Chapter 13: Now the Real Work Begins

Dan, this is Taisha. Mr. Lantz would like to see you when you have time. He said to go to his office at your convenience.”

“Thanks, Taisha. I’ll be there in a minute,” he said, and hung up the receiver. He looked at his watch. It was 9:30 a.m. He headed towards reception, past the double swinging doors and looked into the several classrooms he passed on his way. In one, he noticed Ms. Hunter sitting at her desk reading a magazine while most of her students were reading or writing in their workbooks and quite a few were just leaning back on their chairs chatting. He frowned, making another mental note.

As he passed reception, Taisha, who was on the phone, placed her hand over the receiver and told him, “Go right in, giving him a warm smile.”

“Thank you,” he mouthed, as she returned to her conversation, giving the address for PEMTI and directions from the E train. He walked through the single door to the administration wing and down the long corridor, waiving to Bob as he passed his office, with Bob waiving back as he talked animatedly on the phone, apparently with a client, extolling the virtues of PEMTI’s recent graduates. He made a right at the end of the corridor and was soon standing at the half-opened door in Marvin’s corner office. He knocked gently on the door and Marvin looked up from whatever he was reading on his desk, giving him a wide smile and motioning for him to come in while rising from his desk and saying, “Good Morning, Dan, please come in, and welcome!”

“Good morning Marvin. Thank you. It is good to be here.”

“Have a seat, Dan”, Marvin motioned behind him while pouring fresh coffee onto a white china cup. “How do you want your coffee?”

“Black please, no sugar. It smells heavenly,” Dan replied.

”Black it is,” Marvin countered, offering Dan a steaming cup of coffee faintly smelling of espresso and hazelnut.

“Thanks very much, Marvin,” Dan said taking the cup and saucer in both hands and quickly taking a sip. “Simply wonderful,” he added, meaning it.

“So, how did yesterday’s meeting go? I had a report from the Melameds as soon as you left their office, but I’d like to hear your take on the day.”

“I thought it went very well. Howard was kind enough to bring me up to speed on basic policies and procedures, and the meeting with the Melameds went better than I expected. What I thought would be a quick courtesy meeting lasted for nearly an hour,” Dan said, taking another sip of the steaming coffee.

“Well,” Marvin said, leaning back on his chair, “you made quite the impression on the Melameds, and they are not easily impressed, believe me. They congratulated me for hiring you and said they expect great things from you. I’ve never seen them so excited. They both talked to me on speakerphone from Benjamin’s office shortly after you left the meeting. They are particularly interested in your idea for a short course, though skeptical about your ability to get it through State Ed, and about the cost of implementation. But no matter--they loved your entrepreneurial spirit and were genuinely excited about your thinking in that way even before starting the job.”

“Look, Marvin, they basically asked about how I could make a difference and I answered honestly. Maybe I shouldn’t have before having the discussion with you in greater detail and seeing how you felt. I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

“Are you kidding? They loved it and think me a genius for both finding you and convincing you to come on board,” Marvin replied still smiling broadly. “The only thing I’d caution you about is over-promising, as they can be mercurial in their reactions, especially as to things that affect the bottom line. For now, though, they are extremely happy and, unless you royally screw up, I don’t see that changing any time soon,” he added.

“Then I’d better not screw up,” Dan retorted, and added “By the way, do you have any information about SED guidelines for course approvals?”

“I do, and I already prepared a folder for you with some basic background information and the required forms. I can help you with this when you are ready to explore it in greater detail,” Marvin said, then reached for a folder on his desk and passed it to Dan who opened it and briefly thumbed through the materials.

“This is great, Marvin, Thank you. I have some things to figure out, but I’ll put a rough proposal together including some numbers on the technology improvements that will be needed.” Marvin’s smile half evaporated on hearing this, so Dan quickly added, “But don’t worry, I 'll do my best to keep the actual cost to an absolute minimum and will drop the matter altogether if I can’t. I want to strike while I have some enthusiasm from the Melameds but won’t propose anything that requires a significant capital investment. Don’t worry about that.” Hearing that, Marvin’s placid smile returned to its usual full bloom.

“On another matter,” Dan continued after another sip of his coffee, “Can you tell me whether you have any faculty evaluations in your files? I could not find any in mine.”

“Only for teachers that were fired. Your predecessors only did them when they had suspicions of a problem, such as too many complaints by students or issues with absenteeism. So the only ones I have are in the files of dismissed instructors.”

“So there are no regular class observation of the faculty or student evaluations?’

“No. Keep in mind that all the teachers here are employed at will and there’s no tenure, promotion, or union to contend with. It’s pretty straight forward: you like them they stay. You don’t, they get fired.”

“I get that, but don’t you think that having regular evaluations would contribute to better quality control of teaching and possibly better support for teachers who evidence some deficiencies?”

“That’s up to you Dan. If you think it important, by all means, evaluate them any time and in any way you like. I’ll always back up your judgment. If you’re not happy with a teacher, you can fire them on the spot regardless of evaluations. Just keep in mind that you will need to replace them quickly. We don’t have substitutes and, though you can assign your teachers to cover temporarily for someone you fire as long as you make sure every period has at least one teacher free to take the load, that only works short term.”

“I understand,” Dan replied. “I did not find any folder with applicants’ resumes or any type of list of individuals who may be interested in teaching on an as-needed basis to cover for illnesses or other exceptional circumstances. Do you by any chance have such a list?”

“No, Dan. If you don’t have one in your files it probably was never created, or your predecessor threw it out before leaving. Either is a possibility.” This concerned Dan. It would be one more thing he’d have to address quickly.

“Could I run a help wanted ad in the paper for business education faculty to build a resume bank in case a need arises?”

“I can authorize that. The cost would be under $400 for one of the local papers. But be aware that it could make your teachers jumpy if they see the ad and suspect one or more of them might be axed. You can be sure some of them read the help wanted ads regularly looking for supplemental work or greener pastures. We’ve had less turnover than most of our competitors, or even our sister schools. But with a new dean, it might make some jump ship if they think you’re looking to make changes. Shakeups are not unusual in our industry when there are changes at the top.”

“I had not considered that. Let me think about it and see if I can find another way. But I do appreciate your willingness to authorize an ad if I can’t find a viable alternative.”

“Whatever you think best,” Marvin said, smiling complacently.

“Two other things really quickly if I can have just a couple of additional minutes of your time, Marvin.”

“Sure,” Marvin replied.

“First, I’m going to have my first faculty meeting this Friday at lunch hour. I assume you won’t have a problem with my bringing in some food for the group? I’ll drive in and bring sandwiches, sodas and dessert as well as paper plates, cups and the like.”

“Sure, Dan. As long as the cost is reasonable I can pay for simple catering like pizza and sodas from petty cash, if you like” Marvin offered helpfully.

“I appreciate that, Marvin, but I’d rather make some decent sandwiches myself and I don’t want to be reimbursed. I want this to come from me, and not just pay for pizza delivery. I just wanted to make sure you’re fine with my bringing food in. I’ll park in the parking garage next door for the day to make carrying the stuff in easier.”

“Sure, Dan. No problem. Just don’t get them used to free lunches or they’ll expect it. Tell Jiang to help you carry the stuff in and set up.”

“Not to worry. I don’t intend on having faculty meetings more than once a quarter, and if I feed them again for that it will be just be pizza and sodas. I just want something different for the first meeting as good faith gesture. As to Mr. Chang, I won’t need his help. I’ll take care of it all myself.”

“Well, it’s not been done before, so I’d be curious to know their reaction. Hope they don’t bite the hand that feeds them,” Marvin chuckled. “What was the other thing?”

“Just a simple request. I’d like a Venetian blind on my office window that faces the corridor. I don’t want to have every student peering in at me while I work. It is distracting and, worse, makes it impossible to have any privacy when I’m working with sensitive student records or having a meeting with a student or faculty member.”

“But you won’t be able to keep an eye on students during class changes that way,” Marvin noted.

“I can open the blinds during class changes when I’m not otherwise occupied, but don’t want to work in a fishbowl.”

Marvin considered a moment, with a blank expression then looked at Dan and said, “All right Dan. I want to make you comfortable here, so sure. You can have the blinds installed Just tell Jiang.”

“I already asked him but he said he’d need your approval.”

“All right, hold on,” Marvin said, picking up the phone and dialing a four-digit extension. “Jiang, this is Marvin. Please measure Dean Amor’s office window and order mini blinds. Hold on a moment.” Then, turning to dan he asked “are one-inch mini blinds OK or do you prefer standard sized? And what color do you want?”

“Mini blinds are fine. Bone or off-white is probably best given the wood trim on the window”, Dan answered.

“... Make them bone or off-white and the type that are opaque, not the flimsy ones you can almost see through. You can have them custom made if they don’t have the exact size available. And make sure you get rush delivery. I want you to install them within the week if at all possible”, he added, then hung up the phone.

“Thank you, Marvin, I really appreciate that.”

“No problem. Can I get you another cup of coffee?”

“No, thanks. I have to get back to work. But I’ll call you if I have any questions later.”

“You bet. I’m here for you and want you to know I’m glad you’re on board.”

With that, Dan rose from his chair and shook Marvin’s hand before turning to go, thanking him for his support. Then he walked back towards the reception area and peeked in to Bob’s office through the open door. Bob was looking at papers on his desk, so he knocked on the door frame. Bob looked up and gave him a smile.

“Well, you’re still here and it’s almost noon. That’s a good sign. A little longer and you’ll be the longest serving dean in our history,” he said, chortling.

“That’s me, setting records already,” Dan quipped back. “When are you going to go to lunch today?”

“Oh, in an hour or so. I’ve got to finish some reports for Marvin.”

“Why don’t you come by my office when you’re ready and I’ll go with you. My treat today if you have no other plans. You pick the place.”

“Sounds great, Dan. I’ll go by in an hour or so.”

“Look forward to it. Meantime I’ll get to some work of my own to prioritize the order of the next thousand or so things I need to get through this week. See you later,” Dan said, walking through the door to the reception area on the way back to his office.