Administration in School Buildings

There is one critical thing that should happen, before anything that directly affects our children - the administration should lead by example. They should first inconvenience themselves and move out of the Bellefield administration building in Oakland, before asking our kids to make sacrifices. They can make the move this summer and save some money while really developing a well thought out plan.

Lead By Example

We have heard many times lately that student outcomes change when adult behavior changes. We believe this is true. We also think that means that when facing budgetary crunches, adults should take the first steps of discomfort before asking our kids to be displaced from schools and programs they love. The administration should move out of their prime location building in Oakland, and into the schools they serve. Lease out space in the Bellefield building and have it at least pay for itself while retaining options for future expansion or other academic uses.

Cost Savings

The administration building is large, expensive to operate, and in an absolutely prime/high demand location right between Pitt and CMU’s campuses. We could save a fortune by moving our admin out and leasing the space (selling is also an option, but we prefer leasing to keep our options open).

Leadership in Proximity

Leaders are far more effective when they are “in the trenches” with those they lead. While some detachment for objectivity reasons can be good - for the most part, leaders will always make better decisions when they directly experience the existing challenges and the effects of their decisions. Even if this part of our proposal produced zero financial gain, we would still advocate that our admin move into the schools they serve for these reasons.

Office spaces in our schools should have an open door policy - if it isn’t a sensitive meeting, the door is open so the admin experiences real school life/culture, and they’re accessible to the student body.

Adults in the Building

Which of our schools wouldn’t benefit from a few more adults in the building?