Internal Green Bay Schools report shows a culture of 'distrust and antagonism'
This story has been updated to include School Board President Laura McCoy's comments and that Lori Miron was the former head of human resources.
GREEN BAY — Green Bay School District senior leaders have created a “dynamic of distrust and antagonism” leaving employees “frustrated,” according to an internal report on district administration.
The report details a district whose senior administration undermines its employees, whose members are tethered to their desks and have turf wars among colleagues.
The 34-page report, obtained by the Press-Gazette through an open records request, comes on the heels of 275 employee resignations since August 2022. These resignations include teachers, principals and district administrators.
Burns/Van Fleet, the educational consulting firm hired by the district, conducted 60 interviews with district employees throughout June and July. The firm uncovered a "a lack of genuine engagement" on the ground in schools, saying that the greatest need lies with the habits of senior administrators themselves.
Superintendent Claude Tiller, who is in his first year leading the district, said in a written statement about the report that the district has its challenges and opportunities for improvement.
"I am confident that district leaders and the board of education will continue to meet these challenges and move the district forward for the benefit of all students, staff, families and our greater community," he wrote.
'Turf wars' among senior leaders and frustrated employees
Based on interviews with district administrators and employees, Burns/Van Fleet found that the issue lies with the habits of senior leaders and their relationships with principals.
Throughout the interviews, there was a "recurring theme of frustration with the perceived inertia in decision-making on the district level," the report said.
Principals often spoke of "initiative overload" with virtually no coordination, and frequent undermining, from the department heads of teaching and learning, student services and school leadership.
The report further detailed a "seemingly impenetrable barrier" causing district senior leadership to resist engaging with principals and other staff at schools, creating "a dynamic of distrust and antagonism."
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Burns/Van Fleet found that virtually all district administrative departments appear tethered to their desks at the downtown headquarters, often referred to as the district office building, or DOB.
This was a concern for some School Board members last fall as the board was considering closing the district office building at 200 S. Broadway. For example, board member Andrew Becker repeatedly said he'd like to close the district office and have district administrators in the school buildings.
Board member Bryan Milz has also previously said that more district employees should be in the schools rather than in the downtown offices. While the board ultimately decided not to close the building due to relocation costs, Tiller has said he's told senior leadership 100% of their meetings should be in the schools. It's unknown whether that's been the case.
The report also found that the district needs to include as many staff as possible in district decision-making. The absence of meaningful principal input in decision-making leads them to work "out of sight, out of mind," focusing on teacher morale rather than instructional improvement.
Staff members think instructional and program decisions do not address actual problems within the district, so these initiatives are met with skepticism and outright opposition, the report said.
Both district administrators and principals "openly observe the antipathy and lack of buy-in evident" in senior leaders of teaching and learning, student services and school leadership. Those departments are currently headed by Nancy Chartier, Claudia Henrickson and Andrea Landwehr, respectively.
Because many senior leaders have been with the district for over a decade, a lack of different voices leads internal dialogue to be stagnant, the report said. It also has produced "turf wars among long-rivaling parties."
Some departments were cited by employees as being barriers to achieving the district's aims in a cohesive way, such as communications, finance, human resources, legal, school leadership, student services, and teaching and learning. The leaders of communications, finance, human resources and legal are Lori Blakeslee, Angie Roble, Mike Friis and Melissa Thiel-Collar, respectively.
The human resources department was formerly run by Lori Miron and was taken over by Friis last summer.
District needs more collaboration and to realign administrative positions
Burns/Van Fleet also examined the district's organization structure, size, administrative job descriptions, compensation and work climate.
The firm found that the district struggles with cross-departmental collaboration despite it being frequently cited in senior leadership job descriptions as key to those roles.
"The actual functions of the organization appear to occur in silos," the report said.
The district has sufficient staffing in its administration, but compared to other districts of similar size — like Appleton, Madison and Milwaukee — the district has more administrators below the senior level. Administrators are compensated at a competitive rate compared to other Brown County districts as well as other Wisconsin districts of similar size, given Green Bay's low cost of living.
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Burns/Van Fleet recommended that the district standardize job titles and update job descriptions as well as assign the duties of the 10 associate directors to their superiors, absorbing those positions. It also recommended the district eliminate the office of school leadership and replace it with two area superintendents.
Other recommendations from the report include:
Stop cultivating a culture that often inhibits risk-taking and creative thought;
Strengthen the arts pathway, with Washington Middle "truly" serving as a magnet school;
Consider turning Franklin Middle into a STEM K-8;
Open a second K-8 gifted school;
Insist that the legal department become a resource rather than a regulator;
Place major leadership for instruction with principals and reassign them after a reasonable amount of time to foster better innovation;
Lengthen the school day;
Add a position for teacher recruitment to decrease long-term substitutes;
Appoint an internal financial auditor and replace the short-term disability program that is being "blatantly abused."
Internal report hidden from public, despite multiple board member questions
The existence of the administrative review was largely kept quiet by the school district.
As the board was discussing the potential closure of the district office building in June, board member Nancy Welch asked if someone was already working on whether the district administration needed to downsize.
Vicki Bayer, who was the district’s interim superintendent at the time, said the district was in the middle of hiring a third-party firm to look at the size of the Green Bay School District’s administration in comparison to other districts.
Because the contract amount was $30,000, it did not have to be approved by the board.
Burns/Van Fleet's work was expected to be completed by fall, and it was. But district administration was publicly silent about it.
Burns/Van Fleet was required to submit a “comprehensive report” of its findings to the superintendent by Aug. 31, according to the contract obtained by the Press-Gazette through an open records request.
Board members continued to ask about the administrative review as they considered closing the district headquarters during the fall.
In October, board member Laura Laitinen-Warren said the board needs to review the “right-size of the administration” before making a decision on closing the district headquarters.
Welch asked about it again at an October meeting.
“We talk about DOB, when are we going to know how many people are actually going to be here?” Welch said. “How are we going to figure out that right-size number for when everything else is right-sized?”
The final report had not been previously made public until the Press-Gazette obtained it through an open records request.
Green Bay School Board President Laura McCoy said in an email that the board has not discussed the report in either closed or open session. She did not answer whether the entirety of the board has seen the report.
"I can’t speak for the board on this because I don’t know where all of our various members are on it," she wrote. "My personal opinion is that the report was put together using anecdotal narratives and not quantitative, measurable input."
As for the culture concerns raised by the report, McCoy said she trusts district leaders to address those issues.
"It takes commitment from staff, students and parents. It’s important and ongoing work that can always be improved upon," she wrote.
Who are Green Bay School District's senior leaders?
The Green Bay School District has 32 principals, 24 associate principals and 42 general administrators, including senior leadership, according to the 2023-24 organizational chart and contracts approved by the board. There have been recent resignations, retirements and hires that may affect these figures.
Of the general administrators, there are 11 senior leaders listed on the district's website:
Superintendent Claude Tiller
Deputy Superintendent Vicki Bayer
Associate Superintendent of Continuous School Improvement David Johns
Chief Operations Officer Josh Patchak
Chief Financial Officer Angela Roble
Legal Counsel Melissa Thiel-Collar
Executive Director of Human Resources Mike Friis
Director of Communications and Public Relations Lori Blakeslee
Executive Director of Student Services Claudia Henrickson
Executive Director of School Leadership and Support Andrea Landwehr
Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Nancy Chartier
What is Superintendent Claude Tiller doing with the report's findings?
Accompanying the report, Tiller provided the Press-Gazette with a written statement, including the recommendations the district is considering.
The district is starting a study of administrative positions and reviewing the roles of executive, associate and standard directors. It is also looking at positions below the senior level to compare them with other Wisconsin districts and updating job descriptions.
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The district is also "seeking principal and staff voice in district decision-making," but Tiller did not answer questions about how the district is specifically doing that.
The associate superintendent of continuous improvement role was filled in the fall by David Johns, who is organizing education team meetings for greater collaboration across departments.
The board approved adding 870 minutes to the 2024-25 school year, which averages to about five extra minutes a day of school. Human resources is working to replace the district's income protection plan with a short-term disability plan.
Tiller declined to answer the Press-Gazette's follow-up questions about how the district plans to specifically address the work culture concerns outlined in the report.
Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay Schools report shows culture of 'distrust and antagonism'
