Wanted: 4 New School Admins

The school district opened a nationwide search to replace four top administrators — rankling labor leaders grappling with pending layoffs of lesser-paid employees.

The district last week posted a new batch of job openings on its website. Among the open positions are a coordinator of audiovisual and libraries, special education supervisor, guidance supervisor, and director of instruction.

School system Chief Operating Officer Will Clark said those four positions are being left vacant by retirements. He called each one ​“critical” to the school district, but said the Board of Ed is open to ​“restructuring” or ​“consolidating” instead of filling each job.

The postings came on the heels of a student protest last week over administrative school spending. The topic has become a hot-button issue, especially now that the city is looking ahead to more layoffs and union concessions amid a financial crisis.

“I get absolutely pounded on the number of administrators in the district. I can’t tell you,” Mayor John DeStefano said at a recent school board meeting. ​“I think some people, if they could shoot every other administrator, it would, like, give them some kind of joy in their limited lives.”

According to the new city budget, the district has 133 administrators making over $100,000, including 37 central office staff, 45 principals, 49 assistant principals, and two former assistant principals who got bumped down to teaching jobs due to layoffs.

Click here to view a list of assistant principals and central office staff in that category.

Overall, the district spends $16 million in salaries for directors, supervisors, principals and assistant principals, out of a $376 million budget serving over 20,000 kids.

Two union leaders said hiring more administrators would make ​“no sense” while the district is bracing for more layoffs. ​“We represent people who are essential to the functioning of the school and the city,” said AFSCME’s Larry Dorman said, ​“but those are the people that are deemed expendable, and the managerial people at the highest ranks are somehow deemed more important. We just don’t understand how that makes any sense.”

The Board of Education may make about 70 layoffs by the end of the summer to fill a $14.5 million budget gap, according to DeStefano. That’s on top of 42 school job cuts in February, including teachers, truancy officers, two assistant principals and a principal.

In an interview Tuesday, Clark made a case for the national job search for the four administrator positions — for why in a large, complex workforce, some top jobs sometimes need to remain filled. He also described ways school brass is ​“thinking outside the box” to bring the same kind of cost-cutting to top administrative positions as is being brought to lower-paid positions.

High Schools Chief

Charles Williams, who’s 62, started out with the district as a science teacher at Lee High School in 1972. He’s now the director of instruction for the city’s 13 high schools, making $137,172 in the job. He gave notice at the end of last year that he’ll be retiring come June 30.

“He’s the only director over all the high schools,” Clark explained. ​“Charles has been instrumental at the high school level,” serving as the point person for the Promise scholarship and a partnership with College Summit to prepare city kids for college. He’s also the point person for a new principal evaluation system, Clark said.

“That is a critical position. You need someone to do those ​‘vals.”

The job entails ​“assist[ing] the principal and school staff with student achievement recruitment, curriculum implementation, assessments, data driven decision making, scheduling, strategic planning, school events and community involvement as well as staff supervision and personnel issues,” according to the job description posted online.

The listed job requirements:
 • ​“Two years of post graduate work, including a masters degree;
 • At least five years of successful experience in an administrative position in a school system, preferably in the position of a principal.
 • Experience in curriculum development and implementation desirable.
 • Applicants must hold an active Connecticut Intermediate Administrator Certificate (092).”

Guidance Director

Cynthia Beaver, the district’s guidance supervisor, is stepping down at the end of the year from her $128,038-salary job. She has 33 years of experience in the field, according to the schools budget.

Beaver oversees about 50 guidance counselors, who are spread out across the district’s elementary and high schools. The position helps connect schools to the Promise scholarship and College Summit programs, which encourage college-going among all schoolkids.

The job is ​“integral” to the district’s goal of giving every kid the opportunity to go to college, Clark argued.

Beaver also oversees the Talented and Gifted Program and a leadership development program for children, he said.

Qualifications for the job: ​“a Connecticut Certificate as an Intermediate Administrator (092); at least five (5) years experience as a guidance counselor in a school setting; extensive background in training and experience in the area of pupil personnel services.”

Special Ed Chief

Marilyn Chalmers stepped down in October from her job at the helm of a $21.4 million department. Since then, Typhanie Jackson has been ​“picking up the slack” as the acting supervisor of special education, according to Clark. She’s listed in the budget with a $133,608 salary to oversee 27 full-time staff, including special education teachers, supervisors and clerk typists. Ten of those jobs are grant-funded.

The job entails serving the roughly 11 percent of students who have special needs.

The supervisor must ​“supervise and administer district programs for children with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); Become knowledgeable about the development and trends in special education; Consult with teaching staff to determine the needs of students; Ensure timely evaluations of students suspected to have a disability; Provide ongoing training and assistance to special education teachers and related service staff”; and ​“Maintain accurate records to comply with federal and state law.”

The person in this job ​“oversees an incredibly intricate area” of the district with ​“a lot of mandates,” Clark said. Between federal and state law, there is ​“a very complex set of law and requirements.”

“It would be difficult to think of not filling” that position with a permanent staffer, Clark concluded.

Applicants must have ​“an active Connecticut Intermediate Administrator certificate (092) and certification in special education or any related services,” according to the job description. ​“Knowledge of federal and state special education law a must.”

Music Maven Sought

The coordinator of audiovisual and libraries, a 10-month-a-year position, was most recently filled by Regina Lilly-Warner, who retired in 2009. Lilly-Warner worked for 30 years to spread the love of music among public schoolkids before she passed away in January.

The position has been vacant since Lilly-Warner left, according to Clark.

“For the time being, we’ve been able to make adjustments internally” to cover the job duties, Clark said.

The job goal is ​“to provide a full spectrum of educational enrichment materials so that each student in the district will find available instructional and non-instructional materials appropriate to his interests, abilities, and level of maturity,” according to the description posted online.

The job requires a ​“an active Connecticut Intermediate Administrator Certificate (092); extensive academic background in audiovisual materials and equipment, and the use of various media generally; extensive practical experience in application of audiovisual field methods; experience in a position with responsibility for supervising personnel.”

“We’ve made do for the moment,” Clark said, ​“but that’s an area that we certainly would want to have someone overseeing.

No ​“Knee-Jerk Fills”

The district won’t necessarily fill those four posts, according to Clark: He considers each position ​“critical,” but, ​“we don’t divorce ourselves from thinking outside the box.”

In the past, the district has consolidated positions when top administrators left, he pointed out.

Lilly-Warner’s husband, Charles Warner, was the ​“director of special programs” and a longtime administrator. When he retired from the district last year, his job was not filled.

Longtime school construction czar Susan Weisselberg left in 2009 for a job at the state Capitol. By that time, the district had already rebuilt or renovated 31 schools; it had only seven more projects remaining. Instead of filling her position, Clark took over her remaining duties.

Director of Personnel Andrea Lobo-Watley left last year; the district hired a part-time employee, a retiree from the state, to take over her duties, according to Clark. After Warner and Lobo-Watley left, Assistant Superintendents Imma Canelli and Garth Harries took on the extra task of directly supervising schools on their departed colleagues’ caseloads.

“We certainly don’t have a knee-jerk fill history,” Clark said.

Clark said the district is launching the national search at this time because ​“we know in this industry that there is a shortage of qualified administrators,” and ​“there tends to be a battle for talent.”

“We may ultimately decide to fill” the positions, or not.

Clark said he couldn’t answer the question of how the district would suffer if one of these jobs isn’t filled. If you ​“take a piece out of a very large puzzle, the context of the piece is lost,” he said. ​“In our current structure, each of those positions is vital and very important.”

All these jobs are open to internal as well as external candidates, he added: ​“I certainly would encourage people to apply.”

“No Sense”

Cherlyn Poindexter, president of AFSCME Council 4 Local 3144, urged the district to hold off on any new hires until the district figures out how many people will be losing their jobs. Her union represents 400 management workers; she lost six members who worked for the Board of Education in the February layoffs.

Now she’s bracing for another round of layoffs on the city and Board of Ed side. She questioned whether the four posted jobs need to be filled.

“It makes no sense that you’re going to lay people off, and then you’re going to hire new people?” she charged.

The number of layoffs will depend on a number of factors: how many people retire; whether the governor goes to State Budget Plan B; whether the district can get outside funding; and how many teachers and principals get terminated through the new evaluation process.

The district has also posted for assistant principals and principals. Clark said the district does that every year because it doesn’t know exactly how many people will leave at the end of the year.

When deciding whether to fill a position, ​“we analyze all of our positions and will fill the ones that are critical to the reform initiative, to the academic success of our students in New Haven,” Clark said.

Larry Dorman, a spokesman for AFSCME Council 4, called the prospect of hiring more administrators ​“troubling” — especially ​“when they want to privatize and put into poverty custodians.” The mayor is pursuing privatizing 176 custodial jobs, which would knock down the wages of the lowest-paid workers in the Board of Ed, and leave them without a guarantee of a job.

Dorman’s union represents 1,500 city workers, including the custodians that clean city schools.

West Rock Alderman Darnell Goldson said he reviewed the new schools budget and ​“I’m astounded by how top-heavy we are.”

For example: Wilbur Cross High (1,212 students) has one principal and seven assistant principals, while Hill Regional Career High (enrollment 669) has one principal and one assistant principal. Goldson asked if the district really needs a Chief of External Affairs ($95,000), Executive Manager of Leadership Dev ($110,000), Senior Coordinator Dept of Student Info ($92,000), Chief of Staff ($143,850), Chief Operating Officer ($146,016), Public Education Advocate ($53,833), and a school spokesperson ($78,793).

A review of administrative job descriptions sheds some light on what a few of these people do.

Chief of External Affairs Laoise King left the mayor’s office to become the public face of the reform drive. She’s the point person for the citywide Parent Teacher Organization and New Haven Promise, the college scholarship program for New Haven public school kids.

Chief of Staff Leida Pacini ​“provides administrative support, coordinates staff activities and special projects and performs other executive duties for the school district as assigned by the superintendent.” Her job includes to ​“monitor and research items for the Superintendent; take necessary actions to address issues and resolve problems where appropriate.” She also gives the superintendent ​“regular status reports” on goings on in the district, and lets him know when staff ​“encounter problems” ​“fulfilling responsibilities.”

Pacini also responds to complaints or inquiries from staff; assembles confidential materials ​“and other complex documents” for the superintendent; and ​“oversees personnel functions” such as ​“grievances, hiring, discipline, terminations and evaluations, in collaboration with the superintendent.”

COO Clark’s job requires ​“a master’s degree in public administration and at least 10 years experience in city management or local government administration.”

“This is a highly responsible administrative position, assisting the Superintendent in coordinating and improving the departments and offices that make up the Department of Education,” the job description reads.

Illustrative examples of the COO’s work:

“Brings operating personnel together, develops reasonable courses of actions, follows-up on subsequent performance.”

“Monitors internal and external information, examines the consequences of that information for operations, and develops concepts for necessary changes in structure of procedures.

“Solves problems through creating a priority order of deficiencies in existing procedures, then develops the process leading to implementation of the solution to the problem.”

Assistant principals must have at least five years’ teaching experience and an active Connecticut Intermediate Administrator Certificate (092), according to the job description. The job goal is to: ​“assist the principal in fulfilling his/her responsibility of promoting the educational well-being of each student in the school.”

The job can be a 10-month or a 12-month position. The job duties include: to help the principal administer the school; serve as principal when the principal’s gone; prepare student schedules; supervise orders of supplies and textbooks; coordinate transportation; supervise attendance monitor to track student attendance; and maintain discipline.

A Fuller Plate

Assistant principals are also involved in the district’s new system for evaluating teachers — a time-consuming task.

The new process is tying up a lot of principals’ time, several principals testified at a recent board meeting.

“Do we have too many administrators when we’re asking to take on a task like this?” DeStefano asked.

“I don’t think there’s too many administrators; I wouldn’t dare say that,” responded Gina Wells, principal of John Daniels School. She said the new evaluation system means a lot more time spent in the classroom with teachers, which is a good thing. ​“If we’re really going to make change and be effective, then we need to be in classrooms much more than we were before.”

“We are constantly up and down the hallway looking in and out of classrooms, and that takes administrators to do it.”

Wells has one assistant principal helping her out at her school, which serves 524 kids. She added that an assistant principal can provide key backup to help with the principal’s workload, which can be unpredictable.

“On any given day, something awful could happen, and there it goes, it blows every single thing that you ever thought you were going to do.”

If an irate parent comes into the school, Wells said, ​“the only person that can calm that parent down is the face that they’ve looked at perhaps for too many years, then you need to stop what you’re doing and you need to do that.”

Clark said the school-based administrators have important roles.

For example, Cross has a $12 million budget, one principal and seven assistant principals. Four assistant principals each run a ​“small learning community,” which is basically like running a school, Clark said. Another handles discipline. Another coordinates English; another is in charge of science and math.

One of Cross’s assistant principals, Sheila Williams, is being reassigned to John Martinez School next year, he added.

The number of administrators — about 100 school-based administrators for 46 schools and programs serving 20,000 kids — makes sense with the new, robust evaluation system, Clark argued.

Besides conducting evaluations, principals serve as ​“the curriculum leader, the data team leader, the school improvement plan author, life coach, security guard. It’s a calling more than it is a profession,”

When you consider those duties, Clark argued, ​“I don’t think there’s any real legitimacy to an attack on the number.”

Administrators ​“all work very hard, and they do a thankless job. These folks do a lot of stuff and they do it with a lot of heart,” but they face unfair criticism, Clark said.

“They deal with very challenging circumstances, and they basically get slapped in the face.”