Comments on: ‘Rock star’ superintendents

By: ‘Rock star’ superintendents

‘Rock star’ superintendents — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:56:29 +0000

[...] in Georgia, former Pittsburgh superintendent John Thompson wants $275,000 in salary, a $2 million consulting budget, a Lincoln Town Car with a driver, and money to pay a personal bodyguard. Sound a bit hefty for someone likely to pull a power lunch in a junior [...]

By: â€˜Rock starâ€™ superintendents

â€˜Rock starâ€™ superintendents — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:37:12 +0000

[...] Joanne Jacobs had an interesting blog post (â€˜Rock starâ€™ superintendents).Here’s a small excerpt: Troubled school districts are paying big bucks to lure â€˜rock starâ€™ superintendents, reports the Christian Science Monitor. To come to work here in Clayton County, a failing school district in Georgia, former Pittsburgh superintendent John Thompson wants $275,000 in salary, a $2 million consulting budget, a Lincoln Town Car with a driver, and money to pay a personal bodyguard. Sound a bit hefty for someone likely to pull a power lunch in a junior high cafeteria? Maybe not. Fewer qualified can [...]

By: allen

allen — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:48:44 +0000

Detroit’s new superintendent is good for $280,000/year plus perks.

So far the district’s gotten a continuation of previous policies and the exciting, solution-du-jour: small schools. A couple of the district war zo…high schools will be broken up into several smaller high schools in the same building.

By: Liz Ditz

Liz Ditz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:35:43 +0000

Thompson’s salary works out to $5.26 per student, or $466 per school, which doesn’t seem excessive to me. And the bodyguard request makes sense, given how corrupt the school board is.

By: Liz Ditz

Liz Ditz — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:22:41 +0000

The problems with the Clayton County schools do not originate with the students, but with a corrupt and incompetent school board. The school district needs immediate, strong action in order not to lose accreditation. It is a tragedy for the community.

I’ve written about the dire situation in School Board Screws Up: District to Lose Accreditation and First, Let’s Kill All the School Boards

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:46:29 +0000

According to greatschools.com, the Clayton County schools are 73% black. I doubt that any one person will be able to make a significant change to the schools. My guess is that most of the community leaders in Claton County send their children to private schools and that the school system functions more as a jobs program than as an academic institution.

This is a classic example of politicians needing to look lke they are doing something to solve a problem without really facing the problem.

By: Michael Tinkler

Michael Tinkler — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:06:39 +0000

I think the body guard is a bit much, but a driver actually makes sense - or someone made sense of it for me once.

I complained that J. Jerome Harris (anyone remember J. Jerome, rockstar hired by Atlanta in the 90s? Where is he now?) had a driver. A friend pointed out that if you were the new superintendent in town and had a stated goal of visiting every school you had no hope of learning how to find them all yourself - at the very least, someone from downtown would have been dragged away from the desk to drive him.

By: corwin

corwin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:50:46 +0000

“Of course,it’s all a question of supply and demand,”mused Gaunt.

By: NDC

NDC — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:30:47 +0000

The Clayton County situation generally deserves more attention. It’s a fiasco.

By: Tony Iovino

Tony Iovino — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:04:11 +0000

Low salaries compared to Long Island.

Here we have over 11 Superintendents earning over $250,000 per year–topping out at over $325,000.

Of all of our administrators (including assistant principal, principals, asst. sup. etc), 52% earn over $110,000.

Our spending per pupil now tops $17,000, with average teacher pay in Nassau topping $75,000–with avg 12 years experience. Most teachers top 100K at top of the chart.

http://www.newsdayinteractive.com/long-island-schools/index.php