LAUSD SUPERINENDENT DAVID L. BREWER QUOTES DR. W. EDWARDS DEMING
DAVID L. BREWER III
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
April 20, 2007
Dear Friends:
Today I released the first phase of a comprehensive performance review that I commissioned when I accepted the position as Superintendent of LAUSD. The review provides me with a set of recommendations, a baseline for measuring improvement, and a road map for our work in transforming our schools.
The performance review was conducted by Evergreen Solutions LLC, a respected Florida-based performance review consulting firm that has worked with urban school districts around the nation.
They were selected because of their demonstrated track record of working with districts with similar demographics. Moreover, their recommendations, when implemented have resulted in millions of dollars in savings that was redirected to the classroom. The firm conducted the performance review by compiling the findings of prior reports and audits. They also incorporated the perspectives of 100 employees and 30 external stakeholders, including, parents, business leaders, education reform
adocates, civic leaders, and non-profit providers into their findings.
When I arrived in Los Angeles, I said I would listen, learn, assess, and act. I’ve been doing a lot of listening and learning and this is a critically important assessment tool and now its time to act.
There are no surprises in this report. In fact, most of what is discussed in Phase I of the report we already know here in Los Angeles. The bottom line is that real transformation will require us to change the way we do business.
As I read through this report, I was reminded of a quote by Dr. Edward Deming, one of the top experts in organizational management, “80% of the challenges in an organization are processes not people.”
MORE ON DEMING:
Applying Deming's "14 Points" at LAUSD
Interpreting Demings's 14 Points (Approved by Deming!)
Why LA City Needs To Embrace Deming's Approach
Deming Online Video Seminar
ZD on Productivity
ZD on Deming's Quality Management
WANTED: Leadership Inside LA City Hall (Applying Deming)
READ THE REST OF BREWER'S LETTER BY CLICKING "READ MORE"
“The teachers, administrators, and staff of the Los Angeles Unified School District believe in the equal worth and dignity of all students and are committed to educate all students to their maximum potential.”
We have a lot of hardworking people in our District who need new 21st century tools and greater support to meet the standards of a world-class educational institution. I am committed to investing in our employees so that we can attain the long-lasting success that will lead to improved student achievement.
Over the past five years, the District has laid the groundwork by beginning implementation of past recommendations, including:
• Reorganizing the structure of the Superintendent’s office to establish accountability for senior management. “The teachers, administrators, and staff of the Los Angeles Unified School District believe in the equal worth and dignity of all students and are committed to educate all students to their maximum potential.”
• Restructuring the organization to provide greater support to local districts and school sites.
• Setting instructional objectives for early child education, graduation rates, and special education.
• Revising food services processes and programs.
• Restructuring maintenance and operations, and facilities support services.
Now that the foundation has been laid, it’s time to take the District to the next level. So today I also announced three immediate action steps I will undertake to bolster student achievement and learning.
1. Establish a Transformation Team led by outside professionals who are experts in the areas of instruction, finance, human resources, facilities and technology that will report directly to me. The Transformation Team will give me instant capacity for a temporary period, and they will serve as a bridge between where we are as an organization and where we need to go.
Their job will be to help me right the ship to create an accountable system and foster an environment to recruit the best and the brightest individuals to lead this District into the 21st century.
In the coming days and weeks, I will ask you to join me in welcoming the members of the Transformation Team as we bring them on board. They will have broad latitude to bring recommendations to me for immediate action.
2. Hire a Chief Academic Officer to be responsible for developing and implementing
comprehensive Pre-K thru Adult instructional plans so that our students’ graduate from high school college prepared and career ready.
3. Hire a Chief Professional Learning Officer to bring out the best in all our employees by establishing continuous learning opportunities where all employees can acquire the knowledge, skills, and ability they need to improve the quality of their work effort.
This is just the beginning. By June 30th I will unveil a five year strategic plan that will identify our strategic goals and the action steps to accomplish them.
Our mission must be to have high quality instruction in every classroom driven by the following five tenets:
1. We will use to data not emotions to drive our decisions;
2. We will support the professional learning of every employee in our system;
3. We will embrace innovation and change;
4. We will engage parents and the community in caring for our children and raising student achievement; and
5. We will create safe learning environments at all of our schools.
“The teachers, administrators, and staff of the Los Angeles Unified School District believe in the equal worth and dignity of all students and are committed to educate all students to their maximum potential.”
The strategic plan will also provide the framework for our District’s reorganization; staffing changes; and a realignment of our budget to reflect our priorities.
We can no longer excuse the inexcusable or allow ourselves to hide from our responsibility. All of these changes will require that this District adopt a new culture and it’s been said that urban districts are shot full of holes with silver bullets, so I don’t expect the transformation to be easy.
The transformation will require time and patience. But we’re not looking for haste that allows for continued mistakes, ongoing waste and business-as-usual. We want sustainable change.
With the Evergreen report in hand, I’m ready to move forward, and I plan to be aggressive. I will need your help along the way. The work of transforming our schools will require the entire community’s support. I have attached a copy of key findings of the report. I encourage you to read the entire report which will be posted on the LAUSD website at www.lausd.net.
As the work gets underway, will keep you appraised of the progress now let’s ‘Get Down to Business!’
Sincerely,
David L. Brewer III
Superintendent of Schools
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
April 20, 2007
Dear Friends:
Today I released the first phase of a comprehensive performance review that I commissioned when I accepted the position as Superintendent of LAUSD. The review provides me with a set of recommendations, a baseline for measuring improvement, and a road map for our work in transforming our schools.
The performance review was conducted by Evergreen Solutions LLC, a respected Florida-based performance review consulting firm that has worked with urban school districts around the nation.
They were selected because of their demonstrated track record of working with districts with similar demographics. Moreover, their recommendations, when implemented have resulted in millions of dollars in savings that was redirected to the classroom. The firm conducted the performance review by compiling the findings of prior reports and audits. They also incorporated the perspectives of 100 employees and 30 external stakeholders, including, parents, business leaders, education reform
adocates, civic leaders, and non-profit providers into their findings.
When I arrived in Los Angeles, I said I would listen, learn, assess, and act. I’ve been doing a lot of listening and learning and this is a critically important assessment tool and now its time to act.
There are no surprises in this report. In fact, most of what is discussed in Phase I of the report we already know here in Los Angeles. The bottom line is that real transformation will require us to change the way we do business.
As I read through this report, I was reminded of a quote by Dr. Edward Deming, one of the top experts in organizational management, “80% of the challenges in an organization are processes not people.”
MORE ON DEMING:
Applying Deming's "14 Points" at LAUSD
Interpreting Demings's 14 Points (Approved by Deming!)
Why LA City Needs To Embrace Deming's Approach
Deming Online Video Seminar
ZD on Productivity
ZD on Deming's Quality Management
WANTED: Leadership Inside LA City Hall (Applying Deming)
READ THE REST OF BREWER'S LETTER BY CLICKING "READ MORE"
“The teachers, administrators, and staff of the Los Angeles Unified School District believe in the equal worth and dignity of all students and are committed to educate all students to their maximum potential.”
We have a lot of hardworking people in our District who need new 21st century tools and greater support to meet the standards of a world-class educational institution. I am committed to investing in our employees so that we can attain the long-lasting success that will lead to improved student achievement.
Over the past five years, the District has laid the groundwork by beginning implementation of past recommendations, including:
• Reorganizing the structure of the Superintendent’s office to establish accountability for senior management. “The teachers, administrators, and staff of the Los Angeles Unified School District believe in the equal worth and dignity of all students and are committed to educate all students to their maximum potential.”
• Restructuring the organization to provide greater support to local districts and school sites.
• Setting instructional objectives for early child education, graduation rates, and special education.
• Revising food services processes and programs.
• Restructuring maintenance and operations, and facilities support services.
Now that the foundation has been laid, it’s time to take the District to the next level. So today I also announced three immediate action steps I will undertake to bolster student achievement and learning.
1. Establish a Transformation Team led by outside professionals who are experts in the areas of instruction, finance, human resources, facilities and technology that will report directly to me. The Transformation Team will give me instant capacity for a temporary period, and they will serve as a bridge between where we are as an organization and where we need to go.
Their job will be to help me right the ship to create an accountable system and foster an environment to recruit the best and the brightest individuals to lead this District into the 21st century.
In the coming days and weeks, I will ask you to join me in welcoming the members of the Transformation Team as we bring them on board. They will have broad latitude to bring recommendations to me for immediate action.
2. Hire a Chief Academic Officer to be responsible for developing and implementing
comprehensive Pre-K thru Adult instructional plans so that our students’ graduate from high school college prepared and career ready.
3. Hire a Chief Professional Learning Officer to bring out the best in all our employees by establishing continuous learning opportunities where all employees can acquire the knowledge, skills, and ability they need to improve the quality of their work effort.
This is just the beginning. By June 30th I will unveil a five year strategic plan that will identify our strategic goals and the action steps to accomplish them.
Our mission must be to have high quality instruction in every classroom driven by the following five tenets:
1. We will use to data not emotions to drive our decisions;
2. We will support the professional learning of every employee in our system;
3. We will embrace innovation and change;
4. We will engage parents and the community in caring for our children and raising student achievement; and
5. We will create safe learning environments at all of our schools.
“The teachers, administrators, and staff of the Los Angeles Unified School District believe in the equal worth and dignity of all students and are committed to educate all students to their maximum potential.”
The strategic plan will also provide the framework for our District’s reorganization; staffing changes; and a realignment of our budget to reflect our priorities.
We can no longer excuse the inexcusable or allow ourselves to hide from our responsibility. All of these changes will require that this District adopt a new culture and it’s been said that urban districts are shot full of holes with silver bullets, so I don’t expect the transformation to be easy.
The transformation will require time and patience. But we’re not looking for haste that allows for continued mistakes, ongoing waste and business-as-usual. We want sustainable change.
With the Evergreen report in hand, I’m ready to move forward, and I plan to be aggressive. I will need your help along the way. The work of transforming our schools will require the entire community’s support. I have attached a copy of key findings of the report. I encourage you to read the entire report which will be posted on the LAUSD website at www.lausd.net.
As the work gets underway, will keep you appraised of the progress now let’s ‘Get Down to Business!’
Sincerely,
David L. Brewer III
Superintendent of Schools
Posted by Zuma Dogg @ 5/24/2007 12:36:00 PM
3 Comments:
Dr. Brewer
Where do we apply and what are the qualifications; education or business? I havent seen anything as part of a "Transaction Team" I see a lot for Project Managers in Construction. Where are you hiding the jobs?
The jobs? The jobs?
You expect ZD to report on jobs?
Man, that is another four letter word which is assiduously avoided by your poster.
Hell, if he had a job and worked, well, he would just have to be Dave Elliott again.
What a bummer; being productive instead of sleeping in a van and criticizing everything that moves forward in the world.
Nah, please don't use that word again around here.
Even though I am sleeping in my van, I still feel I'm being productive. Even if I'm un-paid. the word "instead" does not apply, in this case. sorry...but even though I am productive, I still do wish I could pull it together and get out of my van. till then, eddie kendricks told a young ZD...a Keep on Truckin, baby...you gotta keep o-on, truckin'!
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