Greater Albany Public Schools business review highlights innovative practices including community and business relations
Contact:
Liesl Wendt
Chalkboard Project
503.542.4325
liesl@chalkboardproject.org
Shannon Priem
OSBA/OASBO
503.588.2800
spriem@osba.org
Albany - October 14, 2008 – The Oregon Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) today released its final report reviewing business practices in the Greater Albany School District. In partnership with OASBO, the Chalkboard Project provided an $85,000 grant to conduct reviews of best business practices in six Oregon school districts.
As the fourth of six districts, the Greater Albany School District has a strong tradition of reaching out to the community and has developed many innovative business practices. The final report, presented to the school board at its regular meeting October 13th, included highlights of commendations and improvements. A report of key findings will be presented to the 2009 Legislature and a “data toolkit” will be created to share best practices discovered during the pilot reviews.
Among the commendations, creative nutrition services operations include culinary competitions in elementary and high schools and partnerships with the local community college. The district has also developed strong relationships with the local business community including an innovative computer-replacement program that includes purchasing off-lease computers from Dell for student use. Opportunities for improvement include developing a comprehensive human resource plan and reviewing the transportation delivery model.
“I recommend having outsiders conduct an impartial review, even if you think your operations are healthy,” said Russ Allen, Albany’s business manager. “The suggestions aren’t criticisms – they’re ideas to help us improve. As an example, while our communications are good, we discovered they should increase between the central office and school office managers. And, we’re improving how we spread supplies throughout the district. We’ll also be looking into changing some of our human resource practices.”
Chalkboard’s interest in this issue grew out of two research findings: an analysis of Oregon school spending that indicated statewide average spending on student support services is higher than the national average, and public opinion surveys showing more than half of Oregonians believe schools can do more to eliminate unnecessary spending.
“The reviews are doing what we hoped—highlighting novel ways districts are delivering services and giving a spotlight to those practices as well as helping districts identify areas they could make changes to make sure every dollar possible is getting to the classroom,” said Sue Hildick, Chalkboard Project president.
“We’re looking forward to creating and sharing a major resource on best business practices,” said Angie Peterman, OASBO executive director and pilot coordinator. “There isn’t a district in this state that doesn’t have creative, cost-effective practices to share – and every district so far has learned from new ideas our team suggests that can save time and money, which puts more resources into the classroom. The value of working together – staff, board and review team – has been invaluable.”
To read the full review, click here!
About OASBO
The Oregon Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) is a professional organization affiliated with the Association of School Business Officials International. OASBO's mission is to support public education by providing resources, programs, activities and training for school business officials.
About OSBA
The Oregon School Boards Association serves 197 Oregon school boards, 17 community colleges, and 20 education service districts by providing legislative advocacy for public education at state and federal levels; leadership training, legal and policy services, financial, insurance, human resources, communications and other services.
About Chalkboard Project
Launched in early 2004, Chalkboard Project exists to inspire Oregonians to do what it takes to make the state’s K-12 public schools among the nation’s best, while strengthening our school system’s financial accountability to taxpayers. Chalkboard aims to help create a more informed and engaged public who understand and address the tough choices and trade-offs required to build strong schools, and to enable statewide programs that can be applied at the local level to improve school quality, accountability, and funding. To date, Chalkboard has connected with about 100,000 Oregonians, asking for their best ideas to strengthen the state’s K-12 public schools. It also has partnered with other education organizations to create the Open Book$ Web site (www.openbooksproject.org) to track school district spending.
Chalkboard – an initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon – is sponsored by a growing list of independent foundations. The founding five foundations are: The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, Jeld-Wen Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Oregon Community Foundation. For more information about Chalkboard and to learn how to get involved, call (877) YOUR-K12 or visit www.chalkboardproject.org.
