1 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Presenters R.P. “Bob” Grimesey, Jr., Ed.D. Superintendent Alleghany County Public Schools P.O. Drawer 140, 100 Central Circle Low Moor, VA Office: (540) Web: Eddie Graham Superintendent Covington City Public Schools 340 E. Walnut Street Covington, VA Office: (540) Web:

2 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Background February, 2005 – Alleghany applies for placement on efficiency review waiting list. Reports from superintendents who participated in the original pilot reviews were very positive. May, 2005 – Alleghany and Covington school boards form committee to engage in dialogue to explore options for consolidation, merged operations and shared services. Committee authorizes superintendents to explore joint efficiency review with state agencies. August-September, 2005 – Superintendents explore possible joint efficiency review with Department of Education and Department of Planning and Budget.

3 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Background October, 2005 – Alleghany and Covington school boards approve joint resolution requesting joint efficiency review. November, Governor Warner endorses the inclusion of Covington with Alleghany study. Funding for study included in proposed budget. May, 2006 – Covington City Council and Alleghany County Board of Supervisors form ad hoc schools committee with representatives from school boards. June, 2006 – Joint efficiency review included in budget approved by General Assembly. August, 2006 – Department of Planning and Budget awards joint efficiency review contract to Evergreen Consultants.

4 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Background October, 2006 – Two-member team from Evergreen conducts diagnostic interviews over three days. November, 2006 – Full Evergreen team conducts document analysis and site visits during five-day visit to both school divisions. January, 2007 – Draft findings and recommendations analyzed and evaluated by Evergreen and superintendents. February, 2007 – Evergreen presents summary of recommendations to joint meeting of city and county school boards.

5 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Findings Based on Covington Experience Staff from the Department of Planning and Budget demonstrated superior professionalism, courtesy and willingness to provide assistance. Diagnostic interviews all were conducted within three-day window. The full Evergreen team of about eight spent five days in our area with interviews, site visits and document reviews in both school divisions. There was very little contextual discussion with superintendents. Several team members spent only portions of the week.

6 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Findings Based on Covington Experience The frequency of contacts from team members was much lower than expected during the two months following the team’s visit. Numerous recommendations appeared to fit an Evergreen template or the personal biases of selected team members. To a degree that exceeded our expectations, Evergreen reported that recommendations would be cost neutral, even when implementation actually would require substantial time on the part of existing staff. Little or no effort was made to measure the amount of time necessary for implementation.

7 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Findings Based on Alleghany Experience Evergreen team members exhibited excellent professionalism and courteous demeanor. We thought there would be a greater focus on financial savings. Instead there was a more general focus on how Evergreen felt we could improve administrative operations. Not bad, but not what we expected. Overall, the experience closely resembled many of the elements of the old state administrative review process. The first draft contained far more inaccuracies and improper contextual interpretations than was anticipated. The Standards of Quality were cited as “recommended staffing levels” as opposed to “minimum standards” in one finding, but not applied in the same context with other findings.

8 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Findings Based on Alleghany Experience The peer school division analysis produced potential for “dumbed-down” comparisons. We seek to be “first” among our peers, so we tend to benchmark against school divisions that enjoy greater resources than ours. The peer school division comparisons relied too heavily on data sets that were easily obtained, such as the DOE web site. Comparisons lacked rigor in some cases in which Evergreen should have picked up the phone and actually called other school divisions or schools. A higher-than-expected number of recommendations were cost savings’ neutral and constituted little more than additional work. Survey procedures and methods of survey presentation were spurious more often than we anticipated. A high-than-expected number of inaccuracies also survived to the final draft.

9 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Recommendations for Program Improvement Apply a higher standard for the inclusion of recommendations in each study. Move away from quantity and more toward quality. Consider the limited understanding that out-of-state consultants bring to our Virginia context. Revisit more direct roles for the Department of Planning and Budget and the Department of Education in the execution of efficiency reviews. Greater governmental oversight of private consulting firms would be helpful.

10 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Recommendations for Program Improvement Evaluate the specifications in the RFP. The current RFP favors consulting firms who can pull their proposals “off the shelf.” The existing process discourages consultants who may be more willing to custom design their methods to afford greater attention to context. Seek input from Virginia’s traditional school consultants, our schools of education at our colleges and universities. Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and others should be able to provide a helpful perspective. Why are these traditional educational consulting groups not participating in this process?

11 Alleghany County-Covington City Joint School Efficiency Review Questions & Discussion