TPS Collaborative Problem Solving First
By Tulsa Today Education Editor Susan Phillips
The Tulsa Public School District's (TPS) functional failures and controversy has evoked paranoia, hysteria, propaganda, and scurrilous behavior from educational establishment minions, but now, after two and a half years of observation, your editor is overjoyed to report collaborative problem solving has occurred.
The Problem: Oklahoma accreditation standards require one half-time library assistant in schools with more than 500 students and one full-time library assistant in schools with more than 1,000 students. TPS does not have the staff to comply. It needs a waiver from the State Board of Education.
Further, as of that September 16, 2024, school board meeting, the position “library assistant” had not even been posted! School librarians and the Tulsa Classroom Teachers’ Association are more than annoyed.
The Original Solution: File the “traditional” every three years’ application to waive TPS from the library staffing requirement. The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) has approved TPS’s previous waiver applications.
The Final Solution: Agree to file the “traditional” every three years’ application to excuse TPS from the library staffing requirement. With the understanding that TPS Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson “actively pursues solutions for hiring library assistants”.
The board meeting agenda item was duly revised to read:
“Submit an application for a three-year district-wide deregulation to Standard VII, the governing accreditation standard outlining library requirements for Oklahoma schools, concerning staffing of school library media centers contingent upon the Superintendent actively pursuing solutions for hiring library aides. This deregulation will govern the school years from 2024-2025 through 2026-2027.”
The board voted. The item was passed six “yes” and one “no”. The “no” vote was from
Board Member Calvin Moniz. [Update] After the meeting, Moniz responded saying, "I voted no because it’s time to stop kicking the can down the road. If the district knew for three years that this was coming and did nothing in those three years to remedy the problem then we are doing a disservice to our students in the district.".
How Did The Board Get There: The board first heard four public comments all advocating advertising for and securing the OSDE recommended library assistants. Two of the commenters are certified librarians. Both noted that library aides are needed in the larger schools to provide the library services that the students deserve and each expressed doubt that much effort will be expended to find and hire them. A third commenter asked that the board be sure that the schools can do without aides before voting on the agenda item. The fourth commenter lamented that the system is not locating library aides saying, “we need to get to the root causes”.
Next, Superintendent Dr. Johnson said that she has had a ZOOM meeting with a number of librarians and will listen some more to figure out an action plan. She promised that there will no longer be librarians without someone to listen to their concerns, we will be hearing more from her regarding libraries and library support, and she will get the library aide job posted as soon as possible.
She then outlined her current plan to address the concerns of all TPS Librarians and the hiring of library aides for the twenty-one affected schools. TPS has six schools with one thousand to one thousand four hundred ninety-nine students requiring a full-time library assistant and fifteen schools with five hundred to nine hundred ninety-nine students each requiring a half-time library assistant.
Meet with current school librarians. The first meeting was held via ZOOM the day of this board meeting.
Hold several face to face listening sessions over the coming several weeks.
Update the library assistant job description.
Make sure that librarians feel seen and heard.
Investigate the library staff needs of each school including the current effort to teach computer science in the libraries.
Board member and Leadership Team discussion followed. Board Member Dr. Marshall, expressed concern about when this problem was first noted and what has been done in the interim. She noted that last school year librarians were asked to teach computer science without being consulted.
Dr. Armstrong, Chief Learning Officer, noted that some librarians did not feel qualified to teach computer science, but had not heard of other problems. Some members of the audience showed by facial expressions that they did not agree with that analysis.
Dr. Johnson, Superintendent, suggested that there may have been a “communication breakdown” and redirected the conversation back to solutions by asking if TPS is currently recruiting library assistants. A staff member answered in the negative. She added she has located an earlier job posting and staff are reviewing and revising it in hopes of getting it ready to be posted by Friday, September 27.
Board Member Ashley praised Dr. Johnson for her positivity and noted that we have an opportunity to fix library staffing.
Board Vice President Croisant noted that he is pleased with all the work Dr. Johnson has done since she learned that there were concerns.
Board Member Dr. Marshall offered to help recruit library aides if that is permitted. Board Member Smith asked when the current waiver expires. Upon learning that it expires on October 1, 2024, she suggested that the Board vote on the current agenda item.
Board President Woolley asked the board attorney present if they could add some “contingent upon” language codifying Superintendent Dr. Johnson’s plans to the current agenda item. The attorney guided the board through the legally sound language and the process of amending the printed agenda item.
As advised, the original maker of the motion, Board Vice President Croisant, restated the item adding the suggested “contingent upon” language. This rewording was seconded by Board Member Dr. Marshall. As stated earlier in this article this amended agenda item passed six to one.
For readers who are accustomed to observing and/or participating in open problem-solving discussions at work, in club meetings, and with friends and family members this review of a problem-solving discussion at a TPS Board Meeting may appear ridiculous or at least unnecessary.
It may be that the TPS Board has regular problem-solving sessions when they are in executive sessions or when two or three of them meet to “chat.” Witnessing it happen in an open meeting with other observers was a “breath of fresh air” and gave this author a great deal of hope for the quality of decisions made by this board of education in the future.
Kudos to the TPS Board and Superintendent Johnson!
About the author: Susan Phillips, a resident of Tulsa Public School District since May 1998, is a retired psychologist. Her husband, Michael Phillips, is a retired Tulsa Public High School math teacher. Susan and Michael have been attending nearly all TPS board meetings since May 2, 2022. They arrive early, sit on the front row, and talk amiably with others who regularly attend. They seek to understand the various points of view held by audience members. Susan began reporting on the meetings for Tulsa Today in July, 2023. Susan currently serves as Tulsa Today's Education Editor and member of the Editorial Board.
 | A guest post by
|