Starr Wants Contract Extension
In a print-only story on the front page of today’s Advocate, Wynne Parry reports that Stamford Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr is seeking to renegotiate his contract with the Board of Education. Starr came to Stamford in 2005, had his three-year contract renewed in 2007, and with extensions is now signed until June 2012. Starr wants one more year tacked on and says that, if granted, he’ll relocate his family from Brooklyn and enroll his children in Stamford public schools. Starr says the extension would give him stability, allow him to spend more time with his family, and give him the flexibility to be present at more community events.
Starr’s base salary is $215,000 with annual increases (Holy Cow! But wait, there’s more), and his contract also includes a $35,000 annual annuity payment and the potential for a performance-based bonus. To Starr’s credit, he voluntarily gave up his bonus for two years, and this year gave up his salary increase. (Note to Greenwich: If you give me a $215,000 annual contract to teach English, I’ll gladly give up salary increases and bonuses for the remainder of my teaching career.)
There are a number of factors that must be considered here. First, there’s been dramatic change on the school board. No one currently serving on the board was involved in Starr’s hiring. Also, board member Lorraine Olson said she would like “to see if some of his controversial initiatives (middle school reform, Starr’s pick for SHS principal) are successful” before renegotiating his contract. There’s also the current economy. Remember, too, Starr was a finalist to head Milwaukee’s public schools, but at the same time says he’s “deeply committed” to Stamford. Finally, former board member Martin Levine, who supports Starr, notes that “You don’t turn around student test scores in a couple of years,” and he’s right. He defines the necessary time frame as 10 years. I believe he’s right there, too.
Like I said, there’s a lot to consider.
Problems at Westhill
What a year it’s been for Westhill High School, and more specifically, the WHS English Department. Here’s Parry again, from earlier this week:
Westhill High School English teachers attended a Wednesday afternoon workshop intended to begin building a more cohesive environment in a department that has seen three complaints of racially based discrimination, assault and retaliation filed with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities since January.
Lisa Strom, who is in her first year as English Department head, organized the Diversity and Teamwork workshop, facilitated by Larri Mazon, director of Fairfield University’s Center for Multicultural Relations.
“With me as a new leader, I felt it was important for us as a team to learn something new together,” Strom said after the workshop had finished. Although she declined to comment on them, Strom is embroiled in the complaints.
I don’t know Ms. Strom, or anyone else in the English department at the school, but I say good luck to them all. It sounds like they’ll need it.
Read the entire article here.
FCIAC Baseball Playoffs
Staples, Greenwich, Norwalk, Wilton, Fairfield Ludlowe, St. Joseph, Ridgefield, and Westhill get it all started tomorrow afternoon. By Thursday night, a champion will be crowned at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.
Read about it here.
Better yet, go out and buy the paper. Enjoy your Sunday!
Students, and Schools, Gone Wild
Take a bite out of these bad apples.
Yesterday in the New York Post, there was a story on Stuyvesant High School, the downtown Manhattan school thought to be the premiere public high school in the city. According to the Post,
Real classy, kids. Incidentally, why were the displays allowed to be posted in the school? We need answers from the school’s administration. When they wake up.
Read the article here.
More good news. This from Maureen Dowd in The New York Times.
By the way, George Huguely V, who was the University of Virginia lacrosse player charged in the brutal death of his ex-girlfriend, Yeardley Love, a lacrosse player on the university’s women’s team, was a student at Landon.
Enough said.
Click here to read the column.