Ann Arbor school board president optimistic about finalizing new superintendent's contract soon
Ann Arbor Public Schools board President Deb Mexicotte is optimistic that trustees will be able to officially welcome the district's new superintendent Wednesday.
Deb Mexicotte
"I am hopeful that I'll have a draft contract for the board to potentially approve on Aug. 14 — something that we've agreed to in principal but that they (the trustees) can make sure they are happy with, too," she said.
Jeanice Kerr Swift
The Ann Arbor Board of Education voted 4-3 July 31 to offer the superintendency to Swift, who is currently the assistant superintendent of instruction, curriculum and student services for Colorado Springs School District 11 and was one of the board's two finalists.
She enthusiastically accepted the job that same night. The offering is contingent upon reaching a contract agreement.
Former district Superintendent Patricia Green resigned effective July 9 after two years with AAPS. The board first voted unanimously on July 19 to hire New Jersey Superintendent Brian Osborne. However, after contemplating the position for more than a week, Osborne turned it down.
Because the district has had high superintendent turnover in the past decade, school board members have expressed an interest in building into the contract some sort of longevity incentive that would reward Swift for her years of service to AAPS.
Mexicotte said Friday she could not speak about the specifics of what is being discussed. However, she stated in a previous interview that she went to the bargaining table with the board's guidelines and desires in mind.
In April, the board voted to set the salary scale for its next superintendent at $180,000 to $220,000. The trustees knowingly established a range that was $25,000 to $65,000 less than outgoing Superintendent Green's salary.
Many in the community, and a few trustees on the board as well, thought Green's salary was exorbitant and criticized both her and the board for her earnings. Trustee Andy Thomas has stated publicly on multiple occasions that he believes Green was never able to escape the outrage that the community felt about her salary and that fact contributed to her early departure.
A statewide superintendent database revealed this spring that Green had the highest base salary in Michigan last year by about $31,000.
Mexicotte said she and Swift have not agreed to a firm start date for her yet. However, Mexicotte said they do expect Swift to be in town on opening day for teachers, which is Aug. 27, to speak with and meet the staff.
Mexicotte said Swift does have some things she needs to wrap up in her current district, so a date for Swift to be in town continuously has not yet been confirmed. Although in an interview last week with AnnArbor.com, Swift said she believes it is important for her to be in the district by the time students arrive for the first day of school Sept. 3.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
Dr. I. Emsayin
Sat, Aug 10, 2013 : 12:48 p.m.
The Master doesn't talk, s/he acts. When her/his work is done, the people say, "Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!" ? Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
DonBee
Sat, Aug 10, 2013 : 11:31 a.m.
I am glad that contract talks are progressing. I hope that Dr. Swift has 3 to 5 metrics that are in her contract that the board will rate her on. I hope one of them is NOT the enhancement millage or student counts. I hope the board put an escape clause into the contract, so they don't have to pay $500,000 to have Dr. Swift leave if she does not work out, like the last contract had (but Dr. Green retired, so it was not triggered). I wish Dr. Swift all the best of luck, she will need it. If she continues the performance evaluation system that Dr. Green started and finishes the Zero Base Budgeting that Dr. Green started as well as keeping Dr. Flye, she will have kept the 3 things that Dr. Green did right. I hope the board is also smart enough on the 14th to end the 7th hour fees, making the ACLU suit moot, and saving the district $250,000 - 3,000,000 in legal fees for the test case. Let the board please remember the substitute teacher mess and take a different path. 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 are going to be tough years for the district, redistricting, completion of evaluation periods and performance enhancement program periods for administrators, union contract work rules to fix, a millage election that will fail, etc. Dr. Swift will earn her pay. The hope is that the board can find common ground and start to focus on the students and their needs, not the administrative wants of the district. The cuts have been far too classroom focused to build pressure for the millage election over the last two years. Getting the last 79 teachers back on board prior to the board meeting would be a great thing for the administration to get done. I know bumping takes time to sort out, under the contract, but it has been more than 6 weeks since school let out.
Truth Hurts
Sat, Aug 10, 2013 : 12:42 p.m.
Just for clarification it is Ms. Flye. She does not have a Phd.