Melissa Bailey Photo
Mayo at right, heading into contract discussions Tuesday night.
The school board met behind closed doors Tuesday night to discuss details of Superintendent Reggie Mayo’s pending retirement.
At issue: Whether Mayo will leave office when his current contract expires June 30. Or whether the board will give him a six-month extension so he can retire along with his close politically ally, Mayor John DeStefano, on Jan. 1, or some time in between.
Board members held the executive session Tuesday night to discuss Mayo’s plans — and, by extension, the fate of the school system. Board members, including DeStefano, emerged from the executive session 50 minutes later saying that they were not prepared to take a vote — and saying nothing else. Mayo refused to answer questions about the subject. A vote would have been necessary to grant a contract extension; it’s unclear whether board members gave Mayo any oral guarantees.
Mayo, New Haven’s superintendent since 1992, has long said he would retire when Mayor John DeStefano retires., DeStefano made a bombshell announcement on Jan. 28 that he won’t seek an 11th two-year term.
Three weeks later, Mayo has refused to comment publicly on his own future plans. Upon DeStefano’s announcement he told friends he would be gone by summer. Since then talk has surfaced about the possibility of his receiving the contract extension to have his departure coincide with DeStefano’s.
Meanwhile, amidst an ambitious and nationally watched reform drive, people have been left to wonder who will lead the 20,000-student school district on July 1, and whether there will be time for a national search for a replacement.
“We have nothing to announce at this moment,” board Chairman Carlos Torre reported after the executive session. “Within a week or so you will be hearing additional information.”
Asked what options the school board is weighing, DeStefano said he had “no comment.” He said Mayo “has not made an announcement yet.”
Other board members said they decided Torre would speak for the board on the matter.
“We simply discussed the contract,” he said. “It’s not secretive. We just did not get to a conclusion.”
Before Tuesday’s discussion, Torre said the board had not yet discussed plans to find a new superintendent.
Asked if there will be another closed-door session at next school board meeting, Torre said that depends on any announcements Mayo will make in coming days.
Mayo’s pending departure is the latest in a string of recently announced retirements by men who have run New Haven’s most powerful institutions for decades. For the first time this century, new voices and perhaps new ideas will take their places. In addition to DeStefano, Yale President Rick Levin is retiring this year. Even the man behind the New Haven Register’s editorial page for the past 36 years, Charles Kochakian, just retired. (Not to mention the pope.)
Mayo has served a long legacy in New Haven schools: He joined the school district as a teacher in 1967 and became superintendent in 1992. He makes $226,921 per year. His three-year contract ends June 30. Click here to read it.
Mayo declined comment Tuesday.
Harries and Torre.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear who will be running the school system in five months. Assistant Superintendent Garth Harries (pictured), a rising star in the reform movement, was brought to town in 2009 to oversee a school-change drive and eventually to take over running the district once he developed local relationships and trust. He remains a strong possibility for taking the reins after Mayo leaves, though two mayoral candidates have called for a national search.