Pasco presents June 1 reorganization to center leadership on instruction and accountability

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Hiles presented a reorganization plan for the Pasco County School District that he said will take effect June 1, shifting leadership and curriculum teams to provide direct support to schools and emphasizing instruction, accountability and professional learning.

Hiles told the board the reorganization is designed so “leadership focuses on instruction and curriculum and continuous improvement.” He said the plan will put district curriculum designers and professional-learning staff directly into schools, align assistant superintendents with grade bands, and create a clearer feedback loop from classroom data to curriculum designers.

The reorganization responds in part to state reviews and persistent achievement gaps. Hiles said Pasco has 10 schools the district classifies as “opportunity schools” under state review, and that district federal-index data show 65 of the district’s 90 schools have a subgroup — typically students with disabilities or English language learners — “that is not performing to where they should be.” He said the changes will allow staff to target support to those schools and subgroups.

Specific structural changes outlined by Hiles included:

- Appointing Mrs. Poe to oversee East Pasco elementary schools and Courtney Gant to oversee West Pasco elementary schools; Mrs. Hutzler Nettles will oversee middle schools. The district is advertising for an assistant superintendent of high schools.

- Assigning one executive director of curriculum per assistant superintendent by grade-band: those directors will both design curriculum and deliver professional learning, observe implementation in schools, and co-teach when needed.

- Creating a curriculum specialist role focused on students with disabilities and English language learners by collapsing some student-services positions so the curriculum team can provide direct instructional support to those subgroups.

- Moving the career and technical education (CTE) director to report to the high-school assistant superintendent and moving the elementary early-childhood director to report to the elementary executive director.

- Renaming the ARM department to “School Improvement and Accountability,” and moving MTSS specialists under that department while they continue to support assistant superintendents in schools.

- Establishing a director of student services and supports with supervision of alternative schools, and emphasizing behavioral and mental-health supports at those sites.

Hiles said the district has also reallocated specialists away from district-wide “walks” to place them in opportunity schools for more intensive, on-site professional learning. He described other ongoing work including a new K–5 math curriculum, a late-work review tied to attendance policy, a data-dashboard steering committee and expanded family engagement and communications efforts under Chief Communication and Community Engagement Officer Dr. Zecchi.

On savings, Hiles said the reorganization would reduce costs; in his remarks he first referred to a savings figure of $200,000 and later in the presentation said the plan would save $240,000. The presentation did not reconcile the difference between those two amounts.

Betsy (noninstructional staff member) described title-alignments on the noninstructional side — moving some assistant-superintendent–level titles to a “chief” nomenclature to match existing positions such as Tammy Taylor, chief finance officer — and said job-description changes will be brought to the board at the next meeting.

Board members who spoke in the workshop praised the emphasis on getting district leaders into schools and on the “boring” operational work they said drives achievement. Several members also urged strong communications so families understand new choice and alternative options being aligned under Samantha DeValley’s office, which Hiles said will take an expanded role coordinating charter, private, homeschool and other choice offerings.

The presentation was informational; staff presented planned assignments and structural changes and said some job descriptions and formal personnel actions will come back to the board. The workshop closed with the board scheduled to reconvene for the regular meeting at 9:30 a.m.