CMS Achievement Zone Collapse
As we predicted, there’s movement afoot at CMS to tweak and/or consolidate at least some of the school system’s district offices that currently anchor so-called learning communities scattered across the county.
Confirmation of such came about by pure happenstance: I recently found myself sitting beside a top-ranking member of CMS’ executive staff and overheard him mention something about “preparing for the collapse of the Achievement Zone” – a hybrid learning community that serves low-performing schools. I later asked him if the looming collapse had anything to do with a $2-million line item cryptically labeled “Central Office Reorganization” in Superintendent Peter Gorman’s preliminary budget scenarios.
Turns out it did. While declining to offer any specifics, he confirmed that Gorman and his executive staff are looking to realign some of the district offices/learning communities and their scopes of service. Whether that entails actually consolidating or closing some of the pricey district offices, and jettisoning the equally pricey personnel attached to them, is hard to say. When pressed for specifics, the senior-ranking executive staffer would only say that changes are coming, with details still to be resolved before any plan is presented to the school board for consideration.
It is interesting to note, however, that CMS is getting ready to free up some space in the Ed Shed next month, when nearly 50 members of Gorman’s executive staff, their administrative assistants and executive coordinators, along with employees in CMS legal, communications, finance and board services departments are moving to the Government Center.
Ironically, during this week’s budget workshop school board member Kaye McGarry asked if that free space could be used to house some of the personnel currently encamped in district offices. McGarry’s question never received a direct answer.
Recall that the district offices/learning communities were launched three years ago as part of Gorman’s decentralization scheme, which parceled CMS into six geographic regions and an Achievement Zone. Each learning community has its own district office, replete with an area superintendent, an executive director, and full support staff. The regional offices carried a hefty price tag, upwards of $10 million to launch, including nearly $5 million for personnel costs and about $4 million for facility expenses.
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