Post by LimitedRecourse on Dec 1, 2011 15:13:22 GMT -5
When I started this role, many of you asked me about potential Department reorganization. At the same time, Governor Haslam directed each commissioner to conduct a top to bottom review of each state agency to ensure that we use public funding as efficiently as possible. I committed to do a thorough review of the Department’s strategic plan before examining any reorganization and pledged that I would be transparent throughout this process.
I write to you today to share a draft of the new Department structure, and to share some key leadership updates. As you will see, while the top-line structure of the Department is changing, for the majority of staff members, your work and your direct management will not change, even if the location of your division changes. This includes the largest divisions within the Department in order to provide a broad overview but doesn’t include every division, so if you have questions about where you or your team reports, please ask your manager or reach out to Vickie Hall.
I. Context:
As you will remember from my review of the strategic plan in early October (available at www.tn.gov/education/doc/TDOE_Strategic_Plan.pdf), I have outlined four key priorities for the activities of Department, in an effort to reach our ambitious state-wide student achievement goals. Those priority areas are:
1. Expand kids’ access to effective teachers and leaders
Expand families’ access to good schools
Expand educators’ access to resource and best practices
Expand public access to information and data
While these do not represent the sum total of our work, I believe it is important for the Department structure to support these priorities and help target all of our efforts toward increasing student achievement. Tennessee’s First to the Top goals are ambitious, and we must do everything we can to support teachers, schools and districts in their effort to reach these goals.
The current Department structure supports some facets of the strategic plan, but is not broadly aligned with our goals and priorities. In order to facilitate our work and to help ensure that we are positioned to advance our student achievement goals, we must change the reporting structure of the Department.
Please note that the new organizational chart proposed below is based on the structure that I believe is necessary to accomplish our priorities. It is not driven by personnel, and any changes proposed are not a reflection on the contributions and service to date of individuals or teams.
II. Structure and Leadership Updates:
Flowing from the four priorities, there are six broad areas of activity that I intend to organize our work and capacity around. They are:
· Academics
Achievement School District
Data and Communications
District Support and Delivery
State Relations and Department Management
Teachers and Leaders
As many of you know, Patrick Smith is stepping down from his role as Deputy Commissioner this week, and will be greatly missed for his depth of experience, his unique insight and perspective, as well as his generosity of time and spirit. Patrick graciously agreed to extend his commitment to the Department in order to help me through the transition over the last seven months, and I am honored to have worked with him and learned from him.
Today, I am pleased to announce that Kathleen Airhart, currently the director of schools in Putnam County, will be joining the Department as the new Deputy Commissioner effective January 1. Dr. Airhart has been a visionary leader in Putnam, implementing far-reaching reforms during her tenure as director. She was honored for her work in September when her colleagues voted her the Tennessee state superintendent of the year.
Under the new organizational structure, Dr. Airhart will assume many of Patrick’s external responsibilities, and will also oversee the Academic Division, which will encompass three sub-divisions, each headed by an Assistant Commissioner.
· Career and Technical Education will continue to be a critical division of the Department with the mission of ensuring strong preparation for students to be viable for the workforce, including overseeing high-school strategy across the state and ensuring the alignment between the content we are teaching in our schools and the skills our students will need to compete in an increasingly global economy. Danielle Mezera, currently the director of Mayor Karl Dean’s Office of Children and Youth will be joining the Department as the Assistant Commissioner for Career and Technical Education. Danielle has spent the past years bringing together the business, education and political communities in Nashville, including work on MNPS’ career academies.
· Curriculum and Instruction will have, at its core, the mission of successful transition to common core and the preparation of students and teachers for success in these new standards. This will include assessment design—while assessment logistics will continue to run out of the data and communications Department, the design of assessments and the transition to PARCC will be driven by the assessment and instruction team. Emily Barton, currently the interim head of TEAM implementation, will be the Assistant Commissioner for Curriculum and Instruction, and will continue to lead the implementation of TEAM from this office for the remainder of the school year. Emily came to the Department last spring to support my transition as chief of staff, and previously was the executive director of Teach For America in Washington DC.
· Special Education and Special Populations will be accountable for the aggregate results of students with special needs across the state as well as our compliance with accommodations for unique learning needs. This will include management of IDEA as well as TEIS, early childhood education services, gifted and talented students, migrant students and homeless education, and management of the Tennessee School for the Blind, School for the Deaf and West TN School for the Deaf. Joe Fisher who has led our work in special education as the head of the Division of College and Career Readiness recently let me know he is planning to retire this summer. We thank him for his service to the Department and are grateful that he is willing to stay on to help us transition our work over the coming months. Bobbi Lussier, currently the head of the Division of School Readiness and Early Learning, will be taking on the role of Assistant Commissioner for Special Education and Special Populations. Bobbi has helped build the Department’s early childhood capacity over the past years, and previously was a highly effective principal in Oak Ridge.
The State Relations and Department Management function will include the Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Legislation who will oversee state and district relations, local finance, policy and the office of the general counsel, and a newly added Executive Director of State Operations who will oversee the internal operations of the Department, in addition to state service delivery to students in nutrition, health, and school safety.
· Stephen Smith will take on expanded responsibilities over state and district relations, local finance, and audit functions as Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Legislation and will manage this team. Stephen led the Department’s legislative work over the past year, and previously served as legal counsel for TSBA and in private practice.
· Christy Ballard continues to lead our legal function as General Counsel. Christy has served as primary legal counsel at the Department for nine years, and provides invaluable breadth and depth of legal issues facing the state and districts. Christy will continue to work directly with me on key issues facing the Department and will serve on the Department’s leadership team.
· Mike Herrmann will become the Executive Director of State Operations, and will manage a number of divisions shown in the attached chart. Mike currently manages school safety and learning support and brings a strong background through his work in the Department and also from his previous work in the Governor’s office.
The reorganized Data and Communications team will be charged with ensuring clear communications of information with the public, managing our work in accountability and in research, and supporting the continuous improvement of the Department over time. This team will manage both the external function of communications (media relations) and expand to take on the full internal coordination of communications including communications with districts, principals and teachers, and communications with the U.S. Department of Education.
· Erin O’Hara, currently the director of First to the Top, will be the Assistant Commissioner of Data and Communications. Erin has led the Department’s effort to implement our winning First to the Top plan, and brings experience leading broad communication efforts in the Governor’s office and in the Department.
· Zach Rossley, currently the interim director of assessment, will serve as Erin’s deputy director and will assist with the management of the team. Zach came to the Department last summer as a Broad Resident and has led the data and assessment divisions. He will continue to manage assessment implementation for the remainder of the current school year.
· Debbie Owens will continue to lead federal programs, as part of the data and communications team working to streamline and support the communication of data to key constituencies. Debbie has overseen the Department’s work in federal programs as chief officer of the division of LEA support and Improvement.
The District Support Team will be responsible for delivery of Department activities and support to districts, including communication, policy updates, resources, and trainings, and will be headed by a Chief District Support Officer who will manage the nine Field Service Center Directors as well as a Director of School Innovation. Each Field Service Center will be accountable for the student achievement results for all districts in their respective region and staffed to help districts achieve their First to the Top goals. The School Innovation team will include our current work with charter schools, STEM schools, non-public/home schooling, as well as school improvement and any state-to-school interventions outside the Achievement School District. Cindy Benefield who has been serving as interim head of the Field Service Centers has agreed to become the director of the Southeast Field Service Center. Until we identify a Chief District Support Officer, Kathleen Airhart and I will be directly managing the Field Service Center Directors. Barry Olhausen has agreed to help us with the day-to-day management responsibilities, bringing his experience as head of instructional leadership in the Department and as a former director.
The Teachers and Leaders Team, headed by an Assistant Commissioner, will oversee all our work to support the effectiveness of our human capital. We are launching a search for this position.
· Sara Heyburn will lead the Department’s teacher work under this team, including all human capital work pertaining to teacher licensure, program approval, Teach Tennessee, and tools for districts in recruiting, selecting and supporting teachers. Sara will also serve as interim Assistant Commissioner of the team, reporting directly to me. Sara has been serving at the Department as a policy adviser on First to the Top and TEAM.
· The Teachers and Leaders team will also include leader (principal, supervisor and superintendent) licensure, evaluation, program approval and professional development as well as any state-level preparation programming.
· For the remainder of the current school year, Emily Barton will continue to lead TEAM implementation. At the end of the year, TEAM will transition onto the Teachers and Leaders team.
The Achievement School District, while it will always remain part of the Department and an arm of the state, will have a separate funding stream and its own brand, and will ultimately grow and manage its staff as an independent school district. Chris Barbic will continue to report to me directly and the Achievement School District will strive to reach ambitious goals for student achievement in the schools in its portfolio.
While many of the current direct-management functions will be infused throughout other divisions of the Department through this reorganization, the First to the Top Office will continue to lead the project management, monitoring and reporting on the activities in our flagship federal grant. Meghan Curran, currently deputy director of First to the Top will become the director.
Alongside the First to the Top Office, the Office of the Commissioner, including my Chief of Staff and administrative team, will continue support me to spend my time engaging in these activities in ways that will lead to the greatest effectiveness for our students and for the Department. Hanseul Kang recently joined the Department as my chief of staff.
III. Next Steps:
I invite you to review the organizational chart attached here that shows the new teams I described above and the specific functions they will include. While the above email references some new positions, for the vast majority of staff in the Department, your responsibilities and your manager will continue as before, even if your team has moved into a new reporting structure.
If you have remaining questions about what team you will be part of, please feel free to reach out to your current team head or to Vickie Hall, Director of Human Resources. In the coming weeks, I and other Department leaders will share more with you about facilitating this transition and logistics of the office (seating reassignments, etc). I appreciate the patience, sense of possibility and above all, the focus on the ultimate work in our care that I know you will all continue to show as we make this transition.
I thank you for your work, and look forward to continuing to partner together to raise student achievement in Tennessee.
Sincerely,
Kevin Huffman
I write to you today to share a draft of the new Department structure, and to share some key leadership updates. As you will see, while the top-line structure of the Department is changing, for the majority of staff members, your work and your direct management will not change, even if the location of your division changes. This includes the largest divisions within the Department in order to provide a broad overview but doesn’t include every division, so if you have questions about where you or your team reports, please ask your manager or reach out to Vickie Hall.
I. Context:
As you will remember from my review of the strategic plan in early October (available at www.tn.gov/education/doc/TDOE_Strategic_Plan.pdf), I have outlined four key priorities for the activities of Department, in an effort to reach our ambitious state-wide student achievement goals. Those priority areas are:
1. Expand kids’ access to effective teachers and leaders
Expand families’ access to good schools
Expand educators’ access to resource and best practices
Expand public access to information and data
While these do not represent the sum total of our work, I believe it is important for the Department structure to support these priorities and help target all of our efforts toward increasing student achievement. Tennessee’s First to the Top goals are ambitious, and we must do everything we can to support teachers, schools and districts in their effort to reach these goals.
The current Department structure supports some facets of the strategic plan, but is not broadly aligned with our goals and priorities. In order to facilitate our work and to help ensure that we are positioned to advance our student achievement goals, we must change the reporting structure of the Department.
Please note that the new organizational chart proposed below is based on the structure that I believe is necessary to accomplish our priorities. It is not driven by personnel, and any changes proposed are not a reflection on the contributions and service to date of individuals or teams.
II. Structure and Leadership Updates:
Flowing from the four priorities, there are six broad areas of activity that I intend to organize our work and capacity around. They are:
· Academics
Achievement School District
Data and Communications
District Support and Delivery
State Relations and Department Management
Teachers and Leaders
As many of you know, Patrick Smith is stepping down from his role as Deputy Commissioner this week, and will be greatly missed for his depth of experience, his unique insight and perspective, as well as his generosity of time and spirit. Patrick graciously agreed to extend his commitment to the Department in order to help me through the transition over the last seven months, and I am honored to have worked with him and learned from him.
Today, I am pleased to announce that Kathleen Airhart, currently the director of schools in Putnam County, will be joining the Department as the new Deputy Commissioner effective January 1. Dr. Airhart has been a visionary leader in Putnam, implementing far-reaching reforms during her tenure as director. She was honored for her work in September when her colleagues voted her the Tennessee state superintendent of the year.
Under the new organizational structure, Dr. Airhart will assume many of Patrick’s external responsibilities, and will also oversee the Academic Division, which will encompass three sub-divisions, each headed by an Assistant Commissioner.
· Career and Technical Education will continue to be a critical division of the Department with the mission of ensuring strong preparation for students to be viable for the workforce, including overseeing high-school strategy across the state and ensuring the alignment between the content we are teaching in our schools and the skills our students will need to compete in an increasingly global economy. Danielle Mezera, currently the director of Mayor Karl Dean’s Office of Children and Youth will be joining the Department as the Assistant Commissioner for Career and Technical Education. Danielle has spent the past years bringing together the business, education and political communities in Nashville, including work on MNPS’ career academies.
· Curriculum and Instruction will have, at its core, the mission of successful transition to common core and the preparation of students and teachers for success in these new standards. This will include assessment design—while assessment logistics will continue to run out of the data and communications Department, the design of assessments and the transition to PARCC will be driven by the assessment and instruction team. Emily Barton, currently the interim head of TEAM implementation, will be the Assistant Commissioner for Curriculum and Instruction, and will continue to lead the implementation of TEAM from this office for the remainder of the school year. Emily came to the Department last spring to support my transition as chief of staff, and previously was the executive director of Teach For America in Washington DC.
· Special Education and Special Populations will be accountable for the aggregate results of students with special needs across the state as well as our compliance with accommodations for unique learning needs. This will include management of IDEA as well as TEIS, early childhood education services, gifted and talented students, migrant students and homeless education, and management of the Tennessee School for the Blind, School for the Deaf and West TN School for the Deaf. Joe Fisher who has led our work in special education as the head of the Division of College and Career Readiness recently let me know he is planning to retire this summer. We thank him for his service to the Department and are grateful that he is willing to stay on to help us transition our work over the coming months. Bobbi Lussier, currently the head of the Division of School Readiness and Early Learning, will be taking on the role of Assistant Commissioner for Special Education and Special Populations. Bobbi has helped build the Department’s early childhood capacity over the past years, and previously was a highly effective principal in Oak Ridge.
The State Relations and Department Management function will include the Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Legislation who will oversee state and district relations, local finance, policy and the office of the general counsel, and a newly added Executive Director of State Operations who will oversee the internal operations of the Department, in addition to state service delivery to students in nutrition, health, and school safety.
· Stephen Smith will take on expanded responsibilities over state and district relations, local finance, and audit functions as Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Legislation and will manage this team. Stephen led the Department’s legislative work over the past year, and previously served as legal counsel for TSBA and in private practice.
· Christy Ballard continues to lead our legal function as General Counsel. Christy has served as primary legal counsel at the Department for nine years, and provides invaluable breadth and depth of legal issues facing the state and districts. Christy will continue to work directly with me on key issues facing the Department and will serve on the Department’s leadership team.
· Mike Herrmann will become the Executive Director of State Operations, and will manage a number of divisions shown in the attached chart. Mike currently manages school safety and learning support and brings a strong background through his work in the Department and also from his previous work in the Governor’s office.
The reorganized Data and Communications team will be charged with ensuring clear communications of information with the public, managing our work in accountability and in research, and supporting the continuous improvement of the Department over time. This team will manage both the external function of communications (media relations) and expand to take on the full internal coordination of communications including communications with districts, principals and teachers, and communications with the U.S. Department of Education.
· Erin O’Hara, currently the director of First to the Top, will be the Assistant Commissioner of Data and Communications. Erin has led the Department’s effort to implement our winning First to the Top plan, and brings experience leading broad communication efforts in the Governor’s office and in the Department.
· Zach Rossley, currently the interim director of assessment, will serve as Erin’s deputy director and will assist with the management of the team. Zach came to the Department last summer as a Broad Resident and has led the data and assessment divisions. He will continue to manage assessment implementation for the remainder of the current school year.
· Debbie Owens will continue to lead federal programs, as part of the data and communications team working to streamline and support the communication of data to key constituencies. Debbie has overseen the Department’s work in federal programs as chief officer of the division of LEA support and Improvement.
The District Support Team will be responsible for delivery of Department activities and support to districts, including communication, policy updates, resources, and trainings, and will be headed by a Chief District Support Officer who will manage the nine Field Service Center Directors as well as a Director of School Innovation. Each Field Service Center will be accountable for the student achievement results for all districts in their respective region and staffed to help districts achieve their First to the Top goals. The School Innovation team will include our current work with charter schools, STEM schools, non-public/home schooling, as well as school improvement and any state-to-school interventions outside the Achievement School District. Cindy Benefield who has been serving as interim head of the Field Service Centers has agreed to become the director of the Southeast Field Service Center. Until we identify a Chief District Support Officer, Kathleen Airhart and I will be directly managing the Field Service Center Directors. Barry Olhausen has agreed to help us with the day-to-day management responsibilities, bringing his experience as head of instructional leadership in the Department and as a former director.
The Teachers and Leaders Team, headed by an Assistant Commissioner, will oversee all our work to support the effectiveness of our human capital. We are launching a search for this position.
· Sara Heyburn will lead the Department’s teacher work under this team, including all human capital work pertaining to teacher licensure, program approval, Teach Tennessee, and tools for districts in recruiting, selecting and supporting teachers. Sara will also serve as interim Assistant Commissioner of the team, reporting directly to me. Sara has been serving at the Department as a policy adviser on First to the Top and TEAM.
· The Teachers and Leaders team will also include leader (principal, supervisor and superintendent) licensure, evaluation, program approval and professional development as well as any state-level preparation programming.
· For the remainder of the current school year, Emily Barton will continue to lead TEAM implementation. At the end of the year, TEAM will transition onto the Teachers and Leaders team.
The Achievement School District, while it will always remain part of the Department and an arm of the state, will have a separate funding stream and its own brand, and will ultimately grow and manage its staff as an independent school district. Chris Barbic will continue to report to me directly and the Achievement School District will strive to reach ambitious goals for student achievement in the schools in its portfolio.
While many of the current direct-management functions will be infused throughout other divisions of the Department through this reorganization, the First to the Top Office will continue to lead the project management, monitoring and reporting on the activities in our flagship federal grant. Meghan Curran, currently deputy director of First to the Top will become the director.
Alongside the First to the Top Office, the Office of the Commissioner, including my Chief of Staff and administrative team, will continue support me to spend my time engaging in these activities in ways that will lead to the greatest effectiveness for our students and for the Department. Hanseul Kang recently joined the Department as my chief of staff.
III. Next Steps:
I invite you to review the organizational chart attached here that shows the new teams I described above and the specific functions they will include. While the above email references some new positions, for the vast majority of staff in the Department, your responsibilities and your manager will continue as before, even if your team has moved into a new reporting structure.
If you have remaining questions about what team you will be part of, please feel free to reach out to your current team head or to Vickie Hall, Director of Human Resources. In the coming weeks, I and other Department leaders will share more with you about facilitating this transition and logistics of the office (seating reassignments, etc). I appreciate the patience, sense of possibility and above all, the focus on the ultimate work in our care that I know you will all continue to show as we make this transition.
I thank you for your work, and look forward to continuing to partner together to raise student achievement in Tennessee.
Sincerely,
Kevin Huffman