He is also extremely vindictive and a bullying to any managers that have viewpoints different then his as evident by his choices for management promotion and hiring (the incompetent Martin-Braun and the attempted (end-around of the board)and hire of Lawrence’s buddy the criminal Nugent. All in all, Lawrence is a guy that should be at someplace like Enron or Chevron rather then in charge of kids.

Couple this with some significant ethical lapses with certain board members as the recent solar scandals show and you have a large organization basically adrift and in serious crisis.

Since this board hired Lawrence, they apparently feel compelled to protect him since replacing him would also cast their judgment for hiring him in the first place as, shall we say, suspect.

Hopefully a Grand Jury will be convened to investigate some of the more blatant conflicts of interest and scandals and once they start peeling back the layers of this onion who knows what else they will find.

Another possible solution will be that new board members not beholden will force Lawrence out and start a legitimate rebuilding process that will take the MDUSD beyond crisis-driven reaction. Putting in a quality leadership team would would go a long ways towards undoing the damage as they lead a pro-active and honest restructuring with of course a strategic plan that all stake-holders were a part of instead of the deeply flawed G&Os currently in place.

While I am a huge believer in strategic planning and think it is a travesty to have an organization with a $250,000,000 +/- budget and no strategic plan, I really doubt strategic planning will be successful under this leadership.

I wrote about a school district last June who had an incredible strategic plan. That plan was incredible because it was comprehensive, it was collaborative, it was communicated, and it was implemented. It has been woven into the district’s budget decisions each year since its inception. The Superintendent speaks of the plan as if it is the basis for everything or at least every decision.

Here is an excerpt from their strategic plan page:
“Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, we believe ‘Intelligence plus character…is the goal of true education.’ That’s why character development of our students is a critical component of this plan.”
The plan includes strategies designed to boost student achievement, increase family and community involvement, improve district service, increase the teacher retention rate and improve school safety and discipline.

Our new G&Os don’t address character, they show no innovation, they miss key issues facing our district such as equity and diversity, and they lack inspiration… who reading this believes in the G&Os? Who is inspired by the G&Os? Who believes they will make one iota of difference? Teachers? Parents? Students?

I encourage anyone interested in strategic planning to go to the Guilford County Schools website. Read about their strategic plan. Look around the site and see how it is incorporated. Look at the Superintendent’s “Entry Plan” and then compare that to these past 8 months.
http://www.gcsnc.com/superintendent.htm

This slide says it all! We have a Superintendent who is too busy for strategic planning…

DON’T BOTHER- IT WILL BE A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY