Melinda Tuhus File Photo
Benitez: moving to central office.
The Board of Education made one of its last rounds of administrative hiring shuffles for the upcoming school year in a special meeting Wednesday.
Board members unanimously voted to approve hiring three new directors of instruction and moving four people into top administrative school positions. Three district positions remain to be filled before school starts in the fall.
Harries promoted Principal Abie Benitez to director of instruction, prompting a musical-chairs-style series of five administrative transfers to fill the vacancy she left.
The special meeting comes on the tail of a contentious scheduled meeting last Monday, during which two board members unexpectedly voted against Superintendent Garth Harries’ proposed hires, arguing the hiring process was not transparent enough. The motion to hire those three district leaders passed, but Harries said he was surprised at the lack of unanimity in the vote.
This time, board members unanimously voted to hire Benitez, Gilbert Traverso and William Johnson as directors of instruction. None of the three was able to be at the special meeting Wednesday night.
Board members Susan Samuels and Alex Johnson called in to vote.
A selection team reviewed 17 applications and interviewed seven candidates for the positions. Traverso will not begin until Sept. 8, while the other two will begin Aug. 21.
Johnson attended Wilbur Cross High School and stayed in the district to become principal of Domus Academy, an alternative school with a high percentage of special education students.
The New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT) hired Johnson this past year as project director for a pilot program in restorative justice. His salary will be $137,457.
The only truly external hire, Gilbert Traverso, was recently the principal at Martha’s Vineyard High School. He has more than 20 years of “educational leadership experience,” according to Harries’ memo to the board. His salary will be $140,021.
Benitez, principal for 10 years at Columbus Family Academy, was a “bittersweet appointment,” Harries said. She has had a significant impact on the school’s large population of English language learners and employed creative methods to boost parent engagement, he said. Her salary will be $150,360.
To fill that gap, he transferred Truman School Principal Roy Araujo to principal at Columbus for a year, with parents and staff working on a selection process for a permanent principal for the 2016 – 17 academic year.
He promoted Truman Assistant Principal Kathy Mattern to the schools’ interim principal. A selection team will begin looking for a permanent principal for the following year.
Harries transferred Engineering Science University Magnet School Principal Idris Troutman to fill permanently Mattern’s position.
Stephanie Paris Cooper, assistant principal at Hill Regional Career High School, will transfer to ESUMS to fill Troutman’s vacancy.
To end the chain of administrative transfers, administrative intern Mia Duff was promoted to Cooper’s former assistant principal position at Career High School.
Board member Daisy Gonzalez, one of two who voted against three district hires last Monday, asked whether board members were able to observe selection committee processes for Columbus and Truman principals.
The processes will start in winter, Harries said, at which point the board can revisit the discussion about its level of involvement.
“We need to look at the advantages and disadvantages” of sitting in on selection committee meetings, board member Michael Nast said. The board’s role is to “hire and fire the superintendent and be policymakers…We need to do our homework” to expand that role, he said.
Harries still plans to hire a supervisor of reading – a consolidation of two existing supervisor positions – and another director of instruction. In past years, three directors of instruction carried caseloads of up to 15 schools each, making it difficult for them to perform other responsibilities, Harries said.
A total of five directors of instruction and the supervisor of reading will each have a smaller caseload, he said.