J. Moore, D. Eubanks	January 15th, 2012
23c	7	Gather information from two administrators on relevant and legal questioning/assessment strategies used in interviewing.  Compile a list of questions to be used in hiring teachers or administrators.	O. Garza, M. McKay	February 15th, 2012
24b	8	Complete a requisition for a service or supply item  from a budgeted account.  A copy of the requisition and a brief description of the path it follows for approval will be included in the intern notebook.	V. Chapra	February 15th, 2011
25b	3	Assist the person responsible for school district communications in the preparation of a written statement to be sent out to the public.  Include a copy of the communication.	J. Frey	October 1st, 2011
26c	3	Write a short proposal for increasing or improving parent involvement and attitude towards the school.  Provide a copy of the proposal.	S. Torres	December 15th, 2011
27b	3	Meet with the language arts program director and examine the literature used with regard to gender stereotyping.  Provide an analysis and recommendations.	S. Bush	January 15th, 2012
28g	3	Gather information on the resources available to the schools from community and business.  Analyze the extent of utilization, make recommendations for improved cooperation and mutual benefit.	C. Dubose, V. Johnson	March 15th, 2012
29a	4	Obtain a copy of the superintendent’s job description and evaluation instrument.  Analyze the correlation between the requirements listed in the job description and evaluation.  Provide an analysis.	K. Bundy	November 1st, 2011
30c	4	Review past board agendas, reports, and/or minutes.  Note significant events, policy changes, and reoccurring themes or concerns that affect the school district today.  Provide a summary.	K. Bundy	January 1st, 2011
31d	1	Following the completion of district test security procedures, consider the ethical beliefs that guided each of your actions.  Discuss these beliefs with others involved in the project.  Provide feedback and recommendations.	Test Security Revision Committee	December 1st, 2011
32a	1	Develop the following interpersonal skills: Acknowledges the accomplishments of others Avoids interrupting others while speaking Seeks to know and understand others Shares responsibilities	Self	May 1st, 2011
33c	4	Review the board training requirements and the role of the superintendent in this process.  Provide a summary of the requirements, process, and the superintendent’s role.	K. Bundy	January 1st, 2011
34f	5	Interview one professional with experience writing grants.  Review one grant, highlighting the requirements and procedures for writing and submitting the grant, and include it in the notebook.	S. Mathews	January 1st, 2011
35a	10	Using the assignment of grades to student EOC exams, meet with individuals whose opinions vary.  Ensure each side understands the goals of the opposing side.  Develop a list of concerns that each opposing side has about the other.  Devise a resolution that helps both sides achieve their goals.  Include a list of the goals, concerns, and consensus goals.	D. Mayeux, E. Lalor	October 15th, 2011
37c	8	Submit a brief professional development plan.  Include deficiencies cited in the internship in the various learning areas.  The plan should include ongoing development with the membership and service to pertinent organizations.	E. Lalor	May 1st, 2011
38a	8	Compile a list of books, publications, training manuals, and district or state procedures used or recommended for the superintendent.	Self	December 1st, 2011