One of the key positions in any LEA is the classified educational leader. These professionals are responsible for critical operations schools must accomplish every day to provide a safe learning environment so that students have the best opportunity to learn.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has one of the best in Lisa Ketchum, ACSA’s 2011 Classified Manager of the Year.

Ketchum’s position as volunteer coordinator/staff developer has grown increasingly important to SCCOE as schools endeavor to do more with less money.

Volunteers are crucial to schools. But they also present unique challenges, as they are not paid, and are giving their time out of the goodness of their hearts.

“At the Santa Clara County Office of Education, we strive to support all our students and to deliver the very best education, and a vital piece of that support is our volunteers,” Ketchum said. “Our goal is to make our volunteers’ time spent in an SCCOE classroom rewarding for everyone.”

Volunteers are not necessarily trained to work with students like teachers are, so ensuring student safety is part of the challenge.

“As a safeguard and effective best practice, we created practical tools to screen, process and train our volunteer applicants,” Ketchum said. “One of the most useful tools is our volunteer handbook. It outlines our volunteer guidelines and their responsibilities.”

One of the first goals Ketchum was assigned when hired was to develop and implement from scratch the county’s first volunteer center and website, a goal she accomplished in just six months.

“We wanted a volunteer program that was in line with our mission to be a champion of public education, serving as an exemplary regional resource to students, parents, school districts, community agencies and businesses; and our goal to be ‘models of excellence’ in student learning and well-being,” Ketchum said.

She also wanted to provide consistency in how volunteers were processed and placed, and needed to take into consideration all stakeholders and their concerns.

“We needed something easy to navigate that followed our policies, the Ed Code, Assembly bills, Equal Opportunity Employment laws and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” Ketchum said. “After considerable research and with the guidance from an internal committee, I developed our current program and launched it in March of 2006.”

But working to coordinate volunteers is only half of Ketchum’s job title. As the staff developer, her job touches every department and site throughout the county. Besides having provided training for more than 1,000 volunteers, she has also provided training for more than 1,800 SCCOE employees.

She knows and is in contact with many employees because they have all at one time or another attended her leadership development workshops. Maintaining those contacts comes naturally to Ketchum, who is cited for her professional, thought-provoking presentations and her approachable attitude.

One of the ways in which she melded these attributes was in her development of the SCCOE Idea Center, which contributed to a sense of shared leadership in the county office.

“Previously, we had an employee suggestion box but it was not very effective in collecting innovative ideas to continuously improve our workplace,” Ketchum said. “After researching best practices and identifying sources for effectiveness, I reworked the suggestion box and renamed it the Idea Center.

“We now encourage staff to share their resourcefulness, which leads to process and system improvements. This assists us to not simply collect the catch-all for facilities requests, complaints and human resources issues but to examine and identify systemic problems, discover their root causes and solutions.”

During the course of her career, Ketchum has found ACSA to be an invaluable resource.

“ACSA is an educator’s best friend,” she said. “It has helped develop my skills in multiple ways. I have expanded my awareness, enhanced my career and interpersonal skills, and ACSA has given me exposure to new ideas, theories and practices. I served as our local chapter vice president of memberships/events for two years and have attended the Leadership Summit, the Classified Educational Leaders Institute and the Personnel Administrators Academy, all of which I highly recommend. I think I am a more effective and efficient leader in part due to ACSA.”

In turn, ACSA is pleased to honor Ketchum for her outstanding leadership. However, she said it’s an honor that should be shared.

“This honor is collective,” she said. “I work with people in an organization that strives to make the greatest possible contribution to every student’s educational experience. This is why I chose this career, to be a part of that experience, and I am delighted to be included in the collaboration efforts of the Santa Clara County Office of Education.”

Ketchum will be honored at the Leadership Summit in Sacramento. Click here for more information.