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Craig Hockenberry: SHHHH it is the First Lady!
My first year as Principal of Oyler School in Cincinnati Public I received a phone call from the Office of the First Lady of the United States. The caller simply asked if I was Craig Hockenberry [C1] and then proceed to inform me that he was calling on behalf of the first lady of the United States of America. My first thoughts were that someone was joking with me, however it was clear within a few minutes that this was not a joke. They asked me to keep this quiet and that a secret service agent would arrive soon and give me details.
Sure enough I left my office and went outside to process the news and before I even opened the door I received a call from the United States Secret Service. It was official, the First Lady of the United States would be arriving at my school in less than three days. The secret service set-up some times to arrive at Oyler and I immediately began a checklist of everything that need to be done to prepare for her visit.
The first area that needed addressed was getting the building clean. It was summer time so the cleaning schedule was different. I turned this over to Bob Walters our plant operator who worked around the clock. He did everything from cleaning the ceiling to power washing the outside of the building. In 15 years I had never seen the building look so good. He did one heck of job.
Then we had to prepare the kids as she was scheduled to read them a book in the school library. I turned this over to two of the most talent teachers I have ever worked with Wanda Neville and Bonnie Roe. They practice everything with them. They had the entire day planned out from a child’s point of view. We were in great shape.
We worked with the Cincinnati Police, Cincinnati Public Schools, community members, Oyler partners, and the media.
The first lady was coming to Oyler School in Lower Price Hill!
On the day of the arrival all of my staff was dress in red, white, and blue as we anxiously awaited her arrive. About three hours before she arrived six black suburban’s pulled-up on the sidewalk and out came five of the largest men I had seen since my college football days. All of them were dressed in black suites and sunglasses.
I greeted them and turned the entire facility over to them so they could begin their work. They put snipers on the roof, they hide several armed men on different floors and turned loose bomb dogs throughout the building. I just watched in awe at the level of security.
Now, the work is done. All is quiet. We waited and waited.
The kids looked out the windows of the library their faces smashed against the window. Crowds were forming outside. I could hear the Secret Service radio going off with coded messages. Then I heard on of the students said….
SHHHH!!! It is the First Lady!
Everyone turned and she got out of the car in a perfectly pressed turquoise suite and walked straight to the door of the school. When she entered she reached her hand out and she you must be Craig Hockenberry
[C1]
Craig Hockenberry: Top Five Effective Ways to communicate with your Board
After almost eight years of being a Superintendent in two different districts I wanted to take a minute to share the top five ways that I found have been the most effective. So, here we go! These are in no particular order.
Number One: Weekly newsletter. I would send an email newsletter that highlighted several very important points for the week. The points included; people I met with, instructional topics, challenging conversations I had with employees, sports, and upcoming announcements. I also put a very important section called HEADS-UPS. (I think this was the only section they read!)
Number Two: Board Text Alerts. Some things can wait, some things cannot. The things that could not wait such as a huge fight, someone passed away, a teacher walked off the job, a principal got arrested they need to know those right away. This is when I created an emergency text alert that just went to the members of the board. This avoided them from hearing about serious situations in isle 12 at the grocery store or at the local post office. Text alerts were among my favorite ways to reach board members and keep them in the loop.
Number Three: Boardwalks. This was a unique way to meet with and communicate with 1-2 board members at a time by giving them tours of schools. We would announce these visits so that everyone knew it was just a visit with no specific purpose other than visibility and relationship building. During these boardwalks I would take board members to places they had never been and introduce them to many of the behind the scenes employees such as cooks, bus drivers, and custodians. During these boardwalks I would get many opportunities to communicate with board members and visually show them projects we were working on that they may have only have heard of in writing.
Number Four: In person meetings. I would invite members of the board to catch-up monthly through one-on-one coffees at a local restaurant or grab breakfast, lunch, or even dinner. This was challenging and I had to be careful not to leave one out. If you show too much attention to one others get very upset. So, I would keep a schedule and make sure to hit all five board members before the end of a two week rotation. In person meetings give board members a chance to open up in a different forum and you can get some authentic feedback.
Number Five: A phone call. I kept a log to make sure I reached out to each board member two times on the phone call during each month this gave us a chance to be free of public records and could just have a conversation about how things were going. We did not discuss decisions and we stayed away from the important work it was just more of a check in and touch base.
So there you have it; a weekly newsletter, phone calls, text messages, boardwalks, and in person meetings. Doing this throughout each month and being very deliberate and strategic will mean you will have at least twelve times in a month where you have communicated with all five of your board members.
CRAIG HOCKENBERRY SUPERINTENDENT
WRITTEN RESPONSES
What is the role of the superintendent and the board of education in curriculum development and/or innovation?
Since school boards have the ultimate accountability for curriculum they do need to have firsthand knowledge of the scope of curriculum and the overall programs in all the schools, however their responsibilities narrows down to some very important roles. I have listed below just some of the roles of the board in curriculum.
§ To be updated regularly on the content and scope of the curriculum.
§ To be informed of state guidelines involving curriculum and instruction.
§ To be familiar with textbook adoption policies and procedures.
§ To be aware of sensitive community values regarding curricular issues.
§ Work with the superintendent to keep community updated and involved with curriculum.
§ Develop Board level committee work around student achievement and curriculum.
§ Allocate funding to support best practices in curriculum and instruction.
§ Honor and celebrate student achievement at board meetings.
The superintendent works closely with the board of education to update them on important changes at the local, state, and national level so that they are informed and can make important decisions regarding curriculum development. The updates should include achievement data at all levels and best practices both locally and regionally.
The superintendent must work closely with the board to hire, develop, train and retain highly effective curriculum directors, principals, and teachers and provide them support to implement the curriculum. The superintendent should be working with community leaders at all levels to seek out resources that will be innovative and resources that can be used to reduce barriers to student achievement.
Describe how you would design orientation for administrative staff members, teachers, and board members new to their positions.
Orientations are critically important at all levels in a school district. Each one is different and requires designs that are on-going and focus on growth as well as orientation.
Board Members
§ Reach out to board members running for office and invite them to start attending monthly board meetings. This will help orient them before they are elected and will give them an idea of work flow at a board meeting.
§ Arrange a meeting after election results are final to discuss with them the basic roles and responsibilities, board policies manual and direct them to OSBA handbook for board members Board Handbooks | Ohio School Boards Association and information regarding new board members For New Board Members | Ohio School Boards Association
§ During the time of November through January before they are sworn into office, include them on important communications and updates to ensure they get a clear understanding of how communication flows through the team. Also, I would use this time to discuss the importance of CONFIDENTIALITY.
§ Set up weekly meetings with new board members and include tours and other opportunities to meet teachers, cooks, instructional aides, bus drivers, principals and support staff.
Teachers and administrative staff members
§ Set up a social gathering off campus with all new staff in the spring for the purpose of relationship building. Invite principals, key members of their teaching team, and other staff that will be important to their support. Plan ice breaker activities and give time for new staff to meet veteran staff and others familiar with the district. I would use this day to assign mentors for each of our new hires.
§ Set up a spring meeting with each new staff before the end of the school year to give them a chance to see the school in full operation.
§ Bring all new hires to work one day before all staff reports and prepare a day long agenda that includes; time in their rooms, additional meet and greets, tours, logistics, reports and updates from all departments, and much more.
§ Set-up a yearlong monthly meeting with all new hires using key district leaders to develop a supportive agenda and opportunities for new hires to talk about what is going well and what challenges they are facing and opportunities they see during their first year with us.
What criteria would you use to assess the district’s operation in maintenance, transportation, and food service programs?
There are many options to assess the district operations in maintenance, transportation, and food service programs. Some of these would include multiple measures of financial impact, safety data, customer satisfaction and staffing. Having quality leadership overseeing each of these departments and meeting with them weekly to discuss opportunities and strategies for efficiency is critical in assessing each department. Weekly visits to each department and operational updates at district leaderships meetings and to the board of education could also aide in assessing these departments and making adjustments.
When dealing with each of these departments, there are many opportunities to create customer satisfaction surveys. These surveys could follow a work order with maintenance or quarterly surveys for transportation and food service. Reviewing these results and presenting them to the district leadership and board of education can help us all make improvements and support these different departments.
Developing board level committees such as the building and grounds committee and operations committee could help with oversight and these committees could reach out to experts in the community to join and give us feedback and support.
Finally, it could be beneficial to do a professional external audit of each department and get the necessary feedback from professionals outside the organization. These audits could be used to put together some objectives in long range planning and forecasting.
CRAIG HOCKENBERRY SUPERINTENDENT