Interview with Dr. Lani Randall, Port Neches-Groves Superintendent

The most important skill a Superintendent can possess is the ability to take a broad view of issues. You have to be aware that everyone has a personal view of the issues and that there are always things going on behind the scene. You have to approach these individuals in different ways. You have to listen to them, but always keep both local and legal policy at the forefront. This ability is not automatic but something that is developed as you gain experience on the job.

The most difficult experience as a Superintendent was Hurricane Rita. Everyone was operating on a huge learning curve. From communication with employees and the community, to deciding when to bring people back, to compacting the curriculum, and to the $4 million in damages, it was an extremely stressful time. The silver lining was that the lessons learned with the Rita experience made the Hurricane Ike experience much easier.

Dr. Randall’s greatest, short term accomplishment was the passing of the $123 million bond, which was actually postponed for a year due to Hurricane Rita. The district will have two new middle schools that will be completed in the middle of May. Additions to the high school will allow for each grade level to be separated into pods and the athletic complex will be updated with baseball and softball fields, a batting cage, and tennis courts. Her greatest, long term accomplishment has been serving as a successful change agent, bringing change that has been for the greater good for the entire district.

Her vision for the future is to bring better technology and a more cost effective structure to the district. As part of the bond, every middle school student will have laptops, and every elementary classroom will be digital with document cameras, speaker systems and projectors. Future bond plans for the district may include the reconfiguration of the existing elementary campuses in order to reduce the number of campuses in order to save on personnel costs as well as other operating costs

Extra credit question
5 issues faced in your tenure as Superintendent—
School finance
4 x 4 changes, Career and Technology changes
Disaster situations-you can prepare for natural, but there is always a threat at the chemical plants of terrorist acts, explosions, and accidental emissions
Keeping kids in schools and preparing them for the work force
Personnel support-wages, benefits and meeting everyone’s needs

D3C3A2

Using item analysis, the district data disaggregation tool, we are able to inform instruction and staff development. We have brought in various presenters to meet our needs. On Feb. 15th, we will have a Technology Day training. I worked with the PK mentors to develop a plan for training to meet their needs, which are unique not only because of the age of the students, but because we gained about 300 new PK students this year. This means we have hired about 15 new teachers, some new to the grade level and some new to teaching. I am also going to be training Counselors on the use of the RtI software so that everyone can be on the same page in the documentation process.

D3C3A1

I have managed personnel through several initiatives to meet the each grant's specific goals. 100+ people, full-time, part-time, or extra duty, through several different initatives, each working to meet the needs of each grant.

D3C1A1

Through the many grants I manage, curriculum activities, and summer school, I generally manage around $5 million per year. Each of those grants involve personnel costs, training, travel, technology, and materials. Through the years, I have developed a system that makes it easy to keep on top of all these activities. I keep spreadsheets of each fund, with the proper budget codes. This helps me double check on the orders and the delivery of the materials. I have worked closely with the Budget Supervisor to make sure that the money is spent appropriately and within the parameters of the grant or department requirements.

D2C3A2

Through several grants, PreKindergarten Early Start, Reading First Grant, and The Writing Academy, I have looked at assessment data, scientifically researched materials and instructional strategies, I have developed comprehensive plans for training and material acquisition for the improvement of instruction.

D2C2A8

A lot of 4th grade teachers are still having difficulty teaching students how to write at a 4 level on the TAKS composition. The Writing Academy developed a workshop for us that will show teachers how to score papers. My theory is that if a teacher can read a jpaper and identify those aspects that make a paper a 4, they will be more adept at teaching students how to achieve that level of writing.

D2C2A7

I worked with the Special Education Dept. to assess Life Skills students' Reading levels. Once we determined where the students are, we were able to design a Reading Program that met their needs. The program is designed to teach them reading where they are and to provide Intervention that is appropriate for them.

D2C2A5

I have planned and managed several programs, including Reading First, PreKindergarten and TAKS Recapture Summer School. Each of these programs had some programmatic guidelines, but I developed our BISD programs to fit our needs. For example, for the Summer School program, I was able to purchase curriculum materials that were appropriate for our needs at that time. This year, due to the fact that we are able to hire the best teachers in the district, our needs have changed. This year, we are looking at programs that will take our students further in the time we have them.

D2C1A8

Last summer we had to rewrite our curriculum to accommodate the new ELA TEKS which went into effect in the 2009-2010 school year. This summer we will have to accommodate the new Basal Adoption, and the next year, we will have to look to the new STAAR test, which promises to be more rigorous.

D2C1A5

I prepare a spreadsheet of the benchmark averages by grade level and by classroom. We are able to focus in on teachers in need and help to bridge gaps in instruction for those students. I share this information with all other supervisors. It gives us a "snapshot" of need throughout the district. I've asked the programmers to create a way to look also at the average of all the students by grade level. It will help us examine the individual questions and gauge the validity of the test.

D2C1A4

The Reading Basal is up for adoption this year. I have put together a team to examine the five offerings on the state list. They have been given a rubric by which they will measure the series. I had the publishers come and present their programs to the district teachers, and they were allowed to visit campuses with the campus administrators' permission. They will meet one more time with the Adoption Committee to have one last word and to show the free with order materials. The committee will then meet again to share our findings and then to develop "talking points" to take back to their teachers. In March, we will take a vote. Each classroom teacher will have a vote, one man, one vote. The series that receives majority of votes will be the one selected. Our timeline is to have the voting completed before we go out for Spring Break.

D2C1A2

I conduct regular meetings with teachers after benchmark testing to determine the validity and reliability of the benchmark assessments created. More often than not, most of the test was deemed appropriate, but there are always some instances of inappropriateness of the questions or the way the question is asked. Frequently, when talking to teachers, they tell me that while the questions were difficult, they did not feel they were out of the students' abilities. Sometimes, they state that they felt that they could have done a better job of preparing the students.

D1C3A3

When writing several grants, I have had to seek out district and community leaders in order to create a comprehensive plan that not only fit our needs but met the requirements of the grant. Even after the grants were approved, there have been times when we have had to change the plan due to the changing needs of the district.

D1C3A1

As mentioned in an earlier posting, we have a school that is a Demonstration Site and we are creating a video that shows how the campus is successful. I have written a "screenplay" with the help of the Leadership Team and the Reading Technical Assistants from the University of Texas. The video will be produced completely with district resources. It will be assessable from the district site and will be posted either on the TEA or UT website.

D1C1A3

I have conducted several trainings for teachers who still need to pass the PPR portion of the TExES test, the latest one scheduled for Feb. 2nd and 4th. I have also presented the classroom management portion of the Substiture training. No person can substitute in BISD unless they have completed the Sub Training and passed a background check.