It is important that a district not become administratively top heavy as this typically diverts resources away from other important areas. A top heavy district is usually an indication of one or two things. First, there are too many administrative requirements from outside agencies such as the department of education, federal government, legislation, etc. Or, there is a philosophy of top down management that needs a lot of district administrators to micro-manage the district. Neither one of these is what we want. Also, in districts that have effective district administrators that actually support schools appropriately there is usually not a sense of being administrative heavy. However, if the district administrators are ineffective then it is often perceived that the district is top heavy. Overall, the amount of funds being spent on district level administration in LCSD1 seems typical and reasonable but the questions about effectiveness and structured appropriately must be answered. In short, having effective district administrators can be a real asset for a district, but they must be effective and a district should not believe adding more administrators is the answer to many of the challenges we face and end up becoming top heavy. Resources spent at the district level are resources that can't be used at the building level which is a priority. Having a highly effective and lean district administrative team is what I think benefits the district the most.
