Investing in School Heads

Investing in School Heads (Day 19)

by Rey Laguda

(This is the 19th day of 50-day journey of DepEd Undersecretary Rey Laguda as being serialized here with his permission, culled from his Facebook account - Blogger/owner)

School Heads play a pivotal role in making sure that a school functions properly as a system to deliver on its education mandate. We have often discussed schools in terms of infrastructure and hardware, but we also know that there are teachers, school heads and other non-teaching personnel that help to make an excellent school.

The School Heads Development Program was envisioned to develop key actors in providing education programs and services at the school and community level and enable them to continually scan the environment, reframe DepEd strategies in accordance to the school’s changing context, and develop adaptive methods to effectively deliver DepEd outcomes.

Public School Teachers, Are They Obliged to Attend Saturday Meeting?

It seems that it is a common practice in the Department of Education (DepEd} that weekends are used to be the schedule for the public school teachers to conduct their in-service training, review for national assessment of the pupils, among others. Those teachers concerned are clamoring why Saturdays or Sundays?

School Heads Conference

DepEd Order No. 9, s. 2005, in particular so provides, that since the quality of education is deteriorating, the teachers are "to increase engaged time-on-task so that the required number of school days in every school year and the time allotment to teaching every subject in school are met by minimizing activities participated in by the teachers and the pupils.

On the other hand, DepEd Order No. 16, s. 2009 regulates the 8-hour working requirement of the teachers to render in the school. It points out definitely that the teachers should have 6 hours actual teaching and 2 hours for teaching-related activities.

With that DepEd Orders, the teachers are already fed up of their teaching job. And of course, they need to have some rest, relaxation. In short, a time for their family they need. But there are occasions that they have to go to school even during Saturdays and Sundays for a meeting, conference, training and the like.

School Heads Braving the Rough Sea

Seven years ago, I recall the horrible experience in which the school principals, the school district supervisors, and some staff of the Division of La Carlota when they held their MANCOM meeting at Nauway, Guimaras.

This place became the most controversial islet in Western Visayas of August 2006 for an oil spill tragedy which affected the health and livelihood of 100 households there. This was the venue of May 16 out-of-town management committee (MANCOM) meeting of more than 40 elementary and high school heads, supervisors and division staff of La Carlota City Division led by OIC-Schools Division Superintendent Roberto P. Villaruz.

In spite of typhoon Cosme intensifying over the Luzon provinces on that day, the undaunted school administrators pursued their plan and successfully passed through the raging Guimaras strait and docked at Jesa Mar beach resort safely.

The first timers inevitably condemned the rough sailing and promised not to go for the second time if the stormy weather would prevail again because of the enormous waves. Anyway through their faithful prayer, they were blessed for a safe voyage and they arrived unscathed to that place.

How To Print Masterlist of Learner in LIS

The encoding and enrolling of learner to his respective school through an online site created for this purpose, the Learner Information System have been done by all the public schools, both in elementary and secondary in the Department of Education here in our country PH.

Though some online users found it taxing on their part for some internet glitches which couldn't be remedied immediately. Some have to work it until the following morning just to beat the deadline.

Actually what can you expect from those novice, neophytes as far as cyber job is concerned? Imperfection. Trial and error. Trivial queries or a mere or utter curse of the system which they admit is very new to them. Anyway, what else can we do? Charge it to experience.

It is done!

What about the masterlist?  They want a copy of it but the system doesn't provide the facility or function to furnish them a copy. It is not a problem anyway.

Simple Steps in Adding Personnel in LIS Education Site

Teachers all over the country particularly in the Department of Education of the PH are doing overtime in enrolling their pupils for this school year 2013-2014 to online registration provided by Learners Information System website.

As an innovation introduced by DepEd, teachers have found some basic problems in encoding their respective school enrollment data. One of them is assigning an adviser to a section of a particular grade. The school head as the admin for this site has the authority to do this function.

To update Personnel Record in Learners Information System (LIS) in which he or she could be connected to a certain class section as adviser, he has to log in the site of LIS (www.lis.deped.gov.ph) using the password used in ebeis or given to him by their ICT personnel or Division Planning Officer.

Nemia Empiales, An Auditor and Vibrant Lecturer

All the school heads and department heads of both elementary and secondary schools, and key personnel in the Division of La Carlota City received an initial and exit conference with a newly assigned state auditor of Commission on Audit on the basic and standard operating procedure of handling government funds entrusted to them.

Empiales

State auditor Nemia J. Empiales accompanied by her team member, Ms. Belen Guitterez and Ms. Saldajeno conducted a 7-hour straight conference on auditing procedures, the dos and donts of audit principles.

As a vocal as she was, Empiales discussed her findings on some audit she conducted particularly in some secondary schools here in Negros Occidental. She purposedly to be the major resource speaker in this 3rd MANCOM of the school heads in the division of La Carlota besides she was officially assigned as the head auditor of the team in the Department of Education, La Carlota City Division.