CMS’ Case For Continuous Upheaval
The same stone-broke board of education that insists it must close schools because the district simply has no money somehow found enough to award more than $1 million in contract extensions to top executives Tuesday night, hours before the board called in armed police to clear the government center’s meeting chamber of audience members protesting the latest recommendations for school closures.
The list of top CMS brass to receive the lucrative contract extensions include: Chief Accountability Officer Robert Avossa ($160,000); Chief Operating Officer Hugh Hattabaugh ($169,000); Chief Financial Officer Sheila Shirley ($169,363); Chief Academic Officer Ann Clark ($169,638); Associate Superintendent Guy Chamberlain ($148,813); Assistant Superintendent Jane Rhyne ($141,293); and Area Superintendents Scott Muri ($134,859) and Tyler Ream ($134,859).
“The timing isn’t the greatest when we’re talking about school closures to save money, and now we’re talking about extending contracts to top administrators,” said Kaye McGarry, the only school board member to vote against approving the contracts. “I do appreciate all the work that they’ve done, but I also feel that waiting until the first of the year, until we’ll have a better hold on what our budget will look like, would be a more prudent way to utilize our decision-making powers.”
Board member Trent Merchant said the district needed to retain its top talent.
“If you are someone who is looking at CMS on a school level, and most people do, then it’s hard to have sympathy for somebody who makes a pretty good salary and isn’t standing in front of your kid making decisions. It doesn’t make those people any less important,” Merchant said. “In fact, what they do is servant-leadership, trying to make it easier for those teachers to do their jobs better.”
Less than two hours later, Merchant and the rest of the school board were headed behind closed doors when police were called in to clear the meeting chamber.
The turmoil during Tuesday night’s meeting marked the latest upheaval triggered by plans to demolish six schools (Amay James, Pawtuckett, Davidson IB, Wilson, Smith and Morgan), close, consolidate or relocate six more (Irwin Avenue, Lincoln Heights, Oakhurst, J.T. Williams, Bishop Spaugh and Harding), create new school grade configurations that will have kindergarteners lumped into the same buildings with eighth graders, and provide targeted assistance and smaller changes for dozens of schools. Altogether the recommended changes impact about 70 schools and thousands of students.
The majority of schools recommended for closure or consolidations have historically been underutilized or struggled with poor academic performance. Many of the same schools, however, serve low-income and minority students, which has sparked cries of racism and accusations that district leaders are hatching a diabolical plan to resegregate CMS.
District officials contend the changes are necessary to save money, as CMS braces for a projected budget shortfall upwards of $60 million next year. The plan for school closings, consolidations, and grade reorganizations, officials say, will save about $3.3 million in the first year and $6.2 million in the second.
The proposals have sparked widespread discontent, with angry parents and outspoken community leaders claiming certain schools are being unfairly targeted. Last week protestors were cleared from a school board meeting, which led to the arrest of a CMS teacher and the leader of the local NAACP.
1 2
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=3988
