August Newsletter
Current Happenings
Classroom 5S @ Lincoln
The Flex Academy teachers at Lincoln implemented learning from two summer professional development opportunities, "How to 5S Your Classroom" @ TechCon and the Marzano Instructional Framework. On August 1, the team used the Lean tool 5S to complete element 5, organizing the physical layout of the classroom for learning.
Business and Finance Voice of Customer Survey
This summer the Business and Finance department took to the phones and called their #1 customer, the process user. They asked a series of questions about the B&F Service Level Agreement, customer service, accuracy of information provided, improvement opportunities and summer training opportunities. The results are being reviewed and a plan put in place.
Classroom 5S @ Lincoln
The Flex Academy teachers at Lincoln implemented learning from two summer professional development opportunities, "How to 5S Your Classroom" @ TechCon and the Marzano Instructional Framework. On August 1, the team used the Lean tool 5S to complete element 5, organizing the physical layout of the classroom for learning.
Business and Finance Voice of Customer Survey
This summer the Business and Finance department took to the phones and called their #1 customer, the process user. They asked a series of questions about the B&F Service Level Agreement, customer service, accuracy of information provided, improvement opportunities and summer training opportunities. The results are being reviewed and a plan put in place.
Project Updates
Academic Planning Kaizen
We are excited to announce that we have started the Mulit-Year Academic Planner (MYAP) pilot. The Hoover Counselors and the Research and Data Management team began discussing the information needs, possible milestones and tested the MYAP functionality on a few students. Our next steps will be to determine how to work with students in group settings and those that may need individual assistance. As well as, the need for a communication plan.
Purchasing to Procurement Kaizen
One of the takeaways from the procurement (how we purchase things) continuous improvement event was to streamline how we order high volume low dollar items. To essentially remove all the steps and put the system on autopilot to automatically reorder these goods (e.g. pencils, paper, pens) – anything routine that you get over and over again. We have got the system set up and have successfully tested this process with Melissa and Audrey at Weeks (thank you Melissa and Audrey!). The system is now being rolled out to high schools for implementation in September.
Student Registration/Enrollment/Unenrollment Kaizen
Academic Planning Kaizen
We are excited to announce that we have started the Mulit-Year Academic Planner (MYAP) pilot. The Hoover Counselors and the Research and Data Management team began discussing the information needs, possible milestones and tested the MYAP functionality on a few students. Our next steps will be to determine how to work with students in group settings and those that may need individual assistance. As well as, the need for a communication plan.
Purchasing to Procurement Kaizen
One of the takeaways from the procurement (how we purchase things) continuous improvement event was to streamline how we order high volume low dollar items. To essentially remove all the steps and put the system on autopilot to automatically reorder these goods (e.g. pencils, paper, pens) – anything routine that you get over and over again. We have got the system set up and have successfully tested this process with Melissa and Audrey at Weeks (thank you Melissa and Audrey!). The system is now being rolled out to high schools for implementation in September.
Student Registration/Enrollment/Unenrollment Kaizen
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Thanks to the Student Registration/Enrollment/Unenrollment Kaizen team (and what they thought was a too far in left field idea), for the first time in recent history, DMPS had a booth at the Iowa State Fair. DMPS was on hand to help people register for school, answer questions about everything from academic programs to job opportunities, and give away some school district souvenirs. In fact, more than three dozen families made use of the district’s presence at the Fair to get registered before this Wednesday’s first day of school. The booth even helped one student get back on track to graduate.
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pCard Reconciliation
Everyone is doing a fabulous job reconciling pCard transactions! Since the new fiscal year started, all transactions are getting reconciled on time and nothing has reached 60 days outstanding. Be sure to keep an eye out for a major pCard communication around September 30th.
Summer Payroll
Great news, you now have the ability to see payroll detail as it relates to payroll expenditures that hit your financials. Be sure to look for instructions in the Monday Memo, Office Manager Memo and on @DMPS
Everyone is doing a fabulous job reconciling pCard transactions! Since the new fiscal year started, all transactions are getting reconciled on time and nothing has reached 60 days outstanding. Be sure to keep an eye out for a major pCard communication around September 30th.
Summer Payroll
Great news, you now have the ability to see payroll detail as it relates to payroll expenditures that hit your financials. Be sure to look for instructions in the Monday Memo, Office Manager Memo and on @DMPS
Training
Interested in learning more about continuous improvement? Introduction to Continuous Improvement introduces you to Lean principles, methodology, tools and terminology. The day will consist of a series of training modules, interactive exercises/simulations, and discussion/reflection times. At the end of the training, you should be able to start thinking Lean and apply the tools to your work. Sign up here! Trainings are from 8:30-3:30pm at 2100 Fleur.
In December 2015 and January 2016, 4 Introduction to Continuous Improvement training sessions were held with 61 employees attending. After 6 months, they were all asked to participate in a follow up survey, 45 employees did and this is what they had to say.
Interested in learning more about continuous improvement? Introduction to Continuous Improvement introduces you to Lean principles, methodology, tools and terminology. The day will consist of a series of training modules, interactive exercises/simulations, and discussion/reflection times. At the end of the training, you should be able to start thinking Lean and apply the tools to your work. Sign up here! Trainings are from 8:30-3:30pm at 2100 Fleur.
In December 2015 and January 2016, 4 Introduction to Continuous Improvement training sessions were held with 61 employees attending. After 6 months, they were all asked to participate in a follow up survey, 45 employees did and this is what they had to say.
- 43 agreed to strongly agreed that they have the continuous improvement knowledge and skills to be able to remove waste from their processes
- 38 have had the opportunity to work on an improvement project!
- 23 have LEAD an improvement project
Shout Outs!
ELL enrollment is being revamped to be more customer focused thanks to Pablo Ortega and Vinh Nguyen!
Emily Truitt has led numerous projects now with several of these not being directly in her area of responsibility which include FMLA and network mapping!
Excellent job, Patty Deery, for recognizing a non-valued added step, discussing it with process stakeholders and ultimately being able to make the process more efficient!
Emily Truitt has led numerous projects now with several of these not being directly in her area of responsibility which include FMLA and network mapping!
Excellent job, Patty Deery, for recognizing a non-valued added step, discussing it with process stakeholders and ultimately being able to make the process more efficient!
