Page 139 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

120 The Disney Way

findings and the backing of the Alliance were the springboard needed
for establishing Downtown School, just a few steps away from where the
parents of enrolled students worked. The close proximity to their children
facilitated parental involvement, which is still the case today.
Downtown School opened with 45 students in August of 1993. The
premise of the school was to create a place where real learning could take
place, not as an exclusive campus for the children of the Des Moines top
executives. Steve Schaaf, Alliance president, told us, “The plan from the
beginning was that we would try to match the socio-economic statistics
of the Des Moines Public Schools with Downtown School. It’s also a
school based on the philosophy that everybody is here to learn and can
learn. If we aren’t careful, and turn this into an elitist institution, we have
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lost our mission.”
Partnering with the business community was only a piece of Downtown
School’s partnering strategy. Finding the right teachers who would embrace
a new way of teaching was the next hurdle. As Jan stated, “I look for teachers
who do not want to be the power person in the classroom. I don’t want
teachers who feel ‘I’m the boss, you’re the student, now go sit down.’ I want
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teachers who are child-centered!”
While attempting to identify the best teachers for Downtown School,
Jan ran head on into a roadblock—the union, the Iowa State Education
Association. Its contract requires seniority rules; that is, if two people are
equally qualified, the one with seniority gets the job. Jan remembered the
anger of a key partner, Roger Brooks, CEO of AmerUs, who said “I don’t
like the way the school district just takes anyone, no matter how good or
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bad the teacher may be. I won’t support the school if you do it this way.”
Jan credits Roger for insisting that she hire the right teachers for the job,
not who’s up next in the Union batting order. “That gave me the power to
do it differently; we had to take the best person for the job. I thank Roger
every day for his insistence,” remarked Jan.
The Union has not yet endorsed Downtown School’s teaching phi-
losophy, but it has not publicly opposed it either. Interestingly, of the Core
Values cited by the Iowa State Education Association, “We value quality
public education” tops the list. It just so happened that one day, a high-
ranking Union official entered Downtown School during school hours.
Usually, this would spell trouble for the principal, likely resulting in count-
less hours negotiating a grievance. The official reassured Jan, “Don’t worry,
I’m here on a personal matter. My granddaughter has applied at Downtown