Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Adjustments To Social Work Practice During The Covid-19 Pandemic In North Carolina: Effects On Burnout And Commitment, Aaron R. Brown, Jayme E. Walters, Aubrey E. Jones, Lara Cates

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for social workers in the U.S. and abroad has increased. There is demand for more social workers in North Carolina due to ongoing and increasing mental health, substance use disorder, and child welfare needs. COVID-19 has taken a toll on the personal and professional lives of social workers, and research is needed to understand the pandemic’s effects on burnout and commitment among social workers. The present study sought to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the personal and professional lives of social workers practicing in North Carolina and to determine how …

The Race, Social Class, And Place-Based Gap In Rural Turnaround Policy: A Policy Brief, Karynecia E. Conner

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Abstract: For teachers, leaders, and policymakers To understand the factors that contribute to the successful implementation of rural school turnaround, there is a need to understand how turnaround leadership implements school improvement in different types of communities of color (Wright, 2019). Studies examining the implications of school turnaround in minoritized educational contexts have solely examined urban school contexts to exclude rural contexts (Mette & Stanoch, 2018). Rural schools of color undergoing turnaround face the fundamental unique educational challenges of rural schools and the education debt that has accumulated over time for people of color (Ladson-Billings, 2006). There is a greater …

How To Lose $5.2 Million In Your Operational Budget And Still Make It Balance, Tamara Alexander

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Some cities experience exponential growth. Some cities experience operating budget shortfalls. Significantly few cities experience both simultaneously and are still able to balance their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year. This is the predicament a small municipality found itself in as it was forced to face unimaginable challenges at the beginning of fiscal year 2022. The operational budget shortfall could happen to any municipality and may have even happened to yours.

This article will explore what happened, how it was discovered, what was done to balance the budget, and what measures were put in place to prevent this from happening …

Developing A Strategic Plan For Municipal Housing Infill, Robert G. Vine

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

In order for some cities to be competitive for growth, there is a need to emphasize efforts on creating infill. Swapping abandoned, run down houses for new ones benefits the immediate neighborhood and ripples outward through the entire community. Municipalities can proactively work with stakeholders to create a strategic plan to rehabilitate these properties and breathe new life into an existing neighborhood. By stepping into the role of promotor, designer, facilitator, and coordinator, a city can create an environment that is attractive to builders and developers, add housing, and add value to the community. Cities that successfully create partnerships with …

The Importance Of Succession Planning In Local Government, Mendy Davis

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

All organizations benefit from succession planning. Succession planning is the process used to identify critical roles, skills, and knowledge in your organization and to develop a plan for employees to step into those roles when they become vacant. Due to limited personnel, resources, and budgets, and the belief that succession planning is costly and complex, succession planning is often left unaddressed in smaller cities. Even with limited resources, succession planning adds value to smaller organizations. An analysis of the current talent within a given organization can aid in developing backups and potential successors for any critical roles. Maintaining competitive salaries …

Should Cities Offer Remote Work?, Colleen Martin

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

In December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was discovered in Wuhan, China. This highly contagious virus soon spread rapidly throughout the world and brought many countries and cities to a standstill through lockdowns, travel bans, and fear of illness and death. Many employers abandoned in-person work to prevent the spread of what became known as COVID-19, or COVID. Plans were made instead for employees to work from home as employers created modified work environments and moved meetings to online platforms. In 2022, once the virus was considered to be under control and fear began to subside, employers began to reopen for …

The Generational Gap In The Workforce: How Flexible Schedules May Be The Answer, Kelli D. Casey

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

This article explores the importance of flexible scheduling for smaller municipalities to retain and attract talent and compete in a changing job market. The workforce is evolving, and with each generation that enters the market there is a push for a stronger work-life balance. Smaller cities can meet these generational expectations as well as retain the skills and talents of retiring generations by offering flexible schedules. Flexible schedules may be the answer for small municipalities to stay relevant while staffing their organizations.

Leadership Through Budgeting: Controlling Taxes And Increasing Services, Tony Sims

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Local budgets are the key responsibility of elected and appointed leaders, as are ultimate control over how tax dollars are allocated, and which services are provided to the citizens. Nowhere else is leadership more important than during budget preparation. However, local budgeting is typically more an annual event than an ongoing efficient and effective process. By implementing a budgeting process and preparing a budget in accordance with the criteria required by the Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Award Program and earning the award, local governments can create more efficient and effective operations, improve public trust, and have …

Why We Should Reuse Wastewater, Bridget Sarver

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

As population and industry grow, the need to reuse wastewater is growing. Aquifers are often the dominant water supplies to surrounding areas. The levels of those aquifers are declining each year. Water loss affects many things like water wells, lakes, and rivers. Lakes and rivers that are used as water sources are seeing a decline in levels. Low water levels and drought occur because of the changing water cycle. Heavy rain and runoff can help refill lakes and rivers; however precipitation does not always fall back on the area that it evaporated from. By reusing wastewater, we will be saving …

A Policy Analysis Of The Endangered Species Act, Kendall Beggs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis was to identify and analyze common characteristics that are shared by recovering species listed in the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NatureServe population data was used to determine which listed species were recovering, and a logistic regression analysis was performed to identify which aspects of the ESA most contribute to recovery. Of the 747 species tested, only 24% had a population that was stable or improving. Time listed and classification group were found to significantly influence recovery, and recovery plan presence and critical habitat designation also increase the odds of recovery. The analysis found no relationship …

Handling Municipal Case Flow Management During A Pandemic, Jennifer Billings

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

There is no right or wrong way to create your case flow management process. What works for one court, may not work for yours. The guidance provided by the Office of Court Administration, although confusing, played a major part in the Dayton Municipal Court’s success. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our court shut down all in-person proceedings. What we’ve learned about the pandemic response has provided our court and our defendants with new options in case management. Although we are now open, some of the new processes that were implemented during COVID-19 will continue to be used. Our relationships with peers …

Steps In Building A Successful Resilient Cyber Protocol, Benny Yazdanpanahi

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

This article aims to help city administrators gain a systematic approach to building resilient cybersecurity protocols. Resilient protocols provide the basic organizational framework that layers employees, processes, and technologies that can address cyber risks to cities. Thus, these protocols provide the solid foundation necessary to protect cities and public institutions from the constant threat of cyberattacks. This article also offers suggestions on how cities can gain information technology (IT) resilience, and discusses boundaries in the layered approach to resilience.

Reimagining The Recruitment And Hiring Of Police Officers During Tumultuous Times, Shane Burleigh

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

The defund police movement has created negative consequences as it pertains to the recruitment of officers over the last five years; the author and other police administrators across the country have been presented with the challenges of hiring qualified employees from a quickly dwindling pool of applicants. This situation, now combined with the coronavirus pandemic and the Defund the Police movement, has made the job of simply filling those positions vacated by retiring officers or officers leaving the profession out of frustration almost impossible and has sent some hiring managers into a panic. Officers in some agencies are forced to …

Onboarding: Improving Employer And Employee Relations, Theresa Bell

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Onboarding is a process that is quite easy to institute, is used by local municipalities, and is vital for successful employee performance and retention. Municipalities that have an effective onboarding program are better able to prevent organizational failure and disappointment while improving employee performance, productivity, and engagement, and improving the retention of newly hired employees. Municipalities are challenged with competing to hire talented, knowledgeable, and skilled employees, but with a well-established and implemented onboarding process, municipalities can nurture and retain these new hires. This report breaks down four benefits of onboarding in municipalities: longer employee tenure, increased employee engagement and …

Branding: Bringing More Respect And Value To The Profession Of Municipal Clerks In Texas, Laure Morgan

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

What is in a title? How can Municipal Clerks or City Secretaries in Texas increase awareness and respect for their profession? The office of Municipal Clerk, also known as City Secretary, in Texas, is established by statute, and municipal clerks are the heart and soul of municipal governments. They work with the mayor, the city council, the city manager (when there is one), and a1ll administrative departments. The expertise, service, and information that the municipal clerk possess is needed daily. Despite their realm of expertise and duties, many municipal clerks are still thought of as just secretaries by their city …

Implementing Discipline Reform: One District’S Experience With Pbis, Catherine Robert Ed.D.

School Leadership Review

This study examines the case of one large urban school district’s implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to review competing needs and challenges encountered over a four-year period. There are encouraging results supporting the finding of a successful PBIS implementation and plans for continued implementation of Tier I practices and expand Tier II supports. Reducing the continuing disparity between the percentages of African American and White students receiving disciplinary consequences remains a challenge for Middleton ISD. In addition, work remains to reduce the disproportionate number of students receiving special education services who receive higher levels of disciplinary consequences.

University Course Evaluations: A Study Of The Influence Of Faculty, Student, And Course Variables, Tyesha De’Shuan Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty …

Terrorism And Right-Wing Extremism: History And Comparative Definitions, Kwame B. Antwi-Boasiako, Caleb Grant Hill

Faculty Publications

Recent narratives on terrorism have focused on the definitions. Terrorism is not a new phenomenon, but the problem resides in its definition and who is defining it. Conceptualizing terrorism depends on which framework one utilizes. The use of different lenses to define the term has contributed to the lack of global acceptance of what constitutes terrorism, hence the difficulty of gathering data for analysis. It is also a conundrum when powerful nations legitimize their terrorist activities against weaker ones. This, unfortunately, has led to the subjectiveness of every attempt in the literature to objectively provide a globally acceptable definition. Using …

Closing The 911 Funding Gap: Increasing Revenues For 911 Emergency Dispatch Centers, Randy Ross

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Since their introduction, 911 services have grown both in geographic scope and in the level of service provided. The revenue used to fund 911 services consists almost entirely of fees and surcharges on wireline, wireless, and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol telephone lines. These fees and surcharges generate billions of dollars each year, but 911 service revenues still fall short of estimated annual costs. Expenditures for personnel and for technology maintenance and upgrades have also increased over time. American consumers’ use of telephone lines has shifted from primarily wireline telephone lines to primarily wireless and Internet-based telephone lines with smaller fees and surcharges, contributing …

What’S Shaking In Timpson: Why All The Earthquakes?, Leslie Leathers

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

They say that everything is bigger in Texas, and that is especially true of the vast oil fields located throughout the state. Today, Texas is the #1 oil producer in the U.S., producing more than a million barrels per day. Since the start of the most recent oil boom, the Lone Star State has seen a huge increase in seismic activity. Although earthquakes have been happening for years, scientific data has proven the recent events in the small town of Timpson can be attributed to oil field practices. However, state regulators and politicians still say this science is far from …

How Has The Implementation Of Body Worn Cameras Affected Law Enforcement In Texas?, John Brown

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Since 2011, when the first body worn camera program for police officers in the United States was introduced in Rialto, California, researchers have been interested in how such programs might influence U.S. law enforcement. Studies in the past several years have examined various aspects of the effects of body worn cameras, including their impact on public relations, police morale, and law enforcement budgets. Also of note is the importance of police compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and the unique challenges presented by body worn camera records with regard to FOIA. This article seeks to determine the effect …

Public Improvement Districts: A Worthwhile Investment?, John Whitsell

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

Public Improvement Districts (PIDs) are a financing mechanism used to fund new developments and infrastructure improvements. PIDs are relatively easy to create and can be done by the local municipality. A majority of property owners within the district may petition a local government to create the district. Bonds can then be issued to fund a development or infrastructure improvements. Through an industry analysis and view of the current political environment, PIDs are certainly a beneficial mechanism to fund projects otherwise not feasible due to constraints on city budgets. Local elected officials will want PIDs monitored and only used in proper …

East Texas Council Of Governments: Gobus Fare Collection, Melissa Cure

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

The purpose of this research paper is to provide the decision makers at the East Texas Council of Governments GoBus rural transit system with information as a basis for the future of how fares are collected, and to look for ways to resolve problems in our current fare collection method. The main issue involves accepting cash and checks because of the large service region GoBus Transit covers. GoBus depends on the bus operators to collect fares and make deposits, which becomes a major problem with accounting. As listed on the official website of SWARCO, an Austrian technology company, an “Automated …

Megachurches And Economic Development: Pastoral Interpretations Of Internal And External Expectations On Church Behavior, Ashley E. English

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

What sorts of economic development activities do megachurches engage in, and what rationale do leaders give for this behavior? This study provides theoretical guidance for answering this research question through an investigation of megachurches’ extra-role behaviors (ERB) in economic development activities. ERB is a “behavior that attempts to benefit the organization and that goes beyond existing role expectations” (Organ, Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 2006, p. 33). This field study includes an online survey completed by 42 megachurch senior or executive pastors in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Areas and 23 follow-up telephone interviews. The researcher used these data …

Terrorism And The Military Institution: History And Definitions, Kwame B. Antwi-Boasiako, John Hami Hasbun

Faculty Publications

Recent narratives on terrorism have focused on the definitions. Terrorism is not a new phenomenon but the problem resides in its definition and who is defining it. Conceptualizing terrorism depends on which framework one utilizes. The use of different lenses to define a crime has contributed to lack of global acceptance of what constitutes terrorism hence the difficulty of gathering data for analysis. It is also a conundrum when a powerful nation legitimizes its terrorist activities against a weaker one through the use of military power. This, unfortunately, has led to the subjectiveness of every attempt in the literature to …

A Multi-Case Study Of Electronic Communication Policy In Rural East Texas School Districts, Laura Lynn Dacus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to conduct a policy analysis regarding electronic communication between educators and students in three rural East Texas school districts. The policy analysis for each district began with the initial implementation of teacher communication via electronic sources provided by the districts. The focus of the study was limited specifically to the policy regulating nonschool related, electronic communication by educators with students. The challenge faced by school districts to embrace technology with one-to-one classrooms, virtual classrooms, constant connectivity, school texting applications, and open availability to teachers via email, complicates restrictions placed on non-school related …

Cultivating Contextual Attributes In The Integration Of Latin@ Educational Leadership, Yuleinys A. Castillo, Suzanne Maniss

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Although the Latino population is growing rapidly in the United States, there is a disproportionate paucity of literature on the perspectives and challenges of Latino/a educational leaders. Culturally aware educational leadership can help to improve retention and student engagement of Latino students. The purpose of this article is to explore the factors influencing the educational experience and perspective of Latino/a students and leaders to expand the understanding of Latinos within the education system. Identifying role models, creating network and professional development opportunities, as well as offering training programs are practices to enhance the training and expertise of Latino educational leaders. …

Examining The Meaning Of Course Evaluation, Tyesha Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teaching evaluations significantly influence faculty members’ annual evaluations and progress toward tenure and promotion within academic programs in higher education. Those with consistently strong, positive, teaching evaluations have been deemed effective instructors and often validated with increases in salary, teaching awards, and promotion and tenure. This is especially the case when strong course evaluations are received in addition to documented scholarship and research activities and positively evaluated professional service. However, questions are being raised about the meaningfulness of students' ratings of course instruction. Do these measures effectively assess competence as instructors or do they measure other unknown processes in the …

On My Own Terms: Effectiveness Of Death With Dignity Legislation In Oregon, Megan E. Russell

Student Publications

As the elderly constitute a greater proportion of the population, end-of- life issues have taken on a greater sense of urgency. This paper will address the heart of the debate, which is a terminally ill patient's right to dignity and self-determination. To further explore this social issue, a literature review will be conducted using a variety of relevant literature including, peer reviewed journals, and accredited online resources to assemble evidence of researchers. In some states, the discussion on this social issue has resulted in the enactment of policy. One of the first groundbreaking public laws was the Oregon Death with …

Social Media Use During Natural Disasters: An Analysis Of Social Media Usage During Hurricanes Harvey And Irma, Larry J. King

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the use of social media in two recent national disasters and provides conclusions about the use of social media in these types of events.