Administrative Portfolio
For
Donald F. Spencer
Supervised Distance Education Teachers
As the administrator for an experimental at-risk academy of an intranet high school, I was responsible for supervising teachers operating in an intranet environment. I was responsible for supervising staff duties such as: being on duty from distant locations, making regular contact with the students, and maintaining proper bookkeeping of grades and attendance.
Created a program to monitor teacher contact with students. Program summarized all calls made to that student by an individual teacher. Program also served as the teachers' call logs.
Maintained
communication between staff members. We
met online in chats and discussed problems and solutions. Information was shared that helped us grow professionally
and foster a collegial atmosphere. We
emailed each other extensively. I also
made many phone calls daily to teachers.
These efforts resulted in teachers
performing their assignments and growing professionally. The students’ success also increased from the
high quality instruction in which their teachers were enabling them to
participate.
Scheduling
and Placing Students
My administrative duties for an intranet
academy of at-risk students that centered on credit recovery, included serving
as their guidance counselor. I was
responsible for placement and scheduling of students’ classes. In this, I was not alone. Hundreds of calls had to be made to students
in order to facilitate their placement in the academy. I lead a team of teachers in this
endeavor. Coordinating these efforts
was complex.
The students were contacted and advised
of their options. The students’
schedules were adjusted, and placed into academy classes. This involved a dual enrollment and dual
record keeping for both the regular high school and the academy.
The result was that many students were
able to recover credit for classes and stay on track for graduation. The students were able to go around a speed
bump and stay on schedule for graduation.
Coordinating
Alternative Placement and Expulsion Procedures
It is important to create an
orderly environment in which learning can take place. My task was to maintain a safe and orderly
learning environment; part of which was to coordinate alternative placement and
expulsion procedures. Prior to the
actual hearing, I made sure that all required procedural steps and paper work
had been completed. I made certain that
the student’s rights were respected, and that the student was receiving due
process.
During the hearing I was the
Principal’s representative. I presented
the student’s discipline record and all written statements taken by the
school. The Superintendent’s
representative would then call on the student’s guardian and the student for
their statements. I would then present
the Principal’s recommendation to the Hearing Officer.
The
hearing officer decided whether there were grounds for expulsion or alternative
placement. After discussing the matter
with the parents, he recommended what action the Superintendent should take.
As a result
of my involvement, dangerous or disruptive students were removed from our
campus with no legal actions being taken against the Principal or district.
Coordinated the
Selection of Disney’s Dreamers and Doers Award
Walt
Disney World sponsors the Dreamers and Doers Award to acknowledge those
students who best exemplify the attributes of curiosity, confidence, courage and most especially constancy. I was appointed by the Principal to
coordinate the selection of a student to represent our school for this award.
I devised
a means to notify students to apply for this award and choose a representative
sample of our school staff to insure fairness in the selection process.
The
procedure for which I was responsible resulted in our school being represented
at this prestigious event with no complaints by teachers, students or their
parents.
Planned the Stay
in School
The
Orlando Magic has a “Jam” for students of
The
criteria for selection are subject to a great deal of discretion by each local
school. I used the two team leaders of
the eighth grade since our school traditionally reserves attendance to
eighth-graders. The criteria were
established by the Orlando Magic, but which students met those criteria were a
matter of discretion. I established a
committee that reviewed each eighth grade student and determined his/her
eligibility.
I met with the teachers individually
and discussed any concerns they had regarding the students selected.
The other
half of the task was to coordinate the coordinate the transportation, seating,
and supervision of roughly 300 students, teachers and parent chaperones to the
TD Waterhouse arena. Students had to be
assigned to chaperones and buses. The
teachers and chaperones had to be briefed on procedure to supervise the
children in a sea of other middle school students, to locate their seats, and
account for each child on the return home.
As a result our school enjoyed
maximum participation, met safety requirements for transportation and did not
disrupt our school’s normal schedule.
Administered
Discipline for the Eighth Grade
It was my
job to assist teachers in maintaining a safe and orderly environment in which
to conduct classes. My task was to
handle all discipline referrals for the eighth-grade classes. This presented a wide variety of challenges.
My main focus was on counseling
children and fostering a change in behavior.
In this I had both successes and failures. Parents of the children who were in trouble
were often not in agreement with the school’s position. I found that talking with the parents, and
most importantly, listening o them allowed us to reach a common ground for
helping their child. Occasionally, there
was the parent who was not willing to work with the school. On these occasions, I had to be decisive and
show resolve.
The vast
majority of teachers were skilled in maintaining good discipline in their
classes. However, occasionally there
incidents were a teacher took a questionable position. I was able solve most of these problems
through a dialogue with the teacher and show the teacher the correct way of
handling the situation.
Because
of my reasonable attitude and professional conduct with students parents and
the staff, my Principal only rarely had to be involved in any act of discipline
for which I was responsible.
Coordinated
Substitute Teacher Coverage
I was
assigned to coordinate the placement of substitute teachers as the instructors
would have to be absent from school.
Most of this task centered on diligently arranging for substitute
teachers to cover the absences turned in by the teachers in advance or called
in during the evening before the absence or morning of the absence.
However,
there were situations that called for quick and decisive action. There were surprise absences because once in
a while teachers did not notify the school that they would be absent and even
substitutes, after they had agreed to take the job, did not showing up. Last minute calls had to be made, and
schedules of substitutes had to be adjusted to provide class by class
coverage. Teachers also were asked to
volunteer and had to have their schedules adjusted.
The
substitute teachers had to be supported in their difficult position of being
the temporary teacher and maintaining discipline with a large class of
adolescent learners. This required me to
mentor some of the substitutes and guide them in their practice. Rarely, a substitute was identified as not
being capable of the challenge of being the temporary teacher, and it was my
decision whether to bring him or her back to the school. More commonly, it was my task to evaluate the
substitutes and write recommendations and commendations on their behalf.
The
result was that the procedures that I initiated and the actions for which I was
responsible resulted in qualified staff being in place to insure the smooth
flow of learning in spite of difficult circumstances.
Set Grade Level
Policy
I discovered that my
decision regarding eligibility for the Stay in School Jam was being met with
strong disagreement from a few teachers.
My task was to improve our communication and have a successful rally.
I met with the teachers
who disagreed with me on an individual basis; we shared points of view in a
professional manner. I listened to their
points of view, and the teachers listened to my point of view. I remained convinced that I was correct and
maintained my position. The result was
that all but two members eventually supported me in my decision. I met with the two teachers who would not
support me in my decision. The teachers
stated that they would not be in school the day of the jam as an act of protest. I maintained my decision. For the rally, I replaced the two teachers
with parent chaperones and two substitutes known to the students.
The final result was
that Stay In School Jam was a great success.
The students who were eligible were able to attend and experienced a
tremendous motivational meeting.
Organized Field
Trips for Large Numbers
Westridge sent its
Eighth Grade to the countywide Stay In School Jam and
to the city of
My task was to devise
plans well in advance and then communicate them to all those who were going on
the rips. I presented tentative thoughts
to teachers and parents and got feedback to help me revise the plans. When I had the final product, I created
informational packets for each group.
The result was timely
precision that allowed a large number of students to safely attend valuable
events. The students and chaperones had
safe and meaningful experiences.
Facilitated
Electronic School Meetings
Our staff was largely
unexposed to the benefits of electronically based concept mapping. My task was to present to the staff the
benefits and the means to use electronically based concept mapping in the form
of the software, Inspiration.
I arranged for a
nationally known presenter, who was also part of the county administrative
staff, to come to our school and present the benefits and use of Inspiration
software. I was part of the
presentation. I also made arrangements
for the purchase of the software for any staff member who wanted to use the
program in his/her classroom.
The result was that ten
teachers opted to use the software in their classrooms. The quality of instruction was improved for
those classrooms.
I verify
that the candidate has demonstrated the Entry Level Competency listed above.