Centralization? Not for now

A School Board committee voted unanimously last night to place on file the issue of recentralizing allocation of school administrative personnel.

The 8-0 vote of the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee is probably a good preview of what the full Board will ultimately do, as all Board members are on the committee.

The Board had directed the administration to develop models showing the impact of centralizing allocations of positions like principals, assistant principals and school safeties.

Principals who reviewed results of the modeling objected to potential impacts on several grounds, including the failure of centralized staffing to do anything to improve student achievement and its inability to account for differing administrative needs between schools.

Principals also said the staffing model, if implemented, would not save money and that the district does not have the infrastructure to support such centralized decision-making.