David Dude. Photo provided by City Schools of Decatur

City Schools of Decatur is adding a new position to central office.

Superintendent David Dude announced that he wants to hire a Deputy Superintendent.

“The Deputy Superintendent will serve as the Chief Academic Officer providing leadership, vision, and oversight of the district’s curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student supports,” Dude wrote to CSD staff. “This position will be responsible for the district’s early childhood and K-12 instructional programs across all ages, grade levels, and content areas.”

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CSD spokesperson Courtney Burnett said the School Board did not have to vote to create the position because there’s funding for instructional positions in the budget from last year. In the past, the School Board has voted to create new positions. The board previously authorized the creation of a new title, enrollment assistant, but Burnett said the board acted because that position was not in the budget. The position was never filled. She said the minimum starting the salary for the position will likely be $87,000 to $89,000.

The new position will also alter the organizational structure of CSD’s central office. Noel Maloof, the school’s Chief Operating Officer, will still report directly to Dude. The new deputy super will be in charge of the student support director, the secondary education director, the elementary education director, the assessment director, and all of the school principals. The student support director oversees students who have special learning needs. CSD parents have been pushing the School Board to improve the district’s responsiveness to students who have learning disabilities, specifically dyslexia.

“Adding this [deputy superintendent] position will improve the speed and efficiency with which we will be able to address critical needs, including reductions in achievement gaps, improvements in services to students, and implementation of personalized learning plans, to name a few,” Dude wrote.

Dude’s letter to staff said the board has considered the implications of adding to central office staff.

“The decision to add administrative positions at the central office level is not something the Board or I take lightly,” he wrote. “We are and have been very careful in our consideration of adding this role. Over at least the last decade, as our student enrollment has grown dramatically, the number of administrators has steadily decreased proportionally to the number of students–currently at half the level it was a decade ago. This is one of many human capital needs in our district, and we have already begun discussions of how we address our other needs as we kick off our 2017-18 budget development season.”

Burnett provided this organizational chart showing the new structure of CSD’s central office.

org-chart-w-cao

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