The Main Job of Central Office Is to Be Competent, Not Innovative
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder argues that district leaders should focus on executing basic operations well rather than chasing innovation.
Key Takeaways
- Competence before innovation - Schools need central offices that do the basics well: staffing, budgeting, and supporting schools
- Innovation is overvalued - The push to be innovative often distracts from core responsibilities that aren't being done well
- Boring but essential - Reliable operations, clear communication, and responsive support matter more than flashy initiatives
Transcript
The main job of the central office is to be competent.
And a lot of central office leaders try to distinguish themselves by being innovative or pushing new things that they hope will get big results or at least get some attention.
But I think neglected is the importance of just being quietly competent and supporting teachers and principals.
And I saw two stories today that really made me sad about the state of central offices.
I don't know how widespread this kind of thing is, but I saw that Little Rock School District in Arkansas issued layoff notices to about 100 teachers and then sent out contracts.
But they sent out contracts to the people that they had laid off as well or people that had been non-renewed.
And then they had to retract those contracts after they'd been signed and say, no, sorry, you're still let go.
And then I also saw even more tragically in Moses Lake, Washington.
The district had a levy fail and then they had a budget mix up where they were basically double counting projected revenue and actual revenue.
So they were counting both.
instead of replacing the projections with the actual numbers, they were counting both.
So now they're like $11 million short of where they thought they were and they're laying off a hundred teachers and affecting hundreds of classroom educators through avoidable mix-ups like this to me is really tragic.
So I just think we've got to double down on competence.
Please do not hire people based on their big promises.
Please do not hire people based on their usage of buzzwords and their eagerness to be the most extreme about any new thing.
Please hire people and promote people based on their competence.
Let me know what you think.