School districts, especially DPS, have a hard time with a simple concept--planning. You would naturally assume that a district whose main function is education would be good at something as basic as this but they are not. It appears their long term goals never extend beyond the end of the week. To actually plan a long term strategy is so foreign to them you might as well be speaking Russian. DPS, its board and administrators, have no experience with this concept and therefore they are so far behind the learning curve that it often seems they have never heard of the term
Unfortunately the latest budget woes brings this issue to the surface and makes it even more obvious that they are incapable of implementing, or even understanding, this basic of all concepts. It is a problem that a lot of school districts must deal with but in Danville it is crippling. Planning is one of the most important project management and time management techniques. Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. If you do it effectively, you can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal.
Planning is also crucial for meeting your needs during each action step with your time, money, or other resources. With careful planning you often can see if at some point you are likely to face a problem. It is much easier to adjust your plan to avoid or handle a coming crisis, rather than to deal with the crisis when it comes unexpected. The old adage, “ Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” Is never more true then in the case of DPS and budgeting. Alan Lakein a well-known author on personal time management, including How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, states, “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now”. I firmly believe the upper administration of DPS should take this quote to heart and start dealing with issues that are facing them in a reasonable, professional, and sane way. This is because their recent action only illustrates their lack of understanding of this concept of planning.
Recently they announced that because it is a bad budget year (when has a school district ever said it wasn’t a bad budget year……) several capital projects would be put on hold. They give the reason for this is because funding is not available for the projects because they used the money for instructional purposes. Well first this can’t possibly be totally true because some of the money from the state has earmarks for capital projects only. If they used it for instruction they violated state law. Of course with all the recent budget juggling they have done it may be more then just this issue that needs to be scrutinized. DPS has a history of playing fast with money and adhering to the Houdini Accounting Process (now you see it, now you don’t…..).
Let’s look at recent decisions. They announced they are putting off needed capital repairs such as the Park Ave HVAC replacement. This is where the planning concept spins right over their head. Park Ave is a school on the western part of the city that has managed to maintain a healthy enrollment to the point of being pretty full. Being located in the only area of town with open land suitable for residential development and the only location in Danville where building is actually taking place should make it a strategic part of a long term “plan” of school building management. GWHS also as the flagship school of the district fits well into the overall strategic plan for long term pupil management.
Yet these schools appear to be the victims of the school boards short sighted attempt to control their hemorrhaging pocketbook.
On the other hand DPS is investing $300,000 plus in a landlocked, outdated, under utilized school in an area of declining population with no viable possibility of reversing the trend. The school Woodrow Wilson, was actually closed in the late 90’s because of it was obsolete (history repeats itself doesn’t it…..) Long term planning? No. Short sighted shoot from the hip action? Yes.
Unfortunately the latest budget woes brings this issue to the surface and makes it even more obvious that they are incapable of implementing, or even understanding, this basic of all concepts. It is a problem that a lot of school districts must deal with but in Danville it is crippling. Planning is one of the most important project management and time management techniques. Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. If you do it effectively, you can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal.
Planning is also crucial for meeting your needs during each action step with your time, money, or other resources. With careful planning you often can see if at some point you are likely to face a problem. It is much easier to adjust your plan to avoid or handle a coming crisis, rather than to deal with the crisis when it comes unexpected. The old adage, “ Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” Is never more true then in the case of DPS and budgeting. Alan Lakein a well-known author on personal time management, including How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, states, “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now”. I firmly believe the upper administration of DPS should take this quote to heart and start dealing with issues that are facing them in a reasonable, professional, and sane way. This is because their recent action only illustrates their lack of understanding of this concept of planning.
Recently they announced that because it is a bad budget year (when has a school district ever said it wasn’t a bad budget year……) several capital projects would be put on hold. They give the reason for this is because funding is not available for the projects because they used the money for instructional purposes. Well first this can’t possibly be totally true because some of the money from the state has earmarks for capital projects only. If they used it for instruction they violated state law. Of course with all the recent budget juggling they have done it may be more then just this issue that needs to be scrutinized. DPS has a history of playing fast with money and adhering to the Houdini Accounting Process (now you see it, now you don’t…..).
Let’s look at recent decisions. They announced they are putting off needed capital repairs such as the Park Ave HVAC replacement. This is where the planning concept spins right over their head. Park Ave is a school on the western part of the city that has managed to maintain a healthy enrollment to the point of being pretty full. Being located in the only area of town with open land suitable for residential development and the only location in Danville where building is actually taking place should make it a strategic part of a long term “plan” of school building management. GWHS also as the flagship school of the district fits well into the overall strategic plan for long term pupil management.
Yet these schools appear to be the victims of the school boards short sighted attempt to control their hemorrhaging pocketbook.
On the other hand DPS is investing $300,000 plus in a landlocked, outdated, under utilized school in an area of declining population with no viable possibility of reversing the trend. The school Woodrow Wilson, was actually closed in the late 90’s because of it was obsolete (history repeats itself doesn’t it…..) Long term planning? No. Short sighted shoot from the hip action? Yes.
Also in a continuation of the Impulse School of Budget Directing they are also in the process of spending god knows what resurfacing the track at Langston. As far as anyone is aware the Langston track hosts no athletic teams, no games are played there, and basically the field in unused except by a small group of students from the alternative school. Not to say the track did not need resurfacing (I use it myself) but on a priority list this project should have been placed just above tearing down the unused greenhouse at Gibson (a whole other Magnet School fiasco……)
As if this isn’t enough, ground was recently broken on bathrooms and equipment storage rooms and concessions stands at the Langston softball field. Do I even have to explain the fallacy of such a project is a tight budget year ? Again, it may have been needed but in light of economic conditions I believe the district could have survived a few more years without them.
An old Chinese proverb states, “When planning for a year plant corn, when planning for a decade plant a tree, when planning for a lifetime train and educate people.” DPS must get out of the corn planting stage. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. The students deserve no less.
As a footnote if the present school board member running for city council supported these irrational decisions then he is surely someone who is not needed on city council. When a cancer is present we don’t introduce it to another host we fight it where it is. The city cannot afford any more short sighted people in leadership rolls.
