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Components of School Staffing in the
Turnaround Process
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Baltimore City’s Human Capital Plan for
Turnaround Schools
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4/26/2010

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Angie P. Kirk

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Kirk, 1
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

Abstract

Expanding Great Options: Staffing Schools

Angie Kirk, TBR VI

In 2008-2009, Baltimore City Schools launched Expanding Great Options which creates more

and better educational opportunities for our students. This year, the program has expanded to

include twelve schools which will either close, turnaround or re-start as defined by federal

guidance.

My capstone paper will address City Schools’ human capital approach to Expanding Great

Options. I will detail the strategies of communication, placement, and option creation for the

700+ employees that will be impacted by Expanding Great Options 2010-11. This work is in

process, so the capstone project will include the planning and early launch of the human capital

strategy.

Kirk, 2
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

Baltimore City Schools is comprised of 201 schools with 83,000 students. Schools and students

across the district have shown uneven performance and achievement levels. To change this

reality, City Schools undertook an aggressive reform strategy to close or turnaround

persistently under-performing schools. These changes are taking place under the umbrella of

‘Expanding Great Options’ which started in the 2008-2009 school year. Last year, Expanding

Great Options (EGO): approved two new charters, created six new transformation schools

(themed 6-12 secondary schools), relocated and/or closed nine schools that weren’t working

for kids (Recommendations, City Schools).

The strategy-to create schools that work for kids- is highly appropriate for a district at which

kids are the core of its theory of action. However, from a human capital standpoint, there were

opportunities for improvement in our execution. Our great kids need great teachers and school

leaders, and this paper will focus on how those aspects are playing a larger role in the 2010-11

EGO process.

Lessons learned from last year’s efforts were rolled into this year’s process, and include

communicating school changes sooner, expanding school choice and actively managing the

human capital aspects of the changes.

School Staffing Considerations

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 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

In 2008-2009, because of the swift and decisive changes that were made to schools, details that

were pertinent to kids and families-not staff- were emphasized. For example, communities

with closing schools received notification of the closing, along with other school choice options

for their children. From the school staff point of view, however, notification of school closures

came AFTER the voluntary transfer fair, which is the district’s mechanism for filling teacher

vacancies.

At the leadership level, many of the most troubled schools were not able to appoint principals

until well after the July 1 fiscal year had begun. This created two major problems: the outgoing

principal may not have managed the building as strongly as possible, leaving teacher

evaluations and important communications undone. Based on unit agreements with BTU

(Baltimore Teacher’s Union, an affiliate of AFT), if an unsatisfactory notification is not given to a

teacher by May 1st of the school year, it is assumed that the employee has satisfactory

performance- which may not be the case.

The second issue was created when the newly appointed school leader was placed in an

awkward position of ‘inheriting’ staff, with little or no say on who should stay or go. The

opportunity to jump in the competitive talent search (voluntary transfer fair) had well passed,

and the only teachers available were those whose records seemed to suggest a poor

performance story- which couldn’t be verified, since many didn’t have an evaluation either.

Kirk, 4
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

In this year’s process, the Office of the Chief of Staff communicated changes to the school

board and communities in January, to allow for community conversations in February. In

keeping with the human capital focus, the Office of Human Capital scheduled staff meetings in

advance of the community. The goal was to discuss the recommendations, get staff reaction,

and lay out a timeline for next steps. This process allowed staff to have a candid conversation

with the OHC leader about their concerns, which may or may not be related to parent and

community concerns.

In March and April, a representative from the Office of Human Capital returned to discuss the

supports being offered to staff from the OHC. These supports included the Declaration of

Intent process with an incentive for early submission. Employees who notified the OHC of their

intent to retire or resign from City Schools by an early April date were given an additional day in

their personal leave banks, which could be cashed out upon termination.

The voluntary transfer registration process (VT) is a second support for school staff. Typically,

eligibility requirements must be met for an employee to register for this opportunity to leave

the school in the following year. We opened the process to all employees who are currently

working in an EGO school, without regard to tenure, certification, performance, etc. Of course,

these are important variables, but we wanted to lessen the barriers for impacted employees.

Kirk, 5
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

Lastly, the Office of Human Capital partnered with Baltimore City to create workshops around

interviewing and resume writing. These workshops are open to any employee, but specifically

targeted to staff in EGO schools. The intent is to ‘soften’ the process of looking for a new

opportunity for those school members who may not have prepared a resume and/or

interviewed in a number of years.

The EGO initiative is likely no different than other districts’ plans to increase student

achievement. For this initiative the district acted boldly and decisively to do what was best for

kids. This year we did look to the US Dept of Education for their insights in school options

(close, restart, turnaround, transform) and option execution using ARRA funds.

We considered the federal guidelines and the capacity of the district to turnaround our lowest

performing schools and found that there are two types of EGO schools: those which will be

turned around by leadership at Central office (internal turnarounds) and those that we have

solicited an external organization to lead the turnaround (external turnarounds).

The initiative has the following impact on the district:

Kirk, 6
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

Impacts eight schools with 799 school staff members, 50% of which must leave

the school, based on the federal guidelines of zero basing;

A competitive RFP process to attract external partners to run a portfolio of

turnaround schools using City Schools employees;

A $30 million grant which will fund innovative school programs and includes

roughly $16 million in incentive programs for selected staff;

Review, recruitment and identification of existing top talent in the district-great

candidates for EGO schools;

Creating major change in a difficult budget year, where a current teacher surplus

hampers outside hiring;

Extremely aggressive timelines for community communication, board approval,

and subsequent school leadership and staff decisions.

Resident Contribution

The EGO work team is made up of representatives from key areas of the district whose work

impacts EGO schools. The team meets weekly to discuss macro level topics related to the

turnaround schools. Between meetings, I move micro-level work for the human capital team

which includes: School communication strategy, relationship management with external

operators and central office leadership, school based staffing for internal schools and

Kirk, 7
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

integrating these best practices for the Alternative Governance (AG) schools. These actions are

best described below:

Timeline and Action Planning- My work involves creating a big picture view for the EGO

and OHC teams. I create timelines and action steps by working backwards from critical

dates such as board meetings, voluntary transfer fairs and legal/regulatory requirements.

Big streams of work include the voluntary transfer process, staff communication and

school-based interviews.

Communication Strategy- This is very important piece of the work which is also very

difficult to master. Being a part of the work team makes me privy to information that is

confidential and critical to other processes. In many instances, communication is put on

hold to be sure that it is appropriate to disclose certain facts or decisions. My work

includes internal communication to staff, acting as a bridge between the EGO team and

the OHC staff as well as staff in impacted schools and those who may be considering

these schools.

During this process, we identified a professional learning community (PLC) which met off

hours to discuss their curriculum and identify instructional improvements. I used these

PLCs to promote the EGO opportunities and gain traction on finding talent that is already

in the district. I participated in three events which drew approximately 170 teachers in

the district.

Kirk, 8
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

Relationship management- In my role as the OHC point person, I managed the

relationships between our office and the external vendors chosen to run our schools.

This work involves being a point of contact for school staffing for operators as questions

arose.

School staff interview and selection process- I co-created an aggressive interview

strategy for the internal turnarounds which included interviewing existing staff (who were

zero-based) and interviewing staff members identified through the VT process. The next

major stream of work is identifying a new and innovative way to source talent to the

district.

Integration with AG schools- Although not a part of the EGO process, I am partnering

with central staff to replicate EGO processes for Alternative Governance (AG) schools.

These are schools that have missed adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the past five years,

and with continued missed expectations could roll into the EGO schools that deliver

persistent poor performance. This portfolio is made up of eight schools, and a much

smaller staff impact because many of the schools will undergo “targeted re-application”

based on AYP data and trends.

Outcomes

This process has yielded numerous ‘service’ improvements over last year’s process. First,

impacted staff actually had an opportunity to dialogue with an OHC staff member about what

was going to happen, and what was happening through the EGO process. The meetings were

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 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

organized with materials created especially for EGO schools. The presentations had a combined

attendance of approximately 243 employees, or 30% of the impacted staff.

Identification of existing talent is crucial in this process and is playing two important roles.

First, we are recognizing talent that currently exists and avoiding a time-consuming and costly

recruitment effort. Secondly, we have created an informal ‘reward’ system by recognizing

existing staff for their efforts. In an environment with diminishing dollars, professional

development, and outward recognition of contribution, this identification mechanism has

become its own incentive program. Employees showed excitement when ‘someone at central’

recognized their efforts and actually engaged them in a conversation about their strengths and

next steps. The conversations are seen almost as an ‘invitation’ to join something big, and staff

members are accepting.

Early talent identification came through after-hours PLC meetings. Approximately 175

employees were touched through this venue, and are heavily represented on internal

turnaround slates.

The biggest indicator of success is in the unsolicited comments from impacted school staff that

are appreciative of the information, and opportunity to participate in the meetings and

Kirk, 10
 Components of School Staffing in the Turnaround Process

workshops. The ability to execute a large scale reform effort and have employees feel a part of

the change-and not run over by it- is key to human capital reform in our district.

Kirk, 11