Next NW Executive Director of Schools?

Could it be Michael Starosky, current principal at Whitman?

Comments

TerryB said…
That's not the title he said in his recorded message. Unfortunately, I was still trying to absorb the "I will be leaving" comment when he named the poosition. I was thinking the same thing (and it would be great if it were true)with re NW Director, but I think the position was district-wide.
North End Parent said…
Recorded message stated he was gong to be a "Human Resource Coach".

What ever that is.

There is still plenty of work to be done at Whitman. We need him there.
Rufus X said…
Huh. Is this "human resource coah" a new position or filling an open position?

(WV says proppe)
Anonymous said…
I understand the need and desire for professional growth. I would not suggest that a respected and fabulous principal doesn't have the right to grow their career further. I certainly think that there are far too many Seattle School principals who are in need of coaching, and Mr. Starofsky can teach them a thing or two.

However, the district had better not mess up the school by assigning some principal reject from the displaced pool to Whitman. My greatest fear, having already had my child survive a strong school who was assigned a terrible principal, is that the district will do it again.

Signed, Worried
Ed Doc said…
Mr. Starofsky will be a coach for principals for the district next year, not NW Director.

Unless there have been some significant changes, the Whitman community has a fairly active parent group and the stakeholders in that school community can clearly voice concerns and work to ensure a good replacement is found for the principal.

In my opinion, the search would not need to be too extensive as a fine candidate currently works in the school. The assistant principal, Sue Kleitsch, is one of the best I know of and she has not yet become a principal simply due to the cronyism and backward politics that reigns in the district. She is one of the most dedicated and hardest working administrators I have observed...and extremely knowledgeable.

I would seriously doubt that Whitman could find a better principal to replace Mr. Starofsky. Of course, those in headquarters with their infinite wisdom may already have somebody in mind to slip into that position....but the Whitman community would do well to fight for the candidacy of Ms. Kleitsch.
North End Parent said…
I sure hope Principal Starosky is a Regional Director.

Isn't it a Regional Director's job to coach principals?
ISP said…
Nope, Mr. Starosky will be the "Human Reasources Consulting Principal." Announced via district-wide email today. NW Executive Director position open, with the hope to have someone hired by the end of the month. No interviews done yet.

And I disagree with Ed Doc. It is the OTHER Whitman AP, Melissa Schweitzer who has done the lion's share of the AP work and is deserving of a promotion.
NW1 said…
Today I am excited to announce the appointment of Michael Starosky as our new Consulting Principal in the Human Resources department.

Mr. Starosky will leave his role as Principal of Whitman Middle School at the end of the school year, and we are starting a search for his replacement. We thank him for his nine years as an administrator in the Whitman community.


In Mr. Starosky’s new role as the Human Resources Consulting Principal, he will serve as a peer coach to principals to improve and support the professional practice of principals. This position is funded through the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant, and the search committee included members of PASS. With Mr. Starosky’s strong leadership in building positive relationships with administrators, staff, students and the community, I know he will be a tremendous resource for principals, and will help advance our focus on instructional leadership and ensuring that every student in every school is achieving at high levels.

Mr. Starosky will also work closely with the Executive Directors of Schools on continuing our focus on instructional leadership. He will develop and maintain a close working relationship with the HR Manager of Leadership Development. Mr. Starosky will be a member of the TIF team, reporting to the TIF Director, Jessica de Barros.

In addition to exemplifying strong instructional leadership in his building, Mr. Starosky has served the district in many capacities. He is a member of the Principal Evaluation Task Force, which selected and helped to create the new principal evaluation tool for SPS Principals and Assistant Principals. He is also a member of the Principal Professional Development Design Team, the Principal-AP Interview Team and he participated in the Superintendent's Initiative for Leadership Development.

Before becoming a school administrator, he taught and completed his principal internship at Mercer Middle School. He has been a part of Seattle Public Schools since 1994.

Please join me in welcoming Mike to his new role!



Sincerely,



Susan



Susan Enfield, Ed.D.

Interim Superintendent

Seattle Public Schools
Anonymous said…
Raise your hand if you are concened that Jessica de Barrios is in a position of power? Reminde me what credentials she has outside of her Broad residency?

Also worried
MLS said…
So Michael Starosky isn't going to be the new Ex Director. Given all of the chaos of the last year, the serious lack of experience downtown, the total lack of institutional knowledge outside of Phil Brockman. and the Martine Floe/Bree Deuseualt fiasco, SPS would be wise to promote within for this opening. Since it isn't Mr. Starosky, who should it be?

Looking at the high school principals, the only person with a good reputatiton and more than a few years of experience (who hasn't already been demoted from downtown) is John Boyd at Chief Sealth. He certainly has transformed that school. Mr. Starosky was the middle school star. Andra Lutz from Mercer is off to DC. Any other middle school principal worthy of moving up? How about at the elementary level?
Linh-Co said…
Susan Enfield's letter about Mr. Starosky sounds more like his job resume.

How is a consulting principal different from an Ed Director? I thought we were trying to cut cost in central office.

Have we always had these positions previously? We currently have instructional coaches that don't do diddly for teachers and students. Now we need principal coaches. What's next? Coaches for Ed Directors?
Ed Doc said…
As they continue to rearrange the deck chairs, too much of our money is going to administrators in headquarters and no rhyme or reason can be found for most of the jobs created or those that are in the positions. If nothing else, I hope that this election will provide an opportunity for the general public in our city to learn how badly the district is operating and the defeat of each of the four incumbents in August. That would surely provide our students a hopeful beginning to the new school year.

I believe that some UW extension program provides the district with coaches for the directors, two or three apiece and it would be interesting to learn the source of money for this extravagance. How many coaches does headquarters provide for teachers? We need to put an end to the fashionable and whimsical use of taxpayer money and resources.
North End Parent said…
Dollars from TIF grant should be used to assist costs related to career ladder positions, merit pay and other Strategic Initiatives.

Instead, the district will continue to suck the general fund dry.

Why don't we keep our effective principals where they do their best work- in the schools?

Can we hire a coach to coach a coach?

Lets suck funds from the General Fund for another Regional Director.

This is BS.
Doc Ed said…
All

No, the District is not really trying to save money on administration. The real game is CONVINCING US that they are trying to save money on administration.

Its interesting to note the scores of pay raises ("reclassifications", "market adjustments", new positions created, etc.) given to administrative staff over the MGJ years.

As a matter of fact, it is common knowledge that administrative staff in a number of departments have been getting these all along. HR got their latest round in February as did the General Counsel's office.

What? Didn't they tell us? Oooops, another "oversight"..............
seattle citizen said…
Great, more non-classroom staffing costs. I thought the ed directors were the higher-ups working with principals, but now there are coaches for the principals, too? So I guess the ed directors no longer have to work with principals, discuss their practice (that's the job of the new coach) but only evaluate them? Not much to do for that $125,000...
Po3 said…
Is this a new position or one is he replacing somebody?
seattle citizen said…
Seriously: Why is there an Ed Director position (each serving, what (90 divided by 6), 15 principals, and a principal coach (lord knows who many there are of those...one?)

Principals are in charge of their buildings. Period. Ed Directors are in charge of the principals. Period. This is the chain of responsibility.

Yet between the principal and the ed director there is a "coach"? Why? Does this person work more closely with the principals, helping them meet the district's needs within their particular building? Isn't this the job of the director? If responsibility for working with principals falls on the coach, what will the director do, and how does that intermediary coach fit into the chain or responsibilty?

Maybe I'm dense, maybe the coach can merely advise, give a little support...

Maybe the coach, like coaches for teachers seem to be becoming, is intended to coach those being coached in how best to meet the evaluation "rubric" (whatever those are, or end up looking like...) Maybe the principal's coach tells them how best to use "the data" (whatever those points are, or end up being...) to keep their job, uh, to report to the director...

Maybe someone can help me out with all these coach positions: What kinds are there, and what are their jobs? Particularly the
seattle citizen said…
Starosky "will develop and maintain a close working relationship with the HR Manager of Leadership Development" (from Enfield's letter)

What is the HR Manager of Lesadership Development? Is this new, too? What did I miss? Do they develop the leaders? That wouldn't be their job, others TRAIN, HR hires...I guess it's someone who FINDS leadership, then hires them? Or advises leadership on who to lead on leading new leaders to leadership?
Ach, it's taxing. I think I'll mow the lawn.

Word Verifier became more taxed figuring this all out: WV was put into a comaten, the most powerful sort of coma ever (except for Spinal Tap's comaeleven.)
TerryB said…
Whitman is very lucky in that it has strong leadership across the board. BOTH Assistant Principals are wonderful and highly regarded by both parents and kids. Either one of them would make a fine Principal and, I believe, would continue the team leadership approach. Since I also have a child at Ingraham, I am worried still about the "hidden agenda" and am fearful that this position opening will be an opportunity to push that agenda rather than doing what is best for the Whitman community.
Linh-Co said…
Not everyone loved Mr. Starosky. I spoke to several parents who felt he was more of a politician and not so good with follow through.

I know the PTA likes him but not everyone agrees with PTA agenda.

Like many schools, there are known weak teachers which he has done nothing about. Also the math is not good at Whitman. Many parents who can afford to, send their kids to private tutoring. Hence the decent scores on the MSP. The dirty little secret is that the achievement gap is HUGE! If you look at the 2009-2010 6th grade math MSP scores - 69.7% of the free-and-reduced lunch students failed the test and 40% of those students are at Level 1. Nothing to be proud of here.
Ed Doc said…
I hope the good people on this blog put as much energy and effort as possible into campaigns to defeat the incumbent members of the Board of Directors. The first step is to have board members that listen to all stakeholders in the district and engage with the various groups.

Having four new members will be crucial in the process for selecting the next superintendent for our district. We need to get the message out loud and clear that for the sake of our students and millions of taxpayer dollars the district operations must be brought to function and order. Do all that you can to support the strong opponents to the incumbent board members, let them begin to pack up and clear out in August.
MAPsucks said…
Jessica DeBarros is another example of the Peter Principle in action. After a mediocre "expert analysis" of assessment tools as a Broad resident, she waltzed into and SPS paying job ($100K) as the Director for MAP Implementation. She led the window-dressing final "selection" of MAP. She put forth the misleading "messaging" of MAP's utility, then waltzed into the Teacher Incentive Fund position. Here she relies on Strategies 360 and other PR flacks to tell her how to put together a plan. Total lightweight and waste of money.
Paul said…
Seattle citizen:

After Charlie wrote about it, I went to the website of the state agency that issues findings in labor dispute (PERC.wa.gov).

In the most recent "Examiner Decision", the case against the principal at Hale is pretty outrageous. The union won the case against her in part because in an attempt to railroad a union member out of her school,, she produced 3 or 4 fraudulant performance appraisals. None of these was the real one but HR kept sending the union different phony versions hoping to justify her intent.

Good grief, this from a "professional person"?

And we taxpayers pay to defend her?

We think that rather than hold her accountable, the administration felt some additional "coaching" might prevent this happening again.

New vista's indeed.
Anonymous said…
Linh-Co, Maybe he is " more of a politician and not so good with follow through" -- i have no way of knowing this myself, but as a Whitman parent, I was thrilled that my son's underperforming science teacher was let go mid-year - that seems unprecedented to me! Also, I don't know what you mean by "the math is not good at Whitman". My son has an excellent math teacher who gives up much of his time to make sure that my son stays on top of assignments and gets the help that he needs (and which I couldn't afford to get him through private tutoring).

SPS teacher and Whitman parent
TerryB said…
I agree with "SPS Teacher and Whitman Parent". Whitman admins were very involved and active not only on the removal of the science teacher (my son had her too) but have continued to be actively involved in the class to ensure the year concludes smoothly. And weak in math??? I could not disagree more. If that were the case how could my older son (who was not in Spectrum) have just completed AP Calc as a Sophomore in high school? Did you know that Whitman's Math club won or placed in the district competitions every year they participated? Is every teacher there perfect? No. But Whitman has served us well.

TerryB
him said…
As a Whitman parent, all I can say is GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!

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