Site Based Management in an educational setting.

Site based management begins with the premise that
all decision making power and resources are delegated
directly to the educational interface;
the place where the student and the system meet.

From that power and those resources, is extracted
just enough power and resources to protect
the power and resources from waste through
corruption or incompetence.

Policy at the school is created by stakeholders.
Local policies are created by local stakeholders.
Global polices are crated by global stakeholders.
Decisions are made at the lowest possible level.

Competent facilitators and compliance "experts"
are provided to ensure that the decision making
process allows meaningful participation by every
interested stakeholder; and complies with a myriad
of laws and regulations.

Administrators administer the policies that the school community creates.

A system exists, to keep things under control;
but not by keeping things under control.

In contrast;
site based management in the APS means;

stakeholders will be given a chance
to try to change their principal's mind.

If you ask them "Who decides, who decides?" enough times, they will finally admit that all power and resources ultimately belong to administrators.



Take for example, the process for selecting new principals.

Not withstanding that the leadership of the APS
unilaterally suspended the whole process at their whim to enable the principal shuffle;

the process normally sees stakeholders creating lists of candidates acceptable as the next principal of their school;

or a list of candidates acceptable as their next superintendent;

a list long enough to contain the name of the candidate that the folks with the power want to install, and voila!

stakeholders mistakenly believe that they participated meaningfully in the process when in truth they have merely been manipulated.



Real Site based management is diametrically opposite to the top down design of the APS.

In the APS, the school board first takes control of public power and resources. They build themselves all of the board rooms and office space they need, keep control over as much power as they can get away with, and then pass what's left to the superintendent;

who strips all of the power and resources she can
before passing what is left to assistant superintendents,
deputy superintendents, directors, executive directors, ...

who strip as much power and resources as they can
before passing what is left to the next layer of bureaucrats.

Each feathering their nest with
with power and resources and underlings.

the next layer theirs, the next theirs, and so on,
until the money and decision making power
finally end up at the educational interface
in amounts too small to make any real difference.

Real site based management sees the power and the money going directly to schools who spend what ever part of both as they see fit, on administration and education.

Real site based management in the APS is doomed by human nature.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
socrates

The people with the control over our power and resources will not surrender it voluntarily.

They will not even talk about surrendering it

... at least not voluntarily.