New Superintendents

1. New Superintendents Lynn Jones, Executive Director of Accreditation

3. You Are in Charge • You can delegate job tasks but not delegate responsibility. • Do not give your password to single-sign-on to anyone else. • Do not be afraid to ask lots of questions. • Take notes to remember information. • Get and stay organized. • Attend area superintendent meetings and get contact information of other superintendents. • Find people with expertise in different topic areas and call them, but be cautious. • Make contact with your RAO and build a relationship.

4. Accountability at a Glance • List of due dates for reports on single-sign-on • Print off a copy and put in a notebook. • The month prior go through each requirement and find out who is/has been responsible for each report. • Highlight items as they are completed. • Give staff a due date that gives you time to verify the information is correct and the report is complete. • Do not wait until the last minute because things (crashed websites, district emergencies, missing information) will happen!

5. Do Not Assume • Delegate when appropriate, but set up a system where you check that assignments are done completely and accurately because it all falls on you! • Review districts Emergency Plan. • Learn policies • Check to see if it needs to be updated • Make sure that it has been covered with the staff recently • Ensure that the plan has been given to the required agencies in your community. Collect written statements that they have received your plan. (City and County emergency managers, police, sheriff department, fire department)

7. Professional Development for Staff • Child Abuse • Blood Born Pathogens • Policies and Procedures that are new to district. • CPR: one certified and one support in each building • Loyalty Oath • Transportation: All bus drivers including coaches must have appropriate training. Verify who is in charge of teaching the classes and if it is comprehensive. • Coaches: Care and Prevention and Sudden Cardiac Arrest (annually). Double check and do not assume that it has been done. • Training for financial staff • Training for you as a new superintendent

8. Verify • Set a preliminary due date for safety drills and check to make sure they are done within required time. • Run a report and check for expired teacher certifications. • Random bus driver drug testing is occurring and that all drivers’ names are on the list. • Make sure that the transportation supervisor had had the Alcohol and Drug training. In some districts the superintendent serves as that person and you might need to get the training. • If something happens in your district make sure that you are able to say that you have gone above and beyond to keep people safe.

9. Accreditation Preparation • Look for problem areas of previous accreditation audits • Check board points of all members and track • Make notes of areas to check that have been a problem. • Areas of concern • Tdap • CPR for graduating students. Verify that the date has been set and that it is being done by appropriately trained people. • Transcripts: 6 rigorous hours • Drills

10. How to Become a Long Time Superintendent • Use the district policy book to make decisions. If it is out of date, update. • Make sure that if the district uses a company to update the policy that they have been board approved and that someone has added additions to your book and dispersed them throughout the district. • Always have a system of checks and balances for anything that can be considered valuable. That includes items such as transcripts where scholarships are at stake. • Develop a close relationship to other area superintendents and use their advice for issues such as when to let out for snow/bad weather. It helps though when a county lets it out together as a group. When in doubt, let it out!

11. How to Become a Long Time Superintendent ………………..continued • People will get mad at you, but when you act consistently and fairly they are more likely to get over it quickly. • Act like you care. Take notes and show that you are listening. Tell concerned stakeholders that you will get back to them and then do it. • Learn district’s “Hot” topics. • Do not be a know it all! • Do not argue with presenters at trainings. • Develop relationships with employees from OSDE, CCOSA, and other professionals. • Take care of yourself. Know when to leave work and go home. Your desk will never be clean and you are never finished. The first step is acceptance.

12. Review Past Five Year Financial Audits • Look for auditor findings. • Totally clean findings is not necessarily a good thing. Some companies refuse to give findings which puts your district at risk for problems. • Monitor the carryover and expenses. • Check the Estimate of Needs. If projected revenue is calculated at 100% or higher, there might be a problem. • If you find areas of concern, call your RAO or Nancy Hughes immediately. We are here to help you be successful.

13. Monitor Employee’s Behavior • Be concerned if employees…… • Have relationships that are not quite right with students or other staff. • Are very controlling about information especially financial accounts. • Get nervous when you start asking questions. • Do not follow a system of checks-and-balances and discourage you from putting one in place. • Have access to passwords of other employees, especially yours. • Dress extravagantly or have flashy jewelry. • Never take vacations. • Rarely go to training. • Have more power that is usually attached to job duties. • Have pay that is out of range for the position.

14. No Surprises! Check the Following: • Does your district have Lease-to-Own Contracts? If yes, how many, for how much, and when do they expire? • How many and what are the service contracts? Check phone, copiers, cleaning supplies, etc. Check to see if there is a reason that you use specific companies. • How much are extra duty contracts? Are they fair and are they in-line or excessive? • Are there any lawsuits in process? Are there any open lawsuits? • Where is asbestos plan and who is in charge? When was it last checked? • Where is in charge of the hazardous materials book at each site and who updates the MSDS? When was it last updated? • Are there procedures in place for handling money, PO requests, making expenditures, etc.? Do all of the staff members that are in charge of activities follow the procedures?

15. New Laws

16. HB 2931 Eliminates the requirement for each school to conduct two lockdown drills and two intruder drills and instead requires four security drills. It requires one security drill to be conducted within the first 15 days of each semester. Effective July 1, 2016.

17. Drills 2016-2017 • Ten Required Drills a Year: • 2 Tornado drills (September and March) • 2 Fire drills (within 15 days at the start of each semester) • 4 Security drills (one within 15 days of the start of each semester) • 2 Other drills (selected after evaluation of local safety issues) • Report drills to www.school security.ok.gov

18. HB 3109 Requires school districts to provide teachers and administrators with a copy of an employee information worksheet containing specific information prior to the first payroll in November. School districts are required to make someone available to review the worksheet with anyone who has questions. All contracts for employment of, or related employee information worksheets for, a teacher or administrator by a district board of education shall include the following categories in a clear and concise format:

19. Employee Information Including • a. employee's name, • b. degree(s) employee holds, • c. number of years of teaching credit for salary purposes, and • d. step placement on salary schedule; • by the categories of administrative personnel and certified teaching personnel.

20. Salary Information Required • a. pay based on state minimum salary schedule, • b. district salary supplement, • c. extra-duty or extracurricular salary amounts, itemized, • d. other salary, • e. total salary, • f. dollar amount of salary paid in cash, and • g. dollar amount of salary paid in fringe benefits, as defined and allowed by Section 18-114.7 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes, with an itemized list of each benefit and amount paid toward it; and

21. SB 933 Extends the moratorium on certain mandates until a fiscal year immediately following a fiscal year when the state aid factors return to $3,291.60 on the initial allocation notice. Until such time, the State Board shall not withdraw or deny accreditation or assess a penalty for districts not complying with the media materials and equipment standards and media program expenditures standards, or for districts receiving an accreditation deficiency. The State Board shall exempt districts from and waive any policy, rule or law to form or convene any advisory council or committee except those required by federal law. Districts seeking flexibility to use appropriated dollars for textbooks or for other purposes must demonstrate to the State Board that the textbooks and instructional materials being used for the area under consideration in the • textbook adoption cycle are current and appropriate for student learning. Effective July 1, 2016.

22. SB 1036 Allows for names of school district personnel who have been designated by the school board to carry a firearm to be kept confidential. Effective July 1, 2016.

23. HB 2432 • Each public school shall post in a clearly visible location in a public area of the school that is readily accessible to students a sign in English and Spanish that contains the toll-free telephone number operated by the Department of Human Services.

24. HB 2298 • All driver education courses shall included the dangers of texting while driving and the effects of being under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating substance while driving.

25. Questions