THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602240145
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Kevin Armstrong
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
During Tuesday's meeting, School Board member Robert Hall took an administrator to task publicly for presenting him with a report that was more than 100 pages long.
The problem? Only one side of each page contained information. The backs of each were blank.
We could have saved money by printing it on both sides, he said. ``I've told you before, we save money by starting with the little things. . . .''
Apparently, Hall practices what he preaches. A day after making those remarks, he resigned. That move - assuming the City Council waits and allows voters to fill Hall's seat - will save the school district $1,200. (Board members earn $300 per month.)
While that's small potatoes in a bushel basket capable of holding a multi-million-dollar deficit, it's certainly a start. At this point in the game, just moving off ``GO'' equals progress.
Getting the school system to begin thinking differently about how it's organized, financed and operated is an essential start.
Businesses and organizations all over this city, region, state, nation and world have embarked on a mission to improve quality. It's time Virginia Beach City Public Schools catch up to the rest of us.
The aim is to increase efficiency and productivity and eliminate waste and rework. It also involves continuous input from everyone involved, from top to bottom.
Before you discount it as gobbledygook, consider what's happening at City Hall. City employees have been challenged to find ways to improve their work.
Take, for example, the case of the city mechanics. That department realized it was creating unneeded downtime for other departments by requiring them to drive vehicles to the city garage for maintenance. Someone suggested, why not have the mechanic drive to where the vehicles were instead? That way, the vehicles would be back in service sooner.
That's the bottom-up thinking needed in the school system.
Imagine the tension that has added to the strained relationships between the city staff and school district over who's best pulling its weight financially.
Over the past few weeks, school employees have called the newspaper suggesting various ways the district can save money. Why, I've asked them, isn't there a process for these ideas to be voiced up the administrative ladder?
When a board member has to identify such small things as using two sides of a paper for printing, it shows that things are backward in our city's schools. Those ideas should be coming from the people closest to the work.
But either nobody's asking them or their answers aren't reaching the decision-makers in charge.
To be fair, the school system is beginning to come around.
The district is working with the city, military and business community to begin making quality efforts a way of life. Sharing resources and training is one aim.
That type of thinking invites many possibilities - does consolidation of city and school financial departments or printing services sound familiar?
If you're still convinced that this is a wasted exercise that has financial savings but little educational value, consider this:
A fourth-grade teacher's students at Williams Elementary scored 28 points higher on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills last year than the school average. The reason? She put some of the quality strategies to work in her instruction.
Only by entrenching such practices throughout the district, from the lowest paid worker to the superintendent himself, will the school system earn back the taxpayers' trust. by CNB