Maya McFadden Photo
Michael Carter at Monday's Board of Education meeting.
Michael Carter’s contract as an operations and facilities consultant for the public school district will come to an end in March. Meanwhile, the district’s seat for a chief operating officer remains vacant.
Carter confirmed with the Independent Monday evening after the Board of Education’s regular meeting at John C. Daniels that, due to prior commitments for the month of March, he does not expect to extend again his consulting contract with the city to support New Haven Public Schools (NHPS).
On June 24 of last year, Carter was hired by the Elicker administration on a $16,000-per-month temporary contract to help fill the top NHPS district job left empty by the former NHPS Chief Operating Officer (COO) Thomas Lamb, who was put on paid leave on May 29 (and subsequently resigned in October.)
Carter formerly served as the Harp administration’s chief administrative officer (CAO), a deputy mayor administrative role responsible for overseeing such departments as police, fire, and the 911 call center.
His school district consulting contract was initially for three months. It has continued to be extended as Carter said he hoped to complete many of the projects he’s taken on with NHPS before he departs.
City spokesperson Lenny Speiller reported that Carter’s consulting contract with NHPS runs through the end of March. He also reported that, through last December, Carter had been paid a total $71,434 for his roughly six months of work.
Carter said on Monday that his prior commitments may make it so that he can only continue his consulting work through the end of February.
For several months Carter has been working to put together a new Request For Proposal (RFP) to re-bid the school district’s custodial services to include stronger performance measures and turnaround times. He’s also working on another RFP for maintenance services, to include performance measurements that are not in the current contracts. Carter reported that the district plans to put both RFPs out over the next month.
Carter said Monday that he is most proud of the relationships he has built with the district’s employees, such as principals, the teachers union, security, and the procurement team. He added that seeing facilities problems be resolved — like Wilbur Cross’s damaged stair treads and floor tiles, and getting fire doors installed — have also been proud moments for him.
“I loved being at the New Haven Public Schools, it’s been great,” he said.
“Michael Carter has brought tremendous experience and know-how to the role of COO, and he knows the city and the district well, having served so long,” Supt. Madeline Negrón added on Wednesday. “We are grateful for his unwavering commitment to getting the best results possible and for helping us to find ways to improve our oversight of crucial operations.”
Schools spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent Wednesday that while the school district has been garnering interest for its chief operating officer role, which has been posted since November, it’s still interviewing candidates. He concluded that it is “too soon to know whether we will have someone in the role by the end of March.”