Turnaround specialists hired for schools
Thursday, February 12, 2009 8:04 AM EST
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAYOf The Oakland Press
Turnaround specialist? Redesign project coordinator? These new titles at Pontiac schools may be unfamiliar and mystifying, but Sheryl Thomas and Geralyn Stephens, who will bear the designations, are seen as the keys to the success of downsizing the district by the fall semester.
Thomas, a retired Detroit schools administrator, will work under acting superintendent Linda Paramore to lead staff in the arduous job of shaping and implementing the restructuring plan for the entire district. Once completed, the plan will have merged high school, middle school and elementary school pupils and staff in time to welcome the district’s 7,000 students to half the buildings open today.
It will be the responsibility of Stephens, a Wayne State University faculty member, to use “dramatically different approaches” to redesign the new high school that will combine Pontiac Northern and Central.
She will work with students, faculty and administrators to carry out the project that will create a school with a new name and new colors.
The Pontiac Board of Education approved separate one-year contracts with Stephens and Thomas this week to ensure the complicated tasks are carried out in a timely manner.
Thomas said she was directly involved in closing 38 Detroit schools in a two-year period and assisted in writing the transition plan. She was assistant superintendent in the leadership and accountability office, and a principal and counselor before that.
Her company, Thomas Educational Consultants, LLC, will be paid up to $95,000 to work in conjunction with the acting superintendent and the incoming superintendent, to be hired this spring, to “plan, execute and finalize all projects related to the redesign of the school district,” Paramore said. “This includes tracking the district’s resources and coordinating the efforts for all necessary staff members, departments and third-party contractors involved.”
The Thomas contract will be paid from the general fund budget and runs through June 30, 2010.
“You’ve made the hard decisions. Now you need full communication and collaboration,” said Thomas.
“We have the opportunity to create a new Pontiac School District. I heard someone in the audience say, ‘We are going to make it or break it,’ and they are right.
“I have a manual with all of the steps. You are starting late, but it can be done,” she concluded.
Paramore said Thomas will “make sure everybody is on task.”She will outline every step that has to be taken between February through September. “It is a huge list.”
By Feb. 23, Thomas is expected to recommend a logistics contractor to move all furniture, equipment and files between buildings.
Stephens, who has been working under contract to coordinate and improve the district’s career programs, will be the turnaround specialist for the new high school that will be located in the Northern building. Her contract is not to exceed $100,000 and also terminates June 30, 2010. Her pay will come from federal grants.
“The Turnaround Specialist will specifically lead the design and implementation of our new high school by coordinating and collaborating with all district stakeholders, students, staff, parents and community,” Paramore said in her recommendation.
Stephens will have the authority to creatively manage people, time, fiscal and program resources in changing school conditions, Paramore said.
The high school turnaround plan must be written by March 9.
Contact staff writer Diana Dillaber Murray at (248) 745-4638 or diana.dillaber@oakpress.com.
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