Newton Balley Public Schools

Newton Valley Public Schools

Problem

The main problem facing the school right now is the difficulty in reconciling various competing interests. First, Rachel Chen should not be interfering in the procurement process because she is tainting the process due to her short term interests of trying to win an election. This is wrong on so many levels. Second, it’s too early to tell if the cooperative purchasing agreement is going as planned so politicians should not interfere with professionals trying to do their jobs. Third, the IT department is understandably concerned with change from the way things were done. They feel that they are being treated as a “second class citizen” when it comes to the contract with RSB and rightfully want to get their issues addressed.

Cause

The main causes of the problems stated above are as follows. First, there currently seems to be no policy that clearly outlines the communication lines between the board of trustees and the school. Second, the cooperative agreement has many competing interests and is the first attempt at consolidation, naturally there will be hiccups along the way which will smoothed out over time. Third, the IT department at newton Valley is a smaller party to the contract without as much volume as RSB so they are not treated with as much care. The cause seems to be lack of clarity in the contract.

Analysis

First, the ambiguity in policy has caused Rachel Chen to act like a renegade and almost like the school belongs to her. She has even bypassed the superintendent and directly communicated with lower admin levels as well as visited the school to do just that. This hubris is unchecked and leads to professionals not being able to do their jobs.

Second, the cooperative agreement is still in its early stages so it should be given time to play out. It