DOE titles keep parents confused
"Education job titles stump parents," Erin Einhorn writes in today's Daily News. Redolent of Insideschools' attempt to spell out the "ABCs of the DOE's reorganization" earlier this fall, the article points out that DOE officials have been bestowed with "wacky," abstract titles such as "chief accountability officer" and "chief equality officer" that don't make their responsibilities clear.
But in focusing on the titles, Einhorn skirts around an important point. It's not the fact that there are highly paid education officials whose tasks aren't immediately apparent that bothers the average parent; there have always been numbers men and strategic planners working behind the scenes at the DOE and other city agencies. It's that, as one parent points out in the Daily News article, "[the DOE] switched from districts to regions and now they've switched back ... [Parents] don't know who is representing what and who is doing what."
In other words, the situation on the ground for parents is a mess, and parents don't feel able to get the help that they and their children need. That's a much bigger problem than an overstuffed nomenclature.
4 comments:
I recently had to have a paper signed by the district superintendent. As the schools had just been reorganized, no one at my school knew who it was. I visited a DoE office, and no one there knew who it was either. Several months later, I got a note from the DoE indicating that my form was missing a signature.
I still haven't figured out, though, where to get it, or who this mysterious person actually is. They also aren't called superintendents anymore, but I can't remember what they're called. It's some clever new acronym.
There are certain disadvantages in such frequent reorganizations, and it isn't just parents who are confused.
Good point.
Does this help? As far as we know, there are still district superintendents!
Well, I'm over six months behind, but if they ask me again I'll know where to look.
Thanks very much.
redolent? hah!
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