What's it like to work with F3?

It’s experience on speed-dial. Although recently retired from former senior roles in educational leadership, Next Level support team members have never retired from their devotion to public education. Count on their long and admired careers, practical experience, and passion for running school districts to help you navigate even the thorniest issues that come up.

What can F3 solve for you?

We’ve been there and have both the scars and medals to prove it. While F3 lawyers keep you headed forward in the legal lane, Next Level’s former educational leaders bring you the practical side of implementing policies, annual planning, assessing performance, addressing difficult board issues, understanding challenging school district politics, and more.

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“If what I’ve experienced and learned in my career can help a brand-new superintendent find success in today’s challenging educational world, or provide a veteran district executive with perspective on a thorny problem, then I’m really still helping kids beyond my own tenure. And that feels great!”

– Sandy Lyon, Former Superintendent and Next Level Client Services Consultant

Effective leadership of public school districts has likely never been as complex as it is today. Federal and state regulations and oversight, budget challenges, staffing, contentious board meetings, parental demands, technology requirements, remote learning, facilities management, student discipline and more conspire to make administration a daily challenge. It takes much more than knowing the law to run a school district well. F3 attorneys have your legal issues covered. Our Next Level Client Services team, composed of recently retired superintendents, special education directors, chief business officers, communication directors, and other senior district leaders from throughout California, assist with the ‘people and process’ side. Our Next Level team has decades of expertise and is prepared to assist districts with advocacy and legislative needs, policy, strategic studies, governance support, and mentoring/coaching. They bring F3 clients their experience, technical know-how, and wisdom – beyond the legal.

Unique to F3, The Next Level Client Services team was created to support today’s public education leaders with strategic support, professional expertise, legislative and policy expertise, and timely advice on execution and thoughtful implementation. Their mission – and their passion – is collaborating with boards, superintendents, and other district leaders on the many current and future challenges the face. With their extensive experience, Next Level advisers can help district leaders identify and implement best policies and practices and avoid roadblocks. Even veteran superintendents call on F3’s Next Level team when something new arises or they simply want to run an idea past someone who’s walked many miles in their shoes.

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Advising, coaching and mentoring

School district administration – especially in recent years – has experienced a high rate of turnover, with less experienced administrators taking on roles for which they have little experience. Who better to mentor and advise them than recently retired administrators who have successfully managed districts large and small and represent a vast storehouse of experience, knowledge, and skill? Next Level members advise boards, superintendents, and other district leaders on the non-legal side, on topics ranging from setting and meeting goals to governance, communications, financial management, teacher staffing, efficiency assessment, legislative advocacy, and even real estate and school construction. They support board presidents as they prepare for challenging upcoming meetings and offer training for those responsible for responding to media inquiries. They also conduct workshops on a wide range of topics designed to help districts run smoothly, and often speak at conferences such as annual conference of new California superintendents. Between the legal-side work F3 attorneys do for California school districts and the practical ‘running the operation’ side offered by Next Level, F3 surrounds our clients with services to help them succeed at every level.

Helping F3 attorneys serve clients

F3’s mission serving educators reflects our clients’ mission: well-run public schools providing education excellence to California’s millions of students. Clients understand they are free to call our attorneys any time with any issue, law-related or not, and our attorneys know they can call then on our Next Level team for their counsel. Next Level works with our attorneys, too, using their long educational leadership experience to advise an attorney on how best to counsel a client on non-legal issues. Perhaps it’s an employment concern that’s more a question of what the district “should” (rather than “must”) do; or, an F3 lawyer may be asked for advice on implementing a new policy with minimal disruption. Next Level members are there to help F3 lawyers every time.

Explore what we’ve done

  • Provided mentoring support to new superintendents as they navigated complex personnel matters in districts ranging in size from fewer than 1,000 students to more than 30,000 students.
  • Supported superintendents with tremendous curricular backgrounds but new to the business and operations functions with guidance regarding budget and key functions on the business side, including transportation, nutrition services, IT, and finance.
  • Provided assistance to district superintendents and staff new to complicated labor negotiations. F3 attorneys provide counsel and service at the bargaining table, and Next Level Client Services supports the broader demands of communication within the organizations and communities and provides essential supports to the administrative teams during tough negotiations.
  • Facilitated focus group discussions to gather invaluable community input for developing vision, mission and values; determining optimal areas for fundraising support; and assessing key professional development needs.
  • Audited and supported enhanced communications both internally with employees and employee groups, and externally with parent/caregiver partners, families, and the broader school community.
  • Facilitated governance team retreats and superintendent evaluations, including helping the board and superintendent develop the right evaluation tools and coordinate the evaluation schedule to help drive operational excellence.

F3 is known for these strengths

Governance training

Adding our insights into effective school year planning and measuring results; leadership evaluation tools; strategies for reviewing vision, mission, and value propositions; and process for engaging the community.

Support for F3 attorneys

Supporting and collaborating with F3 attorneys to assist new superintendents in emotionally charged personnel matters, reviewing presentations to the board of education, helping senior staff understand how to focus on what the board needs, planning agendas, assisting boards in reviewing superintendents, leading group discussions with employees and community members, optimizing parent engagement, and more.

Advise on nonlegal matters

Providing experienced counsel on such issues as special education settlements, employment matters, negotiations, sale of property, consolidating campuses, and many others. We also advise and assist governance teams on school-year planning and measuring/reporting results.

Mentoring superintendents

Supporting superintendents in administrative challenges such as managing inexperienced administrators who need a resource/sounding board, new CBOs, new HR folks, and education services directors. We also provide support as superintendents manage the often complex and/or competing politics and pressures of decisions and actions.

Financial consulting

Assisting districts as they work through complex budgeting processes.

Legislative advocacy

Working with clients up and down the state as they monitor key pieces of state and federal legislation, and supporting those clients who want to build meaningful advocacy efforts for their districts’ needs.

Forecasting

Keeping abreast of emerging issues affecting California public education and advising districts on practical implications and policy.

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