Where to start? Jennifer Sprague had her first board meeting as Dallas ISD?s head communications honcho ? and to hear it from some folks at the meeting, she didn?t do too well in her first showing. ?The $185,000 communications chief had some communication issues,? said one DISD trustee, making reference to Sprague?s annual salary.
Sprague has received more attention than any of new Superintendent Mike Miles? hires, mainly because of her light communications resume and big salary ? an increase from $86,652 that she made in her last communications job in Miles? former district in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Dallas ISD communications chief Jennifer Sprague (Dallas Morning News photo)
Sprague took a lot of heat for her DISD salary. Miles defended her, and during a press conference he essentially told reporters that the naysayers were critical of her because of her looks. And he told the Dallas Morning News in an earlier interview that Sprague would bring her nationally recognized talent to DISD, just wait and see.
Miles was so confident in Sprague?s abilities that he didn?t conduct a nationwide search ? not even for a job with such a hefty salary that surely would have drawn the most talented communication folks in the country.
?We?re going to do communications differently,? Miles said back then. ?Most people in the community will agree that our communications have to be better.?
After Thursday?s meeting with Sprague, folks are wondering if communications will get even worse than before. Quite frankly, a couple of taxpaying observers were horrified at Sprague?s performance.
Sprague said on Friday that she didn?t feel that the meeting went bad at all. ?I certainly was prepared for the meeting, and I had the information I needed,? she said.
Here?s the play-by-play of what happened:
The first glimpse that it could be an interesting meeting for Sprague came before she even took a seat at the horseshoe.
Trustee Nancy Bingham, who chairs the board?s personnel committee, announced an agenda item that consisted of a recommendation to accept a donation from the AT&T Performing Arts Center to partner with six DISD schools.
Trustee Bernadette Nutall wanted to know the name of the six benefiting schools. Bingham asked who would provide information on the initiative. Typically, by this point, the administrator over the department would be walking towards the horseshoe.
Miles gestured to someone in the audience, presumably Sprague, who left her seat in the audience and took a seat at the horseshoe, sometimes called ?the hot seat,? because it?s where administrators can be grilled by an ever diligent cast of board members.
Sprague took a seat and wondered which donation the board was referring to. After trustees got her on track, she said, ?I?m not for sure right now as far as exactly how those donations were disbursed,? and she deferred to a district administrator who happened to not be in the room.
Meanwhile, trustees had found on the agenda background document the name of the six schools, and they pointed it out to Sprague. The schools are Sunset, Molina, Carter, W.T. White, Wilson and Thomas Jefferson high schools ? all have programs focusing on fine arts.
(Note to Sprague: Always, always, know which schools were chosen for an initiative and why. Trustees represent different areas in the district and most of them will look out for their areas. If they don?t, who will, or so it goes).
After a few moments in which trustees attempted to get Sprague on track, Bingham seemed relieved when an administrator took a seat next to Sprague. ?Right here, we have a person who can answer all our questions,? she said. And she was right. He did.
Moving on. The next big discussion centered on the communication department?s proposal for a $162,000 contract with The Concilio of Dallas, which would work with 18 campuses to get students in class on the first day of school and get their parents involved in their education.
Board documents listed targeted campuses for the initiative as Sunset and Woodrow Wilson high schools and the elementary and middle schools that feed into them.
Nutall wanted to know why those feeder patterns were chosen. Sprague said The Concilio and a district parent initiative group picked the schools by looking at data such as student attendance, reading scores and participation on the online Parent Portal. She also noted that the chosen feeder patterns had changed to Samuell and Adamson high schools. Trustees were now confused. All their information still said the feeder patterns were Sunset and Woodrow.
?Sorry to interrupt,? trustee Eric Cowan said to Sprague. ?But are you saying the schools on this document have changed??
?Yes, we met two day ago, so we didn?t have time to amend it,? Sprague responded. Some folks sitting in the audience gave each other the ?oh-oh? look, not good. With modern technology, information can be sent immediately. Also should changing schools for a hefty contract be taken that lightly, as an afterthought, especially after the information was made public?
(Another note to Sprague: Do not spring last minute information on these board members that you?ve known about for two days. They don?t like surprises).
Nutall asked about the ethnic breakdown of Adamson and Samuell, which are majority Hispanic high schools. Sprague once again cited the selection criteria. But this time added that The Concilio typically works with Spanish-speaking students and families, thus the reason for the selected schools.
(Note to Sprague: Race relations are a big part of politics in this city and some folks can be very sensitive).
Some audience members braced for Nutall?s reaction, and she sure had one. ?What are we doing about our African-American culture?? Nutall asked. ?To me, that seems a form of segregation. What are we doing about the African-American population that?s in the south sector??
Sprague responded that the district is working on initiatives for southern Dallas schools.
Nutall reiterated her stance, and said while Concilio does wonderful work, she wants to know how predominately black schools would be helped with the $162,000 initiative. ?We have a multi-cultured district,? Nutall said.
Miles attempted to clarify on Sprague?s behalf and said the need was not based on Hispanic population at the schools. Sprague apologized for ?the miscommunication.?
Nutall continued to have concerns, while Sprague sought to clarify. Sprague pointed out that the two newly chosen schools ? Samuell and Adamson ? also had low participation numbers for the Parent Portal. Reading from a document, Nutall read out participation percentages for Parent Portal at some individual schools. Lincoln had 17.67 percent participation, while Roosevelt had 8.67 percent participation. Adamson had a 24.29 percentage participation, not exactly the lowest, Nutall noted. Lincoln and Roosevelt are two predominately black schools.
Once again, more audience members gave each other that ?oh-oh? look. Things weren?t going well for Sprague.
Meanwhile, Cowan was still a bit concerned about the switcheroo with the participating schools. He said the reason for the deal was to get the kids to school on the first day of school. He wanted the percentage of students not showing at each school on the first day to determine which ones need more help. He reiterated that the first-day initiative is the major component of the deal that the board is being asked to vote on.
But Sprague said, ?It?s a small component? of the deal.
Cowan, who is typically laid back, wasn?t letting that one just go over without responding. He used the document that lists Sprague as the contact person to prove his point.
?It?s the major component, based on this agenda item. That?s what it says ? I?m looking at it,? he said with emphasis.
Board president Lew Blackburn backed Cowan. ?That?s what it says. My concern is that it?s misleading.? Blackburn noted that the labeling for the agenda item focused on the first-day initiative.
The agenda description read:
CONSIDER AND TAKE POSSIBLE ACTION TO APPROVE CONTRACT WITH THE CONCILIO FOR THE PURCHASE OF SERVICES TO MAXIMIZE ATTENDANCE FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR WOODROW WILSON AND SUNSET FEEDER PATTERNS ($162,000/GENERAL OPERATING FUNDS)
Trustee Carla Ranger had surprisingly been quiet during the discussion, but not anymore. ?We find out here at the briefing that these are not the two groups that we are to consider,? she said.
Miles had had enough at this point and recommended the item be pulled from the agenda. He took the fall for the title description goof. He said the focus would turn towards what Concilio does during the school year. The group is already helping out some DISD schools, which some trustees spoke favorably about at the meeting.
Trustee Mike Morath didn?t like the first day of school initiative being dead because of the board?s discussion.
Nutall said that The Concillio does a lot more than the first day initiative. She said the group is being done an injustice with focus just being on that one program.
Miles agreed with Nutall. ?We?ll come back with a better title and substance about what Concilio can do for us,? he said.
But Blackburn wanted to know how Concilio got the deal. The response he got back was that the group is a contracted vendor and the recommendation was sent by the administration. Blackburn said that other organizations need to be able to get business with the district the same way.
Blackburn also said the proposal is coming to the board too late. He noted that the agenda item was set for approval on Aug. 23 ? the Concilio?s efforts for back to school were to run from Aug. 13 to Aug. 27.
That pretty much wrapped up the discussion. Sprague left the room and Miles followed her out. See?
That Miles left the active meeting to talk to Sprague, who had obviously had a bad time at the horseshoe, was noted by some observers and trustees.
In a hallway, outside the boardroom, Miles talked to Sprague briefly before heading back to the meeting. I had waited to have a word with her. She seemed a bit shaken by what had just transpired.
She was able to get out that she would ?go back to the table? and figure out what needs to be done.
After the meeting ended, several people milling around talked about Sprague?s performance at the horseshoe, considering her position in the district. They questioned whether their tax money is being well spent on her salary.
Sprague?s salary has been a source of contention. It?s more than White House spokesman Jay Carney?s $172,200 salary. The communications head is typically not a chief-level position, but Miles said there would be more focus on internal and external communications.
There was a bright spot at the meeting. Charles Glover, the new chief of talent and innovation, impressed many in attendance. He took the ?hot seat? and provided sufficient answers to whatever was thrown at him.
Glover also was hired by Miles. Some have wondered if his $182,000 salary is too much, but not many have questioned his qualifications. Glover oversaw Teach for America?s Dallas-Fort Worth region. He has experience in recruiting and building relationships with universities. Some say that it?s to be seen if he can successfully run the district?s troubled Human Resources Department, which is among his duties. Time will tell.
Until the next meeting?
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