Chapter Six: Are you the Boss of Me?

Chapter 6: Are You the Boss of Me?

There are five Prospect Schools. Each Prospect school has a contract with the local public school spelling out the amount of money the public schools will pay Prospect and the number of children to be educated (along with various other terms and conditions). Ebencorp is the parent company for Prospect schools. Ebencorp is a private, non-profit company that gets 15% of the money from each Prospect school contract. This money pays the salaries for my boss, his business manager, and an accountant. Other Ebencorp employees who work on both Prospect and non-Prospect projects (the HR department, Risk Management and Clyde, my boss’s boss) also receive some of the proceeds from Prospect schools. Ebencorp does not provide any funding to my school (for salaries, operating expenses etc.) or any equipment or supplies. But Ebencorp does provide me with an ample number of headaches.

Good bosses

When I first interviewed to be the Prospect principal, I met with Sheila. Sheila was “Operations Manager” of Prospect schools meaning she was the boss of the five Prospect school principals. Sheila is a forty-something white woman. She is widely considered to be the “mother” of Prospect Schools.

For many years Ebencorp only ran residential programs for troubled adolescents, many of whom were criminals, court adjudicated to attend these Ebencorp programs. Although these programs feature an academic component, they are viewed primarily as alternatives to prison for juvenile offenders. These programs continue to be Ebencorp’s bread and butter.

In the late 1990’s, Sheila, who was then managing several of these Ebencorp residential programs, thought it would be great to work with younger children who were at risk of becoming criminals, so she devised a program that would combine intensive academic instruction with moral teaching. These “Prospect schools” were designed to be funded from the local public schools via a contractual relationship rather than relying on Juvenile Justice funding like the residential Ebencorp programs. Sheila’s boss, Clyde, was very supportive and within five years, Sheila opened three Prospect schools in Florida and two in Chicago. Sheila then decided she would like to open and run the sixth Prospect school herself. This sixth school was to be not only a school for troubled youths but also a school for performing arts. When I first met Sheila, she was very excited about this venture.

In April 2002, although Sheila interviewed me, she made it clear she was in the process of handing over the responsibility for the Prospect schools to Stephen so she could become the principal of the Prospect School for Performing Arts. Stephen, Sheila explained, was transitioning from being the principal at one of the Chicago Prospect schools to becoming the boss of all Prospect principals. I spent several hours interviewing with Sheila in Florida and then flew to Chicago to meet Stephen.

During the interviews, I was impressed by both Sheila and Stephen. Both are well-educated, intelligent, dedicated people and I felt I could work effectively with them. Stephen and I were in agreement on the importance of academics and pushing students to achieve. Stephen, a mid-western black man, and I bonded over running. We planned to do a couple runs together next time he was in Florida and to run along Lake Michigan the next time I was in Chicago.

Shortly after I was hired, Stephen was scheduled to attend a meeting on Florida’s teacher certification program in Tallahassee. He asked me to attend in his place. Although I was overwhelmed by staffing issues at the time, I was honored he selected me. A few weeks later, when I wanted to make a change in how staff vacations were chosen, I e-mailed Stephen to ask his permission. His response was brief, “I hired you because I trust you to make these decisions.” I like Stephen!

The Buck Stops Here

As mother of Prospect schools, Sheila’s strength was that she was an education visionary. Her weakness was that she didn’t look at price tags. When Sheila began Prospect schools, she was given a lot of freedom to get them started. In those early, heady days little time or energy was spent controlling expenses. On paper, the business plan called for Prospect schools to run debt free and it was assumed the principals at each school were doing so. They weren’t.

Sheila’s move from boss of principals, to Prospect principal, coincided with Ebencorp’s desire for a renewed focus on fiscal responsibility and oversight. As Sheila started her new school she ran into the usual speed bumps - bad press, a reluctant school board, the need to rent space. Sheila had been there and done that. When she submitted the bill for renovating a former grocery story into her new school, Sheila hit a thick cinderblock wall. Soon after my arrival at Prospect, I began to hear rumors of tense, frequent, meetings involving Sheila, Stephen (the new boss of principals) and the big boss, Clyde. It leaked out that Clyde was refusing to fund the construction of Sheila’s dream school- especially the costly state-mandated firewalls. Suddenly, Sheila’s dream school was gone and so was Sheila. Sheila’s abrupt departure rattled my confidence in Ebencorp.

Ramon, Migdalia, Juanita, Herman and Me
.
Stephen ’s first major assignment as The Boss of the principals had been to salvage Sheila’s school. That didn’t work. His second major assignment was to help us design realistic budgets that would permit us to pay back debt and run in the black. I inherited a school that was over $120K in the red. I was told I needed to pay Ebencorp the $120K (no timeline was provided, but the repayments are overdue) and I may not incur any future debt: I must run my school in the black. I have worked in the private sector and understand budgets, this will be a challenge.

Before school opens, Stephen calls a meeting of all the Prospect principals, and I meet my counterparts for the first time. The principals in Chicago are Migdalia and Juanita. Juanita is newly-hired to take over Stephen ’s school since he had been promoted to be our boss. Here in Florida, the two other principals are Ramon in Flagler county and Herman in Naples. Migdalia is a black woman with curly blond hair; she makes us laugh. Juanita is a Hispanic woman recently from Colombia; she can’t stop talking about herself. Ramon (who is also Hispanic) and I bond - another fellow runner. We make plans to visit each other’s schools. Herman is a young, large black man; he looks like the football player he used to be. He arrives over four hours late for our meeting although he lives the closest. When he arrives, he is sullen and acts annoyed to be here. He keeps to himself, not smiling at Migdalia’s jokes or rolling his eyes at Juanita’s pontification. He doesn’t make eye contact or small talk. We work on our budgets but Herman is struggling and Stephen is clearly not pleased. On break Ramon and I agree we will have to coach and assist our colleague, Herman.

We discuss our budgets and contracts. I learn the contract for Ramon’s school calls for 20 students, 40 for Migdalia and 60 for Juanita and Herman. My contract is for 200 students. It seems the Herald County School Board, my local school board, has a zero tolerance policy regarding student misbehavior. Herald County, with just over 40,000 students, contracts with four alternative schools to handle students with discipline problems: Prospect, ESAK, Avenue School and SBAA. Both Prospect and ESAK are run by Ebencorp but the Prospect Schools are a separate division at Ebencorp.

There’s a contract out…

I meet with Stephen to learn more about the contract with Herald County Public Schools: how was it negotiated? who negotiated it? how does it differ from the contracts from previous years and the contracts other Prospect schools have with their districts? Stephen admits this is all new to him; in the past Sheila did all the negotiating. Stephen does know that the contract spells out the number of students Prospect is expected to admit (200) and how much we’ll be paid (a flat fee, paid in ten monthly installments of just over a million dollars).

Here is where the math starts to work against me: a percentage of the “flat fee” can be kept by the public school to administer the contract, 10% is not unusual. Since most alternative schools are part of larger companies like Ebencorp, contracts allow for that parent company to take a percentage for their back office work; 15% is typical and in fact that is what Ebencorp takes.

I sit looking at my spreadsheet trying to balance my budget knowing that the neediest and most troubled children of Herald County, the children who are MOST at-risk of failing, will start off with 25% less than their public school peers.

A bad trade

A few weeks after our principal meeting, Stephen phones me to say his boss, Clyde, wants to share important news at a Sunday dinner at his home in Tampa. I explain to Stephen that it is my turn to fly to see my husband and I have reservations to be in New York this weekend. Stephen uncharacteristically presses saying Clyde is telling him everyone must attend. I explain that not only is it a matter of cost, but I am attending a wedding. Stephen says he understands and apologizes for the pressure but it is clear he is reluctant to tell Clyde I won’t be attending. I go to New York and Stephen somehow breaks the news to Clyde.

A follow-up meeting to the Clyde dinner is held a week and a half later at Ebencorp headquarters in Tampa. At that time Stephen drops a bombshell: he is resigning and Clyde has selected his replacement. Clyde wanted to announce this at the Sunday dinner, but since I didn’t attend, he postponed the announcement. Now with the team assembled in the conference room, Clyde introduces us to our new boss: Herman. The same Herman who was principal from Naples; the same Herman who was moody and struggled with the budget. This Herman has become The Boss. Trading Stephen and Sheila for Herman with no player to be named later? Coach, what are you thinking?

Corporate Culture

Ebencorp is the first private, non-profit company for which I have worked. I wonder whether the pay and benefits are so poor they can’t attract highly skilled people, or has the leadership created a toxic culture from which competent people flee? The President of Ebencorp, in response to complaints of unanswered email and phone calls, announces that the people in Headquarters are very busy and if you get a response to an email or phone call within a week, you’re doing well. But most of the Ebencorp employees I meet at headquarters are less competent, less educated and more emotionally unstable than people with whom I’ve worked in public schools or in the private sector.

One of the first Ebencorp employees I meet is Leighton, a black man in his late forties, who is the HR liaison for Prospect Schools. When I was in high school there were teachers who imagined they were “in touch” with the kids. To show how they could relate, they’d say stuff like: “let’s rap.” Leighton is a “let’s rap” kind of guy. When asked a question, Leighton knots his hands behind his head, leans back, placing his feet (ankles crossed) on his desk, and in a “let’s rap” tone asks “Whaddaya think we should do?” He says this even when you have clearly told him what you think should be done. Some days I believe Leighton’s behavior is designed to be so annoying no one will trouble him with queries.

Let’s Rap Leighton is the tip of the iceberg. Next I meet Virginia, an exceedingly emotional accountant for whom everything is overdue and in a state of crisis. (Combine the Tasmanian Devil with Alice’s White Rabbit singing ”I’m late.”) She communicates in shrieks. Her boss, Gloria, another bean counter, stops just short of evangelizing at work. I overhear Gloria telling a principal he must fire an employee to balance his budget. He is upset and asks, “How can I fire someone with two small children right before the holidays.” Gloria-bean-counter replies “God will help you find the words.” I also meet Fred, the business manager for The Boss of principals. Fred is a bitter man. He keeps applying to be The Boss of the principals, but first Stephen then Herman are hired instead. Fred is too angry to form an alliance with anyone. Fred, the two bean counters and Clyde are all white. Herman, aka The Boss, and Leighton are black. In Florida’s highly charged politics of race, this makes everything so much more complicated.

Are you the Boss of me?

It is rather like having two bosses. Herman (The Boss) is my official boss, but my public school liaison, Henry must also be kept happy. Since Henry signs our contract as a representative of the public schools, he is a key stakeholder. Often the goals and desires of The Boss and Henry are in conflict.

Henry asks why I don’t have textbooks for every student; The Boss asks why I’m spending money on school supplies.

Henry quotes state laws regarding class size maximums and teacher certification mandates; The Boss asks why I need to hire more teachers and pay them so much.

Henry wants the students returned to public school smarter than when they left; The Boss wants me to focus on discipline and create more of a boot camp atmosphere