Press Release

Responsive District Is The Goal Of Reorganization

June 22, 2001

Superintendent Jerry Wartgow yesterday outlined a new organization of the district staff and said assigning administrators to directly manage four areas of the district is designed to make the system more responsive to the community.

"You'll see a responsive culture" when the new school year starts in August, said Wartgow, "We recognize that there is a perception that we are insular, isolated and non-responsive. And we are going to go out aggressively and say 'here we are.' "

The plan was outlined Thursday (June 21) during a special Board of Education work session this week.

The plan is focused around a new Chief Academic Officer position and four area superintendents who will oversee four regions of the district.

"I think the best way to describe the fundamental change in the organization structure is a shift from a structure in which the number two position in the organization is the chief operating officer, to a structure where the number two position in the organization is the chief academic officer," said Wartgow. "And because our purpose is to support efforts to improve student achievement, the focus of the reorganization is on that side of the organization that deals most directly with the classrooms, the principals, the schools, and the teachers."

Wartgow pointed to the area superintendent layer of his organizational chart and said: "All of these people will be moved out of 900 Grant and be based in the field.

"It starts at the top with a culture, a systemic change that places a priority on the academic side of the house and everything permeates down from there. By deploying people in the field, they will be closer to the community and better in touch with what the needs are. By using the area superintendents who will deploy the resources we will be cutting out a tremendous administrative burden."

Wartgow introduced the four new area superintendents - Northwest Area, Joe Sandoval; Southwest Area, Melanie Haas; Southeast Area, Irene Jordan; Northeast Area, Carla Santorno.

Working with each will be assistant superintendents - Beth Biggs in northwest, Ricardo Concha in southwest, a now-vacant slot in southeast, and Nancy Sutton and Richard Smith in northeast. Two slots are needed in northeast, said Wartgow, to assist in managing new reform ideas for Montbello and Green Valley Ranch.

For now the Chief Academic Officer role will be filled by Wartgow, although the search for a permanent name has been launched. That appointment won't be made until the right person is found, said Wartgow, and there is no rush. The new staff and school communities will help define this role.

"This will work only if this is a team, only if there is an understanding there is no turf," said Wartgow. "This is only about one thing, improving the achievement of all students in the district while closing the gap between better and poorer performing students. And that is our mantra."

This week, Chief Operating Officer Craig Cook announced his resignation from the district based on Wartgow's proposed reorganization. The new structure juggles several of the business functions Cook had overseen and also brings in two people new to the district, Andre Pettigrew and Richard Allen.

Pettigrew will be Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services, overseeing Human Resources, Technology Services, Purchasing, Facility Management, Transportation and Support Services, Food Services, and Enterprise Activities.

Allen will be Assistant Superintendent for Budget and Finance, overseeing all financial and budget planning efforts, including Payroll. He'll also handle Safety and Security; Wartgow explained that Allen has developed a specialty in this area in his current position at Pikes Peak Community College.

Wayne Eckerling, Assistant Superintendent for Research, Planning and Special Projects, will oversee curriculum, instructional support, charter schools, research, English Language Acquisition, and Pay for Performance Support.

John Leslie will continue to oversee Special Education as well as Alternative Education and Schools and career, vocational, and technical education. His title will be Assistant Superintendent for Student Services.

As a signal to the importance he places on the teacher Pay for Performance pilot, Wartgow will have Design Team member Brad Jupp report directly to him.

Wartgow also introduced the district's new general counsel, Mary Ellen McEldowney. McEldowney, Pettigrew, and Allen were all recruited by Wartgow. He cited their varied talents and experiences, including work with such DPS-relevant issues as developing pay for performance systems, streamlining bureaucracy, improving retirement systems, and starting health insurance cafeteria plans.

Administration, Wartgow emphasized, will work to serve schools.

"We start by helping the principals by eliminating the bureaucracy, improving the responsiveness, and getting out there," he said. "And so it follows that if we improve the systems that improve the principals, get some of this off their backs, they will have more time to support the teachers and we will know good things will happen. I have every reason to make the teachers successful because I'm going to be evaluated on how the scores go up. I'll do anything I can to help you (teachers and principals) so we achieve at the district level."

Wartgow said the plan slightly reduces the overall size of the management team and he will continue that trend in the years to come.

Board of Education President Elaine Gantz Berman praised the outline. "We really believe in terms of what the district has recommended flattening the district and getting out 900 Grant Street is exactly what is needed right now."

Berman applauded Wartgow's "ability to understand the system and understand where this system needs improvement" in a short amount of time. Wartgow started officially June 11 as Superintendent; he was appointed in late April.

Wartgow thanked the Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation for providing him with the chance to visit school districts around the country and to bring in other superintendents to Denver to visit with him. Wartgow said he had a chance to study many organizational structures with one thought in mind: Is there a certain structure or organization that can be correlated to increased student success?

"The goal of this reorganization is very straightforward," said Wartgow. "It's to create a structure that is responsive, customer-oriented, user friendly (and one that) efficiently and effectively deploys the resources of DPS so that we can meet our overall goal, which is to set high expectations, improve the performance of all students, while closing the gap between better performing and poorer performing students."