Proviso Township High Schools Education Quality Assessment

This email from Scott Schroeder has been circulating among the superintendent's advisory committee.

Schroeder is the head of Technivista, the company hired by Superintendent Stan Fields to do the new websites and the Education Quality Assessment.

From: Scott Schroeder [mailto:REDACTED]
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 8:39 PM
To: Libka, Robert
Cc: Willis, Sharon ; Avant-Bey, Tracy; Moyer, Ed ; Johnson, Mona; Umans, Margo
Subject: Technivista and PTHS Dist. 209

Dear Mr. Libka,

In November 2006 I had the responsibility of presenting the District 209 Board of Education with the results of the Education Quality Assessment (EQA) conducted by Technivista. District 209 Board of Education hired us to do the EQA and Superintendent Stan Fields instructed us to “present the findings exactly as you see them. No sugarcoating. No politically correct spin. To develop effective plans we have to know exactly what we’re facing. Everyone in this community has to understand where we’re at and what the challenges are.” This no-nonsense approach was familiar to me. When I first met Stan, he was superintendent at Mundelein High School, my kids’ high school. MHS hired Technivista during a time when Stan was moving quickly to transform Mundelein High School into a best practices showcase. It was done with forceful urgency and by taking a radical U-turn from the status quo. He transformed the district’s declining financial condition, redesigned an academic strategy that had previously produced mediocre results, and revitalized the under-performing athletic and activity programs. When asked if he was changing too much too quickly, his responses were always along the lines of “If your kid went here, how much time would you want me to waste in improving things?” and “The families in this area pay a lot in taxes.

Why wouldn’t they expect the best education for their kids?” From what I've seen, Stan Fields brought those same questions to his Proviso job. During the months before the EQA presentation, our team conducted interviews with dozens of people in the “Proviso Family” – teachers, principals, administrators, staff, community leaders, parents, students, union leaders, and a school board member. While most had first-hand experiences with what was plaguing the high schools, they also shared an undercurrent of hope and energy. As reported, they talked about a multitude of deeply rooted ills flourishing in an environment mightily polluted by politics, gossip, negativity, and mistrust, yet also brought forward creative ideas on how Proviso could rise. A unique picture emerged between the underachieving world of Proviso’s high schools, the beaten-down, but not broken spirit found in all the people I listened to, and everyone’s thoughts and dreams for a much improved future. The EQA produced a clear, objective picture of the state of District 209.

Once the Proviso EQA was completed, the District 209 Board of Education then hired Technivista to develop websites for each of the three high schools, the district, and private intranets for each location. Apparently there’s a great deal of misinformation out there about the cost of the websites. To set the record straight, the total cost to District 209 was $192,000 for all eight sites, an average of $24,000 per site, and the majority of the costs were paid for with grants so the
cost to the District was minimized. Technivista was not contracted and doesn’t get paid to maintain the sites. We have, however, donated over $70,000 of in-kind contributions for our time to maintain the sites since their launches. We’ve done this because we wanted the sites to sustain their high quality. Unfortunately District 209 internal staff hasn’t yet had the time needed to create and manage content on their own. So, we’ve stepped in to help carry the load during the transition.

The District 209 Board of Education also hired Technivista to help develop quality processes based on the Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. In the past, Technivista has had the privilege of working with several school districts that won Illinois ’ Lincoln Award for Performance Excellence and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Baldrige National Quality Award including District 15 in Palatine . The processes at District 209 were to be used to support District 209’s strategic plan
(which Technivista help develop as part of the District’s application for this year’s Illinois ’ Lincoln Award). This approach would be used to accomplish the “Scoreboard” goals based on the results of the EQA and the “Four Cornerstone” model (Students, Parents, Community, and Proviso Team). The 3-year strategic plan we developed called for the district to demonstrate significant improvements in key areas, enough to win the Lincoln Silver Award (“Progress towards Excellence”) in 2007, the Lincoln Gold Award (“Achievement of Excellence”) in 2008, and the
Baldrige National Quality Award in Education in 2009.

For Technivista, it was an exciting opportunity to help another district in the quest for excellence. This time, with Proviso, the challenge was to turn-around a district in dire need of improvement. It was a project with potentially historic impact – to have the chance to take the 90th out of 90 Chicagoland districts with high schools and transform it into one of best in the state. Needless to say, it was an energizing endeavor.

So under Stan’s leadership we began this once-in-lifetime project, using proven best practice tools from some of the highest-performing schools in Illinois , in the United States , and in the world. To make a long story shorter, the project unfortunately has recently slowed due to the roadblocks of politics, a lack of commitment, talent shortage, and misdirected focus. The brakes were fully applied to the quality initiatives when Stan was taken out of the picture on July 30, shortly
before most Proviso administrators were due to turn in their sets of quality processes that would support the 118 key measurements used to monitor results in academics, athletics, activities, finances, communication, human resources, and technology. These sets of processes would shortly become the Administration Handbook. On the due date, not one set was received.

The day after Stan’s removal, I requested direction on our open projects as school was scheduled to open in a matter of days. As of today, we have received no direction or indication if the strategic initiatives are still in play or if the District is even interested in continuing the projects. While we’ve continued to update the websites, design the quality processes, and prepare for the Lincoln Award Review Team’s visit, it’s become apparent that District 209 would prefer to go in a
different direction. From our perspective, it’s best that at least for the time being, we begin the transition process, shake hands and go our separate ways. If you agree that this is the best thing to do, I recommend that we begin the transition as soon as possible with a targeted separation date of Friday, August 31, 2007. Please let me know how you’d like to proceed with transitioning the projects.

Technivista is proud of the work we’ve accomplished with District 209 on the Education Quality Assessment, the websites, the strategic plan, the Proviso Rising campaign, and the quality improvement processes that are firmly aligned with the Baldrige Criteria for Education. All of these projects provide District 209 with an exceptionally solid foundation on which to build great schools and generate outstanding results. I hope District 209 takes advantage of these assets in future improvement efforts.

Personally speaking, nothing could have been achieved without the invaluable assistance of Tracy Avant-Bey and her staff, Ed Moyer, Mona Johnson, Margo Umans, Sharon Willis, and especially Stan Fields, and all of the wonderful people who participated in the EQA. Their support, advice, and encouragement were invaluable and fueled our efforts.

Sincerely,

Scott Schroeder
Technivista

ED, Fields appears on Viewpoints [D209]

Arnie Bryant had the superintendent of Proviso Township High Schools (District 209), Stan Fields, PhD, on "Viewpoints From the Other Side" today.

Fields gave his usual performance. Test scores suck. The district has been deficit spending for the last decade. He's cut the projected deficit $9 million. Proviso citizens shouldn't be satisfied. Fields implied he's a force for change.

I called the show and asked Fields what specifically he's cut to achieve the $9 million dollars in savings. He kept trying to get away with the answer, "If you read the budget on the web..."

Finally, I pinned him down. Fields claims he's achieved savings by cutting improperly let contracts. When I asked for examples he said he could recall any specifics names.

Here's what I suspect is happening. Fields $9 million savings exists because of accounting sleight of hand. The original budget overestimated expenses and underestimated revenue. By merely correcting the numbers Fields (and business manager Nikita Johnson) created the illusion of large savings when they really have achieved more modest savings.

I also asked about Fields letting the big contract with Technivista for the new website. Earlier Fields had extolled the benefits of requiring a bidding process for contracts. I asked Fields about the website contract. IIRC Fields claimed there was a bid process, but he quickly used the evasive answer of saying the process fully complied with the law.

If Fields did cut corners or outright break the law, do you think he'd say?

"Yeah, I broke the law on that one. My buddies the Schoeder brothers made a mint and they agreed to kickback part of the money to Welch's school board candidates."

Fields answers about the website increased my suspicion that the process wasn't on the up-and-up. One piece of speculation I've heard is that the district justified not bidding out the website work because it fell under the exception for "professional services". Lawyers and accountants can be hired without a bidding process.

Also, Fields question on the district hiring process was pretty much an admission that he engages in patronage hiring. He said he's inclined to hire people who are recommend to him by people he trusts. It might be a good follow-up question to ask who Fields trusts to recommend candidates for hiring.

I'm hoping to get a copy of the tape, so I can quote Fields verbatim.

ED, school board meeting website, vision & tutoring [D209]

Monday, February 19, Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) held its monthly meeting of the board of education at Proviso Math and Science Academy.

Scott of Technivista briefed the board and audience on the new website for District 209. When the contract is completed there will be six new websites. I’ll write more on the website later. Feel free to post comments in this discussion.

Scott did tell me that Technivista was not planning on contributing in the school board elections. He did add the caveat that his brother is the owner of the business.

The biggest news Superintendent Stan Fields buried among a bunch of other information. Fields proposed reducing the graduation requirements from 22 to 18.5 credits. He framed it as reducing the electives so students would focus more on the courses that prepared them for standardized tests. After the meeting board member Charles Flowers observed that this is a cost cutting move being packaged as an educational strategy. By having fewer period District 209 will be reducing the total number of classes which will allow the same number of students to be taught by fewer teachers.

Fields also offered a new vision statement for District 209. Fields vision is for the district to be the best in Illinois. For perspective the district currently ranks 90th of 90 districts in the Chicago area in four major categories.

How many ways is Fields vision inappropriate? Let’s start with the obvious. Fields doesn’t define “best”. Best at sports? Which sports? Highest test scores? Most graduates going directly to four-year colleges? High graduation rates? The most money diverted to political bosses? Maybe Proviso Township High Schools are already the best and we just didn’t know the yardstick Fields was using….

Four years ago I ran for school board in Oak Park and River Forest (District 200). Here’s what I listed as my goal for the school in my political literature.

Graduates should say, “My OPRF experience prepared me for adulthood.” We should prepare students to be citizens that take ownership of their communities and take advantage of opportunities to lead fulfilling lives.

Do you see how the goals I had for OPRF are specific enough that they can be used to craft policies? Do you see how Stan Fields’ vision is so vague as to be meaningless for making policies or setting priorities?

Some of Fields suggestions I thought had merit.

Fields wants to push extra-curricular, co-curricular and community service. He expressed a goal of getting all students involved in some activity. This goal seems worth investment of resources.

I also liked the idea of switching to proficiency promotion. However, it’s easy to agree that all students should be required to become proficient before getting promoted. It will be harder to implement the policy.

The teachers that implement the letter of the policy will look like failures compared to teachers who fudge and promote students who aren’t really proficient. If you accept the analysis that a major problem for District 209 is students entering who haven’t attained proficiency in eighth grade what do you want freshman teachers to do? Work intensively with the students who are behind? How much is District 209 willing to reduce class sizes?

Proviso East Principal Milton Patch briefed the board on the results of a test designed by ACT to measure if the eighth graders were on track to succeed on college entrance exams. In all feeder schools the average scores were unsatisfactory in math and science. Four schools were satisfactory in English (is Komarek a District 209 feeder school?) and only Forest Park had a satisfactory average reading score.

Patch listed a couple of plans for students in the lowest quartile. Mandatory summer school is obvious. District 209 also plans to do gender segregated education for students in the lowest quartile. I understand the logic, but I’m curious how it will play out. If segregating by gender improves academic performance why limit it to the lowest quartile?

One of the action items on the agenda was for the board to approve money for tutoring. Board member Charles Flowers asked if the money had been spent and the board was approving expenditures after-the-fact. Fields deferred to a staff member who was in the audience. She assured Flowers that the money hadn’t been spent yet. Flowers explained that the students who were eligible for this tutoring under the No Child Left Behind Act had been eligible since the beginning of the school year. The staff member explained this wasn’t a problem because the amount of money only covered 30-45 hours of tutoring and it was in the district’s best interest to have the students get the tutoring before the standardized tests in the Spring.

The staff members attitude pretty much showed the district’s attitude toward the students. Students are like pack animals who have value based on their ability to score well on tests. If I was a student and had 36 hours of tutoring over an academic year I’d probably take twelve hours at the beginning of each semester and six hours at the end of each semester. But due to bureaucratic considerations Proviso East students get their tutoring in one lump in the middle of second semester.

This is the sort of thing that’s annoying about District 209 generally. Fields and others find subtle ways to say the students and parents aren’t pulling their weight, but the superintendent and administrators don’t have the respect for the students and parents to allow them to use the school district as they see fit. Students eligible to tutoring get help when the district administrators get around to processing the paperwork, not when they want or need it.

Thomas Sloan, who I assume is related to Westchester political operative Don Sloan, was hired to be a night custodian at Proviso East for $38,481.04.

There was a debate about firing Marshonna Chambers from the business office in executive session. Chambers got blamed when a student stole some money from the business office. Her supervisors felt Chambers was negligently inattentive. Board members Flowers and Theresa Kelly were skeptical that Chambers was primarily at fault and thought it was at least partially a training and supervision problem. Board member Shirley Madlock was the board member most aggressively pushing to terminate Chambers. But Madlock backed-off somewhat when another board member asked if Madlock’s sister, Tamara Robinson, who works in the business office also, would benefit if Chambers were fired. In open session no board member even made a motion to terminate Chambers.