Seattle Seeks To Make Central Office More 'Service Oriented'

By Joanna Richardson

Responding to public pressure to cut bureaucracy, the Seattle schools have set their sights on the district's top management.

The district, which has tried before to reorganize within the administration, is stepping up efforts this spring to alter the way the system is run. Officials of the 46,000-student district say they hope their efforts will have a dramatic effect on the way the central office operates.

Under the central-office plan, which is still being developed, top administrators would be shuffled into new positions, reassigned to schools, or eliminated from their jobs in an effort to save money and make the district "more service-oriented,'' said Carol Reed, the director of...