(Oklahoma City) The Pinnacle Plan draft made public today by OKDHS was submitted to three national experts, termed as “Co-Neutrals”, who are responsible for the approval and monitoring of the plan (Kathleen Noonan, Kevin Ryan, and Eileen Crummy).
The Co-Neutrals released the following short statement today upon receiving the plan draft:
“Over the past few months, we've had significant discussions with stakeholders in Oklahoma about the state's child welfare system. We will continue to do so, and we look forward to reviewing the plan submitted by the state today, conferring with the parties and rendering a judgment in the best interests of the State's children in due course.”
Thanks for posting. Looking forward to updates.
ReplyDeleteAs an employee of OKDHS with almost 22 combined years of experience through two tenures; I have seen a great many attempts over the years to reform the over-all functioning of the agency.
ReplyDeleteOne very simple yet effective solution would be a three strikes and you're out addition to the personnel policy of every agency. We have high level supervisors and managers who lose grievance after grievance because they simply see themselves as exempt from the rules.
The overwhelming reason for the high cost in dollars due to turn-over is bad to very bad management practices. The plain and simple reason we are in the situation we are in is due to very poor management practices.
We jokingly refer to the "friends and family" plan when the topic comes to hiring and promotion decisions. No one is promoted unless they can be depended upon to "lock-step" and do what they are told and never question what they are told.
The higher placed a person is, the less they know or care about policy and the day-to-day nuts and bolts of the programs they are supposed to be managing. I can't tell you how many times a manager tells me to do something contrary to policy, I email them back with the policy they just told me to violate and then they say the policy is not right. Personally, I believe the only way to truly flush out the bad managers is to have public hearings (this is the option no one has the guts to implement or even suggest). There are bullies rampant throughout the department and sooner or later these bullying practices will cost the department untold millions in legal expenses.
I am taking enforced leave today in case you wonder why I am doing this during "business hours."