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The school board is scrapping one top administrative job and creating a new “chief financial officer” to take over the budget, as part of Superintendent Garth Harries’ new effort to reorganize the district’s top leadership.
The school board on Monday approved creating seven new top administrative positions at Harries’ request. Two of them are entirely new positions. The other five are redefinitions of existing jobs.
Harries said on balance the reorganization won’t cost New Haven taxpayers any more money, because he’s also eliminating vacant jobs within the school district’s central office.
“The reorganization of these positions will keep general-fund expenditures either flat or slightly down,” Harries said.
The board approved all seven positions by a unanimous vote.
Teachers union President David Cicarella expressed apprehension about the new hires, especially in light of the budget deficit.
“We have teachers and students who were displaced at Lincoln/Bassett, MicroSociety,” and Polly/McCabe, due to the deficit, he said. He said he has “concerns” about creating any new administrative positions, after Mayo had trimmed down central office over the years.
“We’re concerned about the positions,” and in some cases, “the individuals being circulated for those positions,” he said.
Harries said he decided to eliminate his old job, assistant superintendent of portfolio management and reform. He said he has taken that skill set with him to the superintendent’s job, which he began on July 23. Some of his previous duties, such as supervising schools, will be redistributed among other staff.
Harries said the reorganization aims to ensure central office reflects the school district’s priorities as part of its school reform effort.
“We need to get the leadership structure in place so that we can move forward,” Harries said.
The school board approved creating the following positions:
Chief Financial Officer. This new position that did not exist for the 21 years that Superintendent Reginald Mayo led the school district.
“Doc [Mayo] managed the budget very, very closely,” Harries said. “I don’t have that experience.”
“In the context of budget deficits,” he added, “there’s a significant need to focus on” the district’s financial systems. He was referring to a surprise deficit that popped up in July: Just days after taking his new post, Superintendent Harries learned that the school district has a $3.5 million structural shortfall. That sent the school district scrambling to make last-minute cuts before school started.
The budget used to cover 10 departments — including school facilities, labor negotiations, construction, food services and transportation — that answered to the chief operating officer, Will Clark. Harries presented a new organizational chart that removes the responsibility of preparing the budget from the chief operating officer’s office and places it under the purview of a new chief financial officer.
Harries said he plans to use philanthropic dollars to hire a search firm to find a candidate for the new finance chief’s job. The job description and salary have yet to be determined.
Chief Talent Officer. A new position. The person will oversee the district’s new principal training program, human resources, and the new way of grading teachers and administrators. The district has long planned to create this position through a $53 million federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant. The schools held off on filling the job until the new superintendent was in place.
Harries said the district has strong internal candidates for the job; he doesn’t plan to hire a search firm to fill the position.
Teachers union President Cicarella spoke up Monday to note that creating the position “requires my signature.” That’s because as part of the TIF grant, the school system agreed not to spend a penny without approval with the teachers’ union. Not much of the $53 million has been spent so far. The first money was spent in August on a boot camp for teacher leaders.
Deputy Superintendent. The school district has had two assistant superintendents for the past few years. Most recently, Harries and Imma Canelli served in those roles. Harries’ job has remained vacant since his promotion in July. Moving forward, Harries is replacing the two “assistant superintendent” jobs and replacing them with one “deputy superintendent.” Harries said by law, he needs to post the new “deputy superintendent” job to outside candidates. But he expects the current assistant superintendent, Canelli, to be appointed to the new title.
Executive Director of Schools. Right now the city has three directors responsible for overseeing batches of schools: Ilene Tracey, Damaris Rau and Kim Johnsky. One of those three will likely be promoted to the new job, which oversees the other two, Harries said.
Executive Manager for Superintendent’s Office. Superintendent Mayo used to have a chief of staff, Leida Pacini. The position has been vacant since Pacini left a year ago, Harries said. He plans to redefine the “chief of staff” job as an “executive manager.”
P20 Student Trajectory Director. This job will focus on P20, or pre‑K to grade “20,” education lingo for a student’s career. The person will oversee the school district’s new challenge of taking responsibility for kids’ success in college and beyond. The school board plans to eliminate the guidance counselor director job, which is currently held by Lola Garcia-Blocker. Garcia-Blocker would be the likely candidate to take the P20 job.
School Enrollment and Choice Director. This job will replace the “magnet coordinator,” a job that has been vacant since Bob Canelli retired. Harries said the job will be redefined to focus on enrollment and registration instead of the magnet themes. The job is paid for by a magnet grant.
The school board Monday also approved hiring Sue Peters as the new “director of coordinated school health” for a salary of $99,648. Deborah Blue is being promoted to magnet project manager. Both positions are being paid for by grants.