PORTLAND — All principals and other administrators in the city’s public schools are attending a series of team-building retreats today through Thursday.

The retreats are being held at the Baxter School for the Deaf on Mackworth Island in Falmouth.

The retreats are being led by Rice & Associates, a Greensboro, N.C., consulting firm that specializes in management change in business and industry.

The retreats coincide with Superintendent Jim Morse’s hiring several new top administrators as part of a central office reorganization.

Morse, who became superintendent one year ago, said the retreats will help to create an environment of interdependence rather than independence.

For years, Morse said, Portland’s 17 schools and educational programs have functioned as individual tribes, competing for resources and striving to differentiate themselves rather than building on each other’s successes.

Rice & Associates helps managers foster work environments that increase the productivity and effectiveness of corporations, according to the firm’s website.

The firm has worked with executives and team members from IBM, Northrop Grumman/TRW, Sprint, Maersk Line Limited, BlueCross BlueShield, Unilever, Pepsi Bottling Ventures and other companies.

The Baxter School offered its facilities for free, and the cost of food and facilitators will be covered by federal economic recovery funds, Morse said.
 

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