WISD changes 'philosophy' as well as administrators
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

The change in top administrators for the Wharton Independent School District is also resulting in a change in the philosophical approach to how the district will be administered.

On Tuesday, incoming Superintendent James Bartosh announced the administrative assignments for the district's various campuses. With the closure of two elementary campuses (Hopper and Dawson), opening of one (Wharton Elementary) and the retirement of WHS Principal Don Jennings, Bartosh used the opportunity to shift a number of staff to new assignments.

"I did sit down with each of the administrators to discuss my plans," Bartosh said.

"And I visited their campuses and saw how they work and I saw their TAKS scores. I knew the structure I wanted to create and how best people would fit into that structure. I tried to place staff in those positions where they could best use their strengths."

In the new structure, each campus will have at least one principal and one assistant principal. The main exception is the new Wharton Elementary campus, which will have two assistants. Bartosh explained the campus will have the district's largest student population requiring the additional personnel.

Bartosh said that with two administrators, each campus can align the duties according to the new structure. That structure divides the responsibilities into a pair of categories - general and curriculum and instruction.

"The regular 'principal' will work in three major capacities," Bartosh said. "They will be responsible for daily attendance, student discipline and instruction of non-core subjects such as PE, band and vocational arts. The attendance responsibilities will be getting the students to school every day because we can't teach them if they aren't in the classroom and our state funding hinges on attendance. In the area of discipline, I want to see a program of consistent discipline for students that works for all 14 grades from pre-K to 12 so that students will be aware of what will happen for a particular infraction."

Discussing the curriculum and instruction category, Bartosh said they have a similar yet different list of three responsibilities.

"Their primary responsibility will be to work on the core courses - English, math, science and history," he said. "We want to align the instruction both vertically (between grades) and horizontally. By horizontal, I mean that improvements in language skills will help with understanding history and better math skills will help with the understanding of scientific concepts in those courses."

The "C and I" person will also have discipline and attendance responsibilities.

"With discipline, they will be working with the teachers on better classroom management," Bartosh said. "With attendance, they will work on making sure the classes are more suited to students at all learning levels in the same room and to make assignments more interesting, exciting and relevant so that students look forward to coming to school."

In addition to their own campus responsibilities, High School Principal Chris Flowers and District Director of curriculum and instruction Galen Privitt, who will be based at the high school, will also coordinate with their respective peers at the other campuses and make recommendations to Bartosh.

"I want this to be a top down arrangement," Bartosh said. "Mr. Flowers has experience at several levels while Dr. Privitt showed a strong, positive grasp of what I want. They will do the evaluations and recommended hirings and class assignments."

Bartosh said he's basing his administrative structure on his observations of other districts, what has worked for him and on research done during work on his own doctorate.

"It's not based on one individual example but from several sources," he said. "But it is a modification of what we were doing in Granger, just in a smaller setting with a one-campus district. So there isn't one structure but a general model. It will be the job of the directors (Flowers and Privitt) to find and implement models to work. I have complete faith in their abilities so I'm comfortable with delegating those responsibilities."

Moving Privitt out of the central office, where he served as Director of Auxiliary Services, will also mean additional changes in responsibility. Bartosh said he along with other staff will absorb those duties and allow him to eliminate one administrative staff position by attrition.

"And I think that's significant based on finances," he said. "We are always looking at ways to cut costs. And when you're discussing school finances, it all comes down to personnel because that's going to be 60 to 70 percent of the budget."

As part of the change, Bartosh said there will be two significant changes in the district's approach to discipline. The first will be converting the Hopper Campus from an elementary school to serve as the district's alternative campus under the direction of Principal Larry Boyette, who will be the one principal who has both discipline and curriculum and instruction duties.

"The alternative program will be a more expanded school," the superintendent said. "By the time students reach ages 16-17-18, they should have the self-discipline to follow the rules and take responsibility for their own education. So there will be no more in-school suspensions, but rather assignment to the alternative campus. And the minimum will be at least two weeks.

"The purpose of the alternate campus isn't to punish. It is to either rehabilitate the student to the point they can function in a regular classroom or we'll keep the student and graduate them from the alternative campus. The state says we have to educate our students and I think this is the best possible solution to educating all students."

The second change will be the creation of a School Resource Officer with Bartosh saying he has been talking with the Wharton Police Department, Wharton Sheriff's Office and the constable offices about staffing the position.