School Board shuffles its management

In a major reorganization move that will cut the number of school division positions, the Albemarle County School Board has unanimously accepted three central office management changes suggested by Superintendent Pamela Moran.

The changes, approved late Thursday by the board, are part of an organizational shuffle prompted by the 2007 Resource Utilization Study.

The moves include the creation of a position, assistant superintendent for planning and operations, according to Maury Brown, schools spokeswoman. But, she added, the central office is eliminating several positions, and the reorganization will reduce the number of positions and salaries.

The division this fiscal year will cut the equivalent of 15.3 full-time centralized office jobs, more than half of which are “highly compensated” positions, said Brian Wheeler, School Board chairman.

The job cuts, which will take effect next school year, will represent a savings of about $875,000, Brown said.

As part of its restructuring, the division began cutting positions two years ago, Wheeler said. The new cuts increase the total jobs eliminated to the equivalent of 22.4 full-time positions, and an overall budget savings of more than $1 million. The jobs cut include Internet and Hispanic/Latino coordinators, a nurse, clerical staff, bus drivers and instructional specialists. Those whose jobs have been cut can compete for newly opened positions within the school division.

Wheeler said the moves will improve management.

“We had a central office that was too fat in the middle and too thin at the top,” he said. “The chain of command is cleaner.”

Moran selected Bruce Benson to take the new position of assistant superintendent for planning and operations, beginning July 1.

Benson has been an assistant principal and principal in the county and was a teacher for 20 years.

Moran selected William Haun to fill Benson’s old position, assistant superintendent for student learning. Haun is the Monticello High School principal, and his move will create an opening for that position. The school system will begin the search for a new MHS principal soon.

The third move will have Luvelle Brown holding the position of chief information officer for the school division. It is a lateral move for Brown, who since 2006 has been the executive director of division and school improvement. He also has been principal of Woodbrook Elementary.

The moves made by Moran, who could not be reached for comment Friday, are similar to those used by school divisions nationwide, according to a school division memo.

The assistant superintendents and Brown will oversee specific spheres of the division, something that wasn’t previously in place. All three report to Moran.

Wheeler said that the previous management structure proved confusing, with division employees often being unsure about who ran what.

The changes “give us a management structure that works,” he said.

The management changes are not the first made based off suggestions from the utilization study. The division recently eliminated central office positions in favor of instructional coaches, who will work in county schools.

Those changes eliminate “middle management” and instead will allow new instructional teams, or coaches, to work in the schools instead of from the central office, according to the memo.

Wheeler said the next big issue will be whether the division needs to build a new elementary school in the southern part of the county. The board will tackle that topic this summer.

Also on Thursday, the School Board accepted the hiring of a new principal, David Francis, for Western Albemarle High School. Francis had been serving as the interim principal. He has also been principal at three other Virginia high schools and was a teacher.