It's not every day I agree with Pat Awada, but the Mpls School District's new contract with Dave Jennings as interim Superintendant seems to be a textbook case of blurring the bottom line cost to taxpayers.
According to the Strib, Jennings will receive his current salary, $125,000. So far so good. He will also receive a bump in his cell phone allowance and car expenses from $400 to $850 a month. That's $5,000 a year. Plus, the new contract grants him six months of severance - $46,875 - when he leaves the district. That's in a contract that school board directors hope only runs nine months! Then there's 35 days of paid vacation AND 20 days of sick leave (not including 11 paid holidays). That equals 11 work weeks out of 39 in a nine-month contract. I know must supers don't take much time off, and instead take cash at the end of their tenure. That would amount to about another $10,000 to $20,000. The Strib doesn't say if Jennings can convert his unused time, but it's typical in the industry. So even if you take out the expenses, the district committed itself to pay Jennings and extra $55,000 to $70,000 even if his tenure as interim ends next June. That would pay him about $180,000 to $195,000 for a year, if you backdate to Carol Johnson's leaving. I'm not reflexively opposed to paying public executives well. The leaders work incredibly hard. My point here is that these extra-long severance packages (especially compared to "time served") and vacation deals hide costs that should be declared salary. It's not straightforward, and I believe it's bad public policy. The Strib's Allie Shah noted that school board chair Sharon Henry-Blythe noted "some board members raised questions about the severance provision because they worried how it would be perceived by the public." Consider my perception bothered. Can any schools director justify the payout? David Brauer Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
