A System of Building Franchises - school self-administration within Edmonton Public Schools system

School Administrator, May, 2001 by Joanne Young

In decentralized Edmonton, principals call all the shots, from budgets to bathroom tissue

Loran Radchenko has been educating kids for 29 years, the past six of them as a principal. But after just one year in the Edmonton, Alberta, Public Schools, he knew he had landed a job unlike any other he'd experienced. And he loved it.

"Being a principal in Edmonton Public Schools means something," Radchenko said.

Like most building administrators, Radchenko is an instructional leader, accountable for the learning that takes place at Edmonton's TAD. Baker Junior High. He's responsible for deciding what programs the school will offer, how it will go about ensuring student achievement and accomplishing good relationships with parents.

But in this school system, which takes site-based management to a higher level, he is also responsible for the school's budget, deciding when and how much to spend for maintenance, hiring teachers, purchasing supplies, paying utilities and contracting with curriculum, technology or marketing consultants.

He must know his students' and his community's needs and then go about meeting those needs. With open boundaries, he has to figure out how to attract students and parents who shop each spring for schools. More than 50 percent of Edmonton's students do not attend the school nearest their home.

"I'm responsible for the operation, the whole picture of what goes on," Radchenko said. "I've always been a person who likes to do that, to run my own show. I'm just fitting right in here."

Other Edmonton building administrators say they, too, are satisfied and excited to be part of a system that allows the principals, in effect, to run their schools much as a business franchise owner. While most school districts' central operations are administration-driven, Edmonton's Centre for Education is service driven, focused on satisfying the needs of its principals, the school faculties and students.

Wide Choices

The combination of site-based management and school choice has worked for Edmonton. The district gained international recognition with public schools that allow students and parents to choose from a wide variety of programs. They include fine arts, technology, language immersion, bilingual studies, Christian education, hockey training or home schooling. From school to school, grades are combined in unique ways and students--from developmentally disabled to high achievers to aboriginal--are offered learning that meets individual needs.

Principals like Bob Maskell believe the system works.

Sixteen years ago, he had a vision for Victoria School, located in the heart of the city. He wanted to turn the distressed high school--a "war zone" as he described it--into the grandest of schools with emphases on fine arts and academics. He also wanted to expand the school's mission to serve children of all ages, from preschool to graduation and beyond.

To do it, he needed to become more than the school's instructional leader. He became its budget administrator, chief fund raiser, business manager, purchasing agent, promotions director and resident dreamer of huge dreams.

With help from teachers and other staff, the "Let's Make a Deal" principal, as Maskell's been called by others in the system, handles everything from procurement of light bulbs and bathroom tissue to professional development. He draws on previous experience in the business world, as a bakery manager and an administrative assistant for a railway company.

"When times get tough I have to barter," he said. Maskell once found an empty building near the school for an Edmonton Opera performance of Aida, in trade for student access to rehearsals, performances and master classes. And he raised nearly a half million dollars for the school by selling surplus equipment.

When there's a budget crunch, he and his business manager figure Out a way to make dollars go further. When there's a surplus, it goes right back into the school.

Maskell, 61, is close to realizing his dreams with a school ranked as one of the top-performing arts programs in North America and an International Baccalaureate curriculum that serves 1,900 kindergartners through grade 12 students and 1,000 more in after-school music enrichment classes. Preschoolers have a place at the school and the principal envisions post-secondary students will be the next to walk the halls of Victoria.

"When you empower people with an entrepreneurial spirit, people who can share your vision and excitement, when you get the right people on board, it happens. It's still happening," Maskell said.

A Flat Structure

Edmonton Public Schools has practiced a form of site-based management for at least 20 years, ever since former superintendent Michael Strembitsky opened boundaries and introduced school-based budgeting. But when Emery Dosdall took over the districts s reins six years ago, he stoked it up several notches, eliminating nine associate superintendents in the central office and bringing more than 200 principals directly under his watch.