Management changes continue for Harford County Public Schools, as one newcomer arrives to fill a newly created position and several members of senior staff are on their way out, leaving openings to be filled within the next few months.
Dr. Jonathan Brown was appointed on July 12, 2010 to the new position of director of community engagement, equity, and cultural proficiency at an annual salary of $124,041.
Dr. Brown comes to Harford County from the Maryland State Department of Education where he served as a director of curriculum and instruction tasked with improving special education in Baltimore City Public Schools. Brown worked at the state level for the past “year or two”, according to MDSE spokesperson Bill Reinhardt. Prior to that, Dr. Brown was employed by Baltimore County Public Schools.
Upon Dr. Brown’s appointment by the school board, Board Vice President Leonard Wheeler praised Superintendent Robert M. Tomback for engaging the community in the selection process, which involved input from government, business, faith-based, PTA and other community representatives, as well as several students. Dr. Wheeler, who was also a member of the selection panel said, “I was quite impressed with the seriousness that the superintendent has taken to this task; his commitment to engage the community in a way that it has not been engaged before.”
Retiring from Harford County Public Schools this fall is Chief Financial Officer John M. Markowski. The CFO position has been re-titled as “assistant superintendent for business services” and is currently being advertised at a salary of $131,595.
Also leaving HCPS is Jonathan D. O’Neal, currently the assistant superintendent of human resources. O’Neal is leaving Harford County for what spokeswoman Teri Kranefeld described as a “promotional opportunity” with Carroll County Public Schools. The HCPS position vacated by O’Neal is being advertised at a salary of $131,595, with applications being accepted until the job is filled, up to a September 30 deadline.
Director of Purchasing John R. Miller is retiring in the fall, leaving another opening to be filled, and a newly created, assistant supervisor position in facilities management is also being advertised.
Overall, the reorganization of management under the direction of Superintendent Tomback includes the elimination of ten senior staff positions and the addition of eight positions, which HCPS officials say will result in a net annual savings of $185,259.
All three of the new positions on the instructional side of HCPS have now been filled. In addition to Dr. Brown, William A. Lawrence of Baltimore County Public Schools was recently hired to become Harford’s new associate superintendent of curriculum, instruction & assessment, at an annual salary with benefits of $175,834. Barbara Canavan, former principal of Southampton Middle School was hired as the new executive director of middle school performance at $151,757 in salary with benefits.
Below is a summary of the position changes which were part of the management regorganization effective July 1, 2010.
Eliminated
1. Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum & Instruction
2. Manager of Recruitment and Staffing
3. Assistant Supervisor, Research & Evaluation
4. Coordinator, Equity & Cultural Diversity
5. Director of Planning and Construction
6. Director of Facilities Management
7. Asst. Supervisor, Planning & Construction
8. Asst. Supervisor, Planning & Construction
9. Asst. Supervisor, Facilities Management
10. Asst. Supervisor, Facilities Management
New Positions
1. Associate Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment
2. Executive Director, Community Engagement
3. Executive Director of Middle School Performance
4. Executive Director – Facilities Management
5. Supervisor, Facilities Management
6. Asst. Supervisor Engineering
7. Asst. Supervisor Mechanical Services
8. Asst. Supervisor Mechanical Services
I would like to know exactly what the position of “Director of Community Engagement, Equity and Cultural Proficiency” is. To me it sounds as if it is a executive position with alot of pay but not many duties. I believe that if we condensed many of these “titled” positions that the school system might be able to reduce expenses.
it seems that happened. 10 jobs into 8!
These sound mostly like title changes that will conveniently make it easy for the supt. to get rid of the boys he doesn’t like and replace them with the boys he likes from Baltimore County. Let’s all watch and see.
A search engine review of Dr. Brown shows a pattern of frequent movement between school systems and positions. How long will he remain here?
Perhaps the Superintendent could post on the HCPS web site the job descriptions of all the new/revised positions he has created. This would go a long way toward providing the transparency that many believe is missing from the school administration.
A close eye should be kept to see if additional staff are added to help these new central office administrators do their work, thereby eliminating any claimed cost savings.
“A search engine review of Dr. Brown shows a pattern of frequent movement between school systems and positions. How long will he remain here?”
Probably as long as he wants. Does anyone ever get fired?
Excellent points Bob!
Not unusual to have management changes after there is a change at the top of the ladder, but it remains to be seen IF these are changes for the better.
I agree with the last post, lets see if once these positions are all filled if additional staff positions get created. I can only hope all the new hires are coming in with the optimal focus on HCPS and its success including –students and staff.
I’m sure these changes will do wonders for the students’ education. LOL
For crying out loud you could staff an entire small school with 17 teachers for the salaries of just those listed above!
What a crock… Let’s see, Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum & Instruction becomes… ta da! Associate Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment. What a harrowing job that must be… work, work, work… all for a mere $175,834. The poor guy will be living paycheck to paycheck. Ooh, ooh, no more Director of Facilities Management… now it’s Executive Director – Facilities Management. Someone lifted a page from today’s Corporate America where raises are on hold unless mandated… i.e. promotion! Executive Directors don’t do jack. They’ll need busy little staffs to do all the work they’ll take credit for as they polish chairs in pointless meetings. If it’s not done well they’ll replace staff members and if it is done well they’ll be promoted and leave the underlings behind. If they’re completely incompetent they’ll move to another school system… hmmm… where did the new guy come from? Typical.
Hmmm…positions like these are needed in order to provide the support necessary to keep the system functioning. Simply collapsing duties into existing positions would not help, it would do harm.
It would certainly be nice to take some of that money however and use it to either a) increase the quality of instruction at under-achieving schools by hiring more teachers thus reducing class size -or – b) reduce the pay or number of highly-compensated individuals in an effort to increase teacher pay either across the board or in targeted areas or subjects and thus attract and maintain more highly-qualified teachers, improving the quality of instruction.
Right, to keep the system running… and of course the job titles all have to change since the mission has changed so dramatically. Oh, wait… no it’s the same mission. This is the typical “new manager shake up the existing structure to look like I’m doing something” play. We see it in Corporate America all the time. Change the job descriptions to open up positions for my groupies. Change the titles to avoid approval to hand out raises to the faithful. There’s enough momentum in the system to leave these positions empty for six months and you’d never notice… particularly since it isn’t the managers and directors that get things done in the real world.
1. All job listings have job descriptions posted for the public- anyone can read them. Generally speaking, after the hire, the descriptions are no longer available.
2. Each new job listing seems to have had several layers of duties ADDED, not taken away. The increased level of responsibility is very evident. In fact, the one you are making fun of (Equity and Cultural Diversity) has so much to do, I don’t know how one person could possibly manage. Same goes for the other high ones listed, they just don’t seem feasible.
3. What management doesn’t make changes after observing the first year? At least it wasn’t during the first year, and at least the credentials appear to be in order for each hire…
4. HCPS has not had the level of central office staffing it needs since it was gutted many years ago. You can scream top-heavy all you’d like, but it just isn’t so- particularly in curriculum and instruction. There are more folks working for the “communications” office than the social studies department. (How does that make sense, particularly when you learn 80% of what’s going on inside HCPS from the Aegis vs. internal communications? I’m not saying they are not needed, just that there are still holes in central that a system this size needs.)
Item #2 goes directly to my earlier point of later adding additional staff to support these “readjusted positions” which will eventually eliminate any claimed cost savings.
With all the leavings it sounds like a “My Way or the Highway” theory. If I don’t like you, I eliminate your position or force you out. It’ll be interestesting to see a few things, one how many more administrators who actually interact with Tombach leave or retire as soon as possible and how many Baltimore County people are hired and how long will they all stay? The next two years will actually show Tombach’s accomplisments not Dr. Haas’s.
An honest assessment of accomplishments would show any to be few and far between and were outweighed by the many negatives associated with Tomback’s tenure.