306 K-12 LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
The Nora School District
The Nora School District has an operating budget of over $1.2 billion, and serves
approximately 73,400 students in 151 schools. Over the past three years, student enrollment
has remained steady. This majority-minority system is comprised of a student population that
is approximately 57% Hispanic, 21% Caucasian, 18% African-American, 3% Asian/Pacific
Islander, with the remaining 1% identified as multi-racial, American Indian, or “other.
Roughly 65% of these students are from low-income families and 20% are categorized as
English Language Learners (ELL).
Joe Bertram was appointed Superintendent of Nora Public Schools by the mayor of Nora
in July 2005. He reported that he brought unique strengths to position such as, “experience in
corporate restructuring, fairly extensive political background as well as a local relevant
political background.” He recognized his need to learn the “teaching part of the job,” and
subsequently hired a chief academic officer to assist him in this process.
Superintendent Bertram earned a bachelor's degree in history with honors from a top-
ranked liberal arts school in the Northeast (the same college the Mayor of Nora attended).
Superintendent Bertram then earned a law degree from an elite Northeastern university and
subsequently worked as a federal law clerk for a judge in the eastern U.S., as a personal
assistant for a governor of a Mid-western state, and briefly as an attorney. He served as
Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General in a U.S. President’s Administration. Bertram
relocated to Nora to work in a management position with a local investment company
restructuring billions of dollars in corporate debt and overseeing investments of $500 million.
Just prior to his appointment as superintendent, Bertram was the Chief of Staff for the Mayor
of Nora.
While Bertram may have had a stellar record as a financial manager and political aide, his
short record as superintendent is less impressive. Since 2005, elementary student reading and
math scores on the state-mandated tests fell (-2.77% and -.83% respectively). At the middle
school level, reading scores also fell (-2.31%) but math scores improved (+7.82%). High
School level reading and math scores remained flat. Disturbingly, the student high school
graduation rate dropped from 77% to 51.7% - a decline of 16.2 percentage points.
The Elkins School District
The Elkins School District has an operating budget of over $20 billion, and serves over
1,042,100 students in 1450 schools. Over the past three years, student enrollment has declined
by roughly three percent. This majority-minority system is comprised of a student population
that is approximately 39% Hispanic, 32% African-American, 14% Caucasian, 14%
Asian/Pacific Islander, with the remaining 1% identified as multi-racial, American Indian, or
“other.” Roughly, 68%of these students are from low-income families and 13% are
categorized as English Language Learners (ELL).
In July 2002, Superintendent David Dallas was appointed by the Mayor of Elkins to lead
the Elkins Public Schools. Just prior to his appointment, Dallas was the chairman and chief
executive officer as well as chief U.S. liaison officer for a large media company with $20
billion in annual revenues. Prior to that Dallas was an assistant attorney general in the U.S.
Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. The appointment to the U.S. Justice Department