Interview Dr. Vanikiotis of Eastmont School District
Background
Mr. Vanikiotis just returned from a conference in Seattle on Monday and
Tuesday. He then drove straight to Tonasket for a regional ESD Meeting.
He said that there is always so much to get done and commented that it is
especially hard in eastern Washington because the cellular coverage is so
spotty that he can not make the best use of his commute time.
What is the best part of being a superintendent?
³Getting into the classrooms and seeing teachers and student, the new
community and understand how it works. Greatest joy is in and about town
and a student saying, ³Hi Dr. Vanikiotis.² Have always been a secondary guy
and I am getting to see elementary students, the hugsÂmy mom was an
elementary secretary.
I set up my monthly schedule so I am in every building 1-2 hours a month. I
spend the majority of time in the classrooms.
Before I became superintendent, I made a couple of trips. One of my goals
was to shake hands with every employee and be in every classroom before my
job began. I met all my principals and walked in and out of classes and
introduced myself. Got to almost everybody. By Sept. I had met every
teacher. Classroom visits are a regularly scheduled part of my day.
During the first two years I wrote over 100 personal notes to teachersÂnot
evaluating. I interact with the teacher and kids and sit in and observe. I
write the note before I leave the building. I¹ve gone through over 1/3 of
my classrooms with follow up thank yous. One day I forgot to leave a note
and the teacher wondered why I hadn¹t left a note. Same day I got a card
over.
Effect of the job on your health?
I don¹t get enough exercise. It is a time thing. It is 10-12 hours per day
and I come home exhausted. Sometimes physical exhaustion. There is always
something about school bouncing in my head.
Effect of the job on your family?
I was a poor dad for my girls when I was a high school principal getting
home at 9 a.m. I have two daughters, one in college and the other in high
school. Now I spend more time at home and often eat dinner with the family.
I was getting better in this area as an Executive Director in Northshore.
There were 24 hours of meetings when I was at the district. I am not the
kind of guy that will take time off during the day. I take a 10-15 minute
lunch and the rest is catching up on work. Couple of times a month I take
time off to veg out.
I normally work 60-70 hours a week. I think that I could put in even more
time on the job.
I set aside a designated night where I come home late and get caught up on
the paperwork. I get home about 11 p.m. That is catch up night and I often
go home after the custodian that night. Luckily I only have a 10-minute
drive.
Effect of the job on your spirit/core values?
I am Greek Orthodox in a church that I helped start. I had a lot of
responsibility. There is no Greek church here so we go to the local
Catholic Church. It is a trade off for being a small community. I go to my
church 2-3 times a year.
Advice
In some ways I am not as organized as I would like to be. In Northshore,
there a systems in place that make things calm and stable and we didn¹t
spend so much time worrying about emergencies. There are practices that we
need to go through.
Best advise, there are fifty things you will want to change, but only change
five things the first year.
There are many things that you take for granted and you wonder how they
could have existed without this procedure but there really are different
cultures. It is the kind of thing that you never really get used to. You
have to sniff out what has been done and see if it is legalÂnot following
law or School Board Policy or bad administrative practice. I have tried to
instill is compliance with state law, school board policies but changing
mindsets is really hard. For example, they had never had an Instructional
Materials Committee.
What successes have you had as a superintendent?
1. majorconstruction projectsÂfinished 48 million dollars of construction
that wasapproved 2000. New junior high. Trying to sell the old building.
Two major elementary remodels with excellent new libraries. New
intermediate schools. K-4, 5-7, 8-9 junior high, 3-year high school. One of
the reasons that we organized around this model was to match the state
assessments.
2. 80%F/R, 70% ELL in one building. Spent time w/ committee aligninggrades.
Consciously moved the 5th graders up creating some capacity at the
elementaries.
3. Boughta site for a new elementary but we need to pass a bond and we don¹t
havethe need at this time. The smallest elementary is far out in a town
with 200 kids but we can¹t even consider closing the school so we reassign
duties and the principal also works on district projects.
4. We areconcentrating on school board policies the year because the old
policieshaven¹t been edited in twenty years and don¹t match state
guidelinesanymore.
5. Improvedhigh school WASLsÂfirst year math and reading had fallen to
greatestdecline in the whole state. Have made improvements that we are proud
of but we have just caught up with where we were three years ago. Won¹t help
in AYP. We need continued focus on Best Practices.
6. Need apositive leadership in the building to get school improvement.
Most people here don¹t even like the WASL including our administrators.
If you were to replay two choices that you have made so far what would you
do?
1. had aMeet and Confer with the superintendent and I thought that it might
not becollaborative. Didn¹t work the way that I wanted to. Bargaining went
on a long time and had to call in a mediator. Request was over what we
could afford. We are going to find a better calmer way coming up this next
spring. Caused some dissention that still exists between the principal/vice
principal group and me.
2. Iwould have gone out to the community more than I did. I would have done
it more overtly. Make the time to meet the business leaders. I went to
Rotary and KiwanisÂI wasn¹t with the Chamber much. To make district more
well known. Joined the YMCA Board of Directors.
Challenges
Getting department leaders to take responsibility. For instance
transportation bought a new computer and for the first time could tell what
bus a student took. They wanted money for more computers. My point is that
the department leader needs to work these needs through their own budget
without involving the superintendent at that level.
Have you developed good relationships with other superintendents in the
area? If so then what is it like?
Pretty good relationship with Brian Flones in Wenatchee (former pro
football player) Moved from AD to Superintendency. He was already an
Assistant Superintendent. Went back to get a masters. Sup Credential not a
requirement. Never taught and wasn¹t a building principal.
Spread out here. Verondo has a new second year superintendent who used to be
at the ESD. Other guy new and principal/superintendent. There is no
organization even in our athletic conference. No meeting of superintendents
in our conference, from Walla Wall to Yakima. Not an organization to talk
with. There are monthly ESD meetings for 29 districts. This is a more
formal group where presenters from major organizations share. For example
OSPI, or fiber network presentation or Marysville administrators sharing
their strike experiences.
What was your job search like?
I used the model that David Steele put together in his packet. Plastic
Sheets with duplicates so they can copy without taking out of plastic. I
found that to be very successful. Kept copies of what I sent to every job.
I put it into a three ring binder with nice paper.
I had a bunch of interviews. I was in the final five in a handful of job,
final two of 5 jobs. It was very busy. In one short period this was what
it was like.
I was one of two finalists in Orting. Friday Patti and I drove to
EastmontÂone of three finalists. Sunday to Lincoln for Personnel Director
and offered the job on Monday. Centralia finalist for Assistant
Superintendent. Monday afternoon back for CentraliaÂand a Northshore
principal meeting in the afternoon. That afternoon got a call for an
Eastmont School Board site visit. I was offered the job at 7 p.m. That
morning I needed to let Lincoln County know and was suppose to interview in
Coupville where Dick Smith was the search consultant. I already had
reservations in Coupville and got a hold of him at 10 pm. I told him that I
had accepted the position and messed up his search there. Next day,
Wednesday, I read the contract and sent the contract on its way. Centralia
asking for another appointment and East Valley asking me to interview for a
position. I was interviewing for nine jobs at the same time. Other
interviews were coming. It was an unbelievable week. That Friday I told
this story to our Cohort at a meeting at Latitude 49.
Did you have an Entry Plan?
I was in my second year of my SPU program and I don¹t remember the Entry
Plan discussed. I think there were good suggestions that I used. First, I
created Operating Principles with my School Board. I also worked on
Operating Principles with building administrators but this didn¹t work as
well. I started a Cabinet each Monday with Department Leaders. We
coordinate schedules. I tried to coy the Northshore budget process and we
had a teleconference with Dick Anastasi but it was too late in the budget
process. We had community uproar when we canceled elementary orchestra with
over 300 people at the School Board Meeting.
Mr. Vanikiotis just returned from a conference in Seattle on Monday and
Tuesday. He then drove straight to Tonasket for a regional ESD Meeting.
He said that there is always so much to get done and commented that it is
especially hard in eastern Washington because the cellular coverage is so
spotty that he can not make the best use of his commute time.
What is the best part of being a superintendent?
³Getting into the classrooms and seeing teachers and student, the new
community and understand how it works. Greatest joy is in and about town
and a student saying, ³Hi Dr. Vanikiotis.² Have always been a secondary guy
and I am getting to see elementary students, the hugsÂmy mom was an
elementary secretary.
I set up my monthly schedule so I am in every building 1-2 hours a month. I
spend the majority of time in the classrooms.
Before I became superintendent, I made a couple of trips. One of my goals
was to shake hands with every employee and be in every classroom before my
job began. I met all my principals and walked in and out of classes and
introduced myself. Got to almost everybody. By Sept. I had met every
teacher. Classroom visits are a regularly scheduled part of my day.
During the first two years I wrote over 100 personal notes to teachersÂnot
evaluating. I interact with the teacher and kids and sit in and observe. I
write the note before I leave the building. I¹ve gone through over 1/3 of
my classrooms with follow up thank yous. One day I forgot to leave a note
and the teacher wondered why I hadn¹t left a note. Same day I got a card
over.
Effect of the job on your health?
I don¹t get enough exercise. It is a time thing. It is 10-12 hours per day
and I come home exhausted. Sometimes physical exhaustion. There is always
something about school bouncing in my head.
Effect of the job on your family?
I was a poor dad for my girls when I was a high school principal getting
home at 9 a.m. I have two daughters, one in college and the other in high
school. Now I spend more time at home and often eat dinner with the family.
I was getting better in this area as an Executive Director in Northshore.
There were 24 hours of meetings when I was at the district. I am not the
kind of guy that will take time off during the day. I take a 10-15 minute
lunch and the rest is catching up on work. Couple of times a month I take
time off to veg out.
I normally work 60-70 hours a week. I think that I could put in even more
time on the job.
I set aside a designated night where I come home late and get caught up on
the paperwork. I get home about 11 p.m. That is catch up night and I often
go home after the custodian that night. Luckily I only have a 10-minute
drive.
Effect of the job on your spirit/core values?
I am Greek Orthodox in a church that I helped start. I had a lot of
responsibility. There is no Greek church here so we go to the local
Catholic Church. It is a trade off for being a small community. I go to my
church 2-3 times a year.
Advice
In some ways I am not as organized as I would like to be. In Northshore,
there a systems in place that make things calm and stable and we didn¹t
spend so much time worrying about emergencies. There are practices that we
need to go through.
Best advise, there are fifty things you will want to change, but only change
five things the first year.
There are many things that you take for granted and you wonder how they
could have existed without this procedure but there really are different
cultures. It is the kind of thing that you never really get used to. You
have to sniff out what has been done and see if it is legalÂnot following
law or School Board Policy or bad administrative practice. I have tried to
instill is compliance with state law, school board policies but changing
mindsets is really hard. For example, they had never had an Instructional
Materials Committee.
What successes have you had as a superintendent?
1. majorconstruction projectsÂfinished 48 million dollars of construction
that wasapproved 2000. New junior high. Trying to sell the old building.
Two major elementary remodels with excellent new libraries. New
intermediate schools. K-4, 5-7, 8-9 junior high, 3-year high school. One of
the reasons that we organized around this model was to match the state
assessments.
2. 80%F/R, 70% ELL in one building. Spent time w/ committee aligninggrades.
Consciously moved the 5th graders up creating some capacity at the
elementaries.
3. Boughta site for a new elementary but we need to pass a bond and we don¹t
havethe need at this time. The smallest elementary is far out in a town
with 200 kids but we can¹t even consider closing the school so we reassign
duties and the principal also works on district projects.
4. We areconcentrating on school board policies the year because the old
policieshaven¹t been edited in twenty years and don¹t match state
guidelinesanymore.
5. Improvedhigh school WASLsÂfirst year math and reading had fallen to
greatestdecline in the whole state. Have made improvements that we are proud
of but we have just caught up with where we were three years ago. Won¹t help
in AYP. We need continued focus on Best Practices.
6. Need apositive leadership in the building to get school improvement.
Most people here don¹t even like the WASL including our administrators.
If you were to replay two choices that you have made so far what would you
do?
1. had aMeet and Confer with the superintendent and I thought that it might
not becollaborative. Didn¹t work the way that I wanted to. Bargaining went
on a long time and had to call in a mediator. Request was over what we
could afford. We are going to find a better calmer way coming up this next
spring. Caused some dissention that still exists between the principal/vice
principal group and me.
2. Iwould have gone out to the community more than I did. I would have done
it more overtly. Make the time to meet the business leaders. I went to
Rotary and KiwanisÂI wasn¹t with the Chamber much. To make district more
well known. Joined the YMCA Board of Directors.
Challenges
Getting department leaders to take responsibility. For instance
transportation bought a new computer and for the first time could tell what
bus a student took. They wanted money for more computers. My point is that
the department leader needs to work these needs through their own budget
without involving the superintendent at that level.
Have you developed good relationships with other superintendents in the
area? If so then what is it like?
Pretty good relationship with Brian Flones in Wenatchee (former pro
football player) Moved from AD to Superintendency. He was already an
Assistant Superintendent. Went back to get a masters. Sup Credential not a
requirement. Never taught and wasn¹t a building principal.
Spread out here. Verondo has a new second year superintendent who used to be
at the ESD. Other guy new and principal/superintendent. There is no
organization even in our athletic conference. No meeting of superintendents
in our conference, from Walla Wall to Yakima. Not an organization to talk
with. There are monthly ESD meetings for 29 districts. This is a more
formal group where presenters from major organizations share. For example
OSPI, or fiber network presentation or Marysville administrators sharing
their strike experiences.
What was your job search like?
I used the model that David Steele put together in his packet. Plastic
Sheets with duplicates so they can copy without taking out of plastic. I
found that to be very successful. Kept copies of what I sent to every job.
I put it into a three ring binder with nice paper.
I had a bunch of interviews. I was in the final five in a handful of job,
final two of 5 jobs. It was very busy. In one short period this was what
it was like.
I was one of two finalists in Orting. Friday Patti and I drove to
EastmontÂone of three finalists. Sunday to Lincoln for Personnel Director
and offered the job on Monday. Centralia finalist for Assistant
Superintendent. Monday afternoon back for CentraliaÂand a Northshore
principal meeting in the afternoon. That afternoon got a call for an
Eastmont School Board site visit. I was offered the job at 7 p.m. That
morning I needed to let Lincoln County know and was suppose to interview in
Coupville where Dick Smith was the search consultant. I already had
reservations in Coupville and got a hold of him at 10 pm. I told him that I
had accepted the position and messed up his search there. Next day,
Wednesday, I read the contract and sent the contract on its way. Centralia
asking for another appointment and East Valley asking me to interview for a
position. I was interviewing for nine jobs at the same time. Other
interviews were coming. It was an unbelievable week. That Friday I told
this story to our Cohort at a meeting at Latitude 49.
Did you have an Entry Plan?
I was in my second year of my SPU program and I don¹t remember the Entry
Plan discussed. I think there were good suggestions that I used. First, I
created Operating Principles with my School Board. I also worked on
Operating Principles with building administrators but this didn¹t work as
well. I started a Cabinet each Monday with Department Leaders. We
coordinate schedules. I tried to coy the Northshore budget process and we
had a teleconference with Dick Anastasi but it was too late in the budget
process. We had community uproar when we canceled elementary orchestra with
over 300 people at the School Board Meeting.
posted by Mike at 6:55 AM
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