The Board is Hiring

The Seattle Public Schools Job Board has two jobs posted for people to work for the School Board.

Administrator, Board Office pays from $45,573.00 - $62,920.00

Manager, Board Office pays $68,474.00 - $94,578.00

Here's the scoop on the Administrator job:
This position is designed to provide a high level of staff support for the School Board Directors and the School Board Office. This position provides both secretarial and administrative services including: serving as the public representation of the Board office; serving as a liaison between the Directors and staff; providing School Board Directors with documents and other information they need prior to Board or Committee meetings; creating and maintaining a variety of databases, including historical policy archives and meeting archives; creating and maintaining a tracking system for Board Director requests for information from staff; creating and maintaining a tracking system for constituent correspondence with the Board; creating and maintaining the School Board, Policy, and Government Relations internal and external web pages; and ensuring that School Board meetings run smoothly and on time.

Position reports to: Manager, Board Office
Here's the scoop on the Manager job:
The Manager of the Board Office plans, organizes and manages services and communication between Board Leadership, Board Committee Chairs, Board Directors, the Superintendent, and Senior Staff. The incumbent is responsible for managing complex and highly confidential information for the district, provide focused support to the School Board on strategic planning and strategic communications and is considered one of the "public faces" of the district. S/he also provides strategic research and policy development services, including communicating with key stakeholders about policies. The Manager of the Board Office is responsible for issue management, problem resolution, and long and short term agenda management for the Board. The incumbent exercises considerable authority and discretion in carrying out responsibilities independently and with awareness of School Board and district issues, including a focus on compliance obligations and community concerns.

Position reports to: Director of Policy & Government Relations
The Manager job is obviously a new position. Here's a little more about the duties:
Essential Functions:
1. Provides strategic support for Board Directors, including strategic communications and strategic research on issues before the Board. (20% of time)

2. Is the primary liaison between Board Directors and Senior Staff and as such exercises quality control over information that is provided to the Board. (20% of time)

3. Participates in developing annual Board goals and is charged with developing work plans to meet those goals, in conjunction with the Superintendent and Executive Management Team. (10% of time)

4. With the direction of the Policy & Governmental Relations office, develop reform and routine policies and vet for best practice. (20% of time)

5. Serves as ombudsman for Board members, keeping Board members apprised of relevant matters of concern to the district and handling matters of protocol. (15% of time)

6. Provides orientation to new Directors and keeps current Directors up to date on legal changes. (5% of time)

7. Maintains the Board Office budget, including making planning recommendations. (10% of time)

Other Functions:
1. Attends District Leadership meetings or other professional development opportunities as appropriate
2. Attends meetings with individual Board Directors or Senior Staff
3. It is a requirement of this job to regularly work evenings and occasionally weekends

Minimum Qualifications:
Education:
Bachelor's Degree in Public Administration, Public Policy or a comparable field.

Years of Experience:
Seven (7) years of increasingly responsible employment, including time spent as a policy analyst or in strategic communication.

Preferred:
Master's Degree. Experience in a school district or other large public agency

Clearances:
Criminal Justice Fingerprint or Background Check
Honestly I would apply for the manager job and be thrilled to do it, but I don't meet the minimum qualifications. The Director of Policy and Government is Holly Ferguson. Maybe I should call her and ask how firm they are about those minimum requirements.

Comments

dan dempsey said…
Charlie,

There is no doubt you are the most qualified individual for this job.

Go for it.

In addition I really liked 40% of this job ... in fact I am wildly enthusiastic about it.

Essential Functions:
1. Provides strategic support for Board Directors, including strategic communications and strategic research on issues before the Board. (20% of time)

2. Is the primary liaison between Board Directors and Senior Staff and as such exercises quality control over information that is provided to the Board. (20% of time)

===============
No Director Carr you cannot say that:

"One of the research documents said: If you are looking to close the achievement gap, it is important to invest strategically in evidence based "reform options". I believe that we are doing that through the work in our strategic plan"

The reason you cannot say this is because Helig's entire study is a mass of reasons against bringing TfA to situations like Seattle's situation.

Thus you need to either vote against TfA or find some other reason to vote against it, in spite of Helig's study.

====================
Same could be applied to Sundquist's use of paragraph 23 and omission of the facts in paragraph 27 on the Nation Math Advisory Panel final report.

===================

WOW a person to instruct the board to stop misleading the public with distortions of research and get a clue.

What a concept!

What a country!

-- Dan
dan dempsey said…
Correction:

This: Thus you need to either vote against TfA or find some other reason to vote (against) it, in spite of Helig's study.


Should be this:
Thus you need to either vote against TfA or find some other reason to vote for it, in spite of Helig's study.
Eric M said…
Given the mood down there at Mt. Doom (the JSCEE), the job might require the talents of Gandalf.

Or perhaps Emma Peel.

Or James Bond. Probably not the smirking and creaking Roger Moore version, but at least Sean Connery or Daniel Craig. Sophisticated and smooth with a hint of ultra-violence.
hschinske said…
If it's really anything like Mount Doom, the answer is an anonymous hobbit (or two -- three counting Gollum) whom everyone overlooks.

Helen Schinske
Meg said…
I play hockey. It lacks the elegance of super-spy violence, but the old wood shampoo usually gets the job done.

Somehow, though, I don't think "I play hockey and don't mind duking it out with someone in a corner" is the kind of 'policy experience' they're looking for.
Anonymous said…
If they think they are hiring a Broad person for this position we need a call to arms. No more sneaky national agenda foxes in the henhouse, especially in these positions.

The public needs to be sure the resume of the proposed hire is available to all the citizens of this city.

-skeptical-
seattle said…
Could we start a "letter of recommendation" writing campaign to Holly Ferguson? I'd send a letter recommending Charlie for the position. I bet many others would too. Charlie, what do you think about that?

Question: Charlie you have called the board directors out (and rightfully so) on many occasions. Would the board directors be accepting of you in that position?
cascade said…
Somehow, though, I don't think "I play hockey and don't mind duking it out with someone in a corner" is the kind of 'policy experience' they're looking for.

No, Meg, but it's the kind of experience the public is looking for!

Also, the board aspects of the position should report directly to the board. Any other reporting relationship means more of the same, or possibly even worse.
mirmac1 said…
I say put Jon Stewart in that position. He would rip them a new one.
SP said…
How can a Board Office Manager report to the District/Holly F? Doesn't that make it a district position first, and not the independent oversight type of position that the Board is supposed to function as?
I've seen HF in action during the school closings as well as with other Board/District meetings and she definitely toes the district line. The Board Mgr. position would not be an easy tightrope to dangle on.
Patrick said…
They are probably very firm about the minimum requirements. If they weren't, they'd be "desirable qualifications". If they hire someone who doesn't meet the minimum requirements, they are vulnerable to a law suit from everybody in Seattle who didn't apply because they didn't meet the minimums.
Charlie Mas said…
Yes, they might hold fast to the minimum qualifications, but it they did, then they would never hire anyone from Teach for America, would they? One of the minimum qualifications for a teacher position is a certificate.

If they really believed the rhetoric used around the Teach for America discussion, then they don't much care about the minimum qualifications. Don't they want to deepen and broaden the candidate pool and make the job available to the best and the brightest? After all, if the applicants really aren't qualified then the Board (or Ms Ferguson) can just choose not to hire them.
Charlie Mas said…
Here's the funny thing: I'm practically doing the Manager job already.

I'm already doing analysis and independent research on the issues brought before them.

I'm already attending a lot of the meetings.

I'm already reminding Board members of staff commitments and the schedule for annual reports.

I'm already doing compliance work.

No one else they hired could hit the ground running like me. I have the detailed knowledge of the District's programs, systems, and processes. More than that, I have the institutional memory of someone who has been close to all for ten years. Finally, if I were the a community contact person for the Board I think that I would start with credibility that anyone else would have to build over time.

Consider the annual approval of schools situation. Unlike the Board members, I followed the link on the Board Action Report and saw the web page with the links to the CSIPs. As soon as I saw the page I could see what was wrong with it. I not only noticed the schools that were mis-named, I noticed that Jane Addams K-8 was missing. Not everyone is good at noticing what is missing from a long list. I immediately contacted the Board about it because I knew that this failure would make the vote vulnerable to appeal, which would risk the District's primary revenue source. I didn't hold that information back so I could jump out, yell "Gotcha!" and appeal the decision. Heck, no. I told the Board and the staff in time for them to fix it. By the way, I had contacted the Board on this matter in previous years when the CSIPs didn't fulfill the requirements of the WAC. Yes, I read the WAC and compared the requirements of the law with the elements of the CSIPs.

I have also recently contacted the Board about the annual reports that are required by Board Policy. These reports need to go on a calendar.

I have contacted the Board about the feeble lack of action in their audit response and provided them with a blueprint for a more vigorous, credible, actual, and effective audit response.

Seriously, I'm already doing the job. I wish I could do more.

I wish I could have the ability to IM the Board during meetings with fact-checks of staff claims.

I wish I could be the person who responds to Board testimony.

I wish I could be the person who reminds the senior staff of the due dates for data and reports that they promised.

Some might wonder if I could get along with my co-workers if I were a District employee. Of course I could. I know the difference between the role of employee and the role of an activist.
Ha, ha, Charlie, we crossed threads. I'll take mine off.

Charlie, you should apply for Manager. I think you'd be great. They don't say it but knowing this district would be a HUGE assess coming in.
Asset, you'd be a huge asset.
Charlie Mas said…
I have a huge ass as well, and I bring it with me everywhere I go.
seattle said…
Charlie, your post at 9:35A would be a great cover letter to send with your resume!

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