BURKEonBOARD

(Sept. 25, 2008) – Everyone one has heard those stories about the highway department road crew with three supervisors watching one worker fill a pothole.

It appears we may have a real life example of that right here in the Farmington School District. In yet another situation that defies explanation, we may actually have what amounts to three bosses running what used to be called the Curriculum Office and is now called the Department of Teaching and Learning.

For the past couple of years (how many I don’t actually know), up until this summer, a gentleman named Steve Dibb was the Director of Curriculum for the district. Things didn’t go well for Dibb. Test scores languished. There were great disparities in achievement and curriculum delivery between the four elementary schools and efforts to improve things seemed haphazard and unorganized. A directive from an old school board to improve the quantity and quality of Advanced Placement and Honors classes offerings went unfulfilled.

So, this summer the Curriculum Office became the Department of Teaching and Learning and with move came the appointment of that new assistant superintendent for education services you’ve heard so much about. Superintendent Meeks appointed, and the school board approved, Dr. Christine Weymouth, formerly the Farmington Middle School West principal, to the new position. By all accounts, Dr. Weymouth is a pretty sharp cookie, if somewhat lacking in communications skills to make that apparent.

So, what happened to Steve Dibb, the old Director of Curriculum? Nothing, really. He’s still a director, now in the new Department of Teaching and Learning. But he’s not the only director of Teaching and Learning. A Ms. Becky Melville is also listed as a director in the Department of Teaching and Learning (see the department listings here).

Now, we have two directors of one department. But, wait. What about the new Assistant Superintendent for Education Services. If she’s not in charge of the Department of Teaching and Learning, then what is she doing?

The conclusion is we have three executive level staff running one department. That seems a bit excessive. Some might even call it a waste of money.

We may have to go out and buy a few extra shovels for these supervisors to lean on while they watch the teachers teach and the students learn.