THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610230391
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 54 lines
Thou shalt have no more messy desks - at least not on the 11th floor of the city schools' central administration building.
In one of his first acts as head of the new Division of Academic Affairs and Accountability, Assistant Superintendent Thomas B. Lockamy Jr. recently issued a two-page memo instructing employees in his division to clean house.
``When I walked in some of the offices, you couldn't even see where the administrators were sitting,'' Lockamy said in an interview. ``I think a work space needs to be organized and neat so you can function. It's like coming to work in jeans instead of a suit.''
Lockamy's Sept. 30 memo touches on everything from plants (``fine as along as they are in good shape'') to desk decorations (``Please limit the number of picture frames, knick-knacks, etc.'') to making sure chairs are properly placed under conference tables.
Employees in the 11th-floor suite had three weeks to shape up. And they have, he said. Boxloads of trash have been dumped. He conducted a walk-through Tuesday.
``I was delighted. People have told me that this has really helped them get organized.''
Lockamy says office neatness is a personal ``quirk'' of his - the cluttered desks-cluttered minds thing - even though he said he merely resurrected a practice that had been discontinued in the late 1980s with a change of administrators.
But at least a few employees have questioned what the condition of their desktops has to do with helping schools raise student achievement.
``Do you really think that parents care about the condition of an administrator's desk?'' one person asked in an anonymous letter. ``As taxpayers, are we paying assistant superintendents to conduct clean desk sweeps?''
Other employees were more measured.
``Since I keep a clean office anyway, it doesn't affect me,'' said Gloria P. Hagans, the school district's social studies coordinator. ``I like having order and cleanliness around me when I work, so I don't need anyone to tell me that.''
Calling her own desk a ``nightmare,'' Marian Flickinger, employed as president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers, said she'd be ``history'' if she had to work under those conditions. She called tidiness important, but said a two-page memo on it may be overkill.
``We've just got so many big issues to deal with that it makes me wonder why they take the time to write this up,'' Flickinger said. ``It makes me wonder what kind of work is getting done.''
Neat offices score points with the public, Lockamy said, important in a city school system that has become increasingly image-conscious.
``It does give a good public impression,'' he said. ``Very positive, very professional.''
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK PUBLIC SCHOOLS by CNB