Possible Candidate for Seattle Schools Superintendent? (Just Kidding)

From the LA Times:

The L.A. Unified school board could name an interim superintendent as early as 10 a.m. Thursday, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it involved a personnel matter and confidential negotiations.


As part of the departure agreement, Deasy is expected to receive about 60 days' pay, or roughly $60,000, the sources said. His contract, which was to run through June 2016, requires a severance payment of only 30 days.

During his 3 1/2 years at the helm, Deasy, 53, oversaw a continued rise in student performance during a period of financial cuts. But he could not overcome election day setbacks, poor relations with teachers and two back-to-back technology debacles.

But Deasy has faced strong criticism over the troubled rollout of a $1.3-billion effort to provide iPads to every student, teacher and campus administrator. Amid growing questions about how the iPad program was run, Deasy announced in August that he was suspending new purchases under the iPad contract.

Another technology project, a new student records system, malfunctioned this fall.

More broadly, critics have faulted Deasy for what they call an autocratic, punitive leadership style that they say has demoralized teachers and other employees.

Still, Deasy has enjoyed strong support from key civic and business leaders, who have urged the Board of Education in recent weeks to retain him.

He was also expected to increase revenue and enrollment. District revenues have gone up sharply, but that was the result of an improved statewide funding program. Enrollment has trended downward in recent years.

Would you look at that? Three-and-a-half years.  It's not just Seattle, folks. 

Lessons learned - you cannot be an effective superintendent without the support of teachers and parents. Doesn't matter how many civic or big-money supporters you have - you need the people on the front lines.

Comments

Anonymous said…
'His contract, which pays $350,000 a year, was revised last year and dropped previous goals related to student achievement because test scores are not yet available from new state exams.'

So much for Big Data.

Westside

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