District Administration - September 2011 - (Page 39)

1. Peter Gorman resigned as the superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Charlotte, N.C., last June to take a position in the newly created education division of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s media company that owns the Fox network of television stations. 2. After a year under a “transformation plan,” Central Falls High School in the Central Falls (R.I.) School District ended the last school year in a shambles. Superintendent Frances Gallo, in her office in March 2010, planned to fire every teacher at Central Falls High because it was a persistent lowest-achieving school. But administrators later abandoned the idea. 3. Eleven years after the Colombine High School shooting massacre, Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Cindy Stevenson, standing, still grapples with security issues. Deer Creek Middle School teacher, David Benke, on right, successfully tackled a shooting suspect in February of 2010. 8 9 4 10 4. As of early June, Jean-Claude Brizard, the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools appointed by City Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has in part met with business leaders and has been dedicated to restructuring the district’s administration, developing better principals and cleaning up what he calls the “collateral damage” of past education reforms. 5. In October 2010, Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson, standing in Coon Rapids High School, faced the aftermath of at least five students’ suicides over the year. Gay-rights advocates stated that bullying may have played a role in two of the suicides. 6. Tucson (Ariz.) Unified School District Superintendent John J. Petticone, Jr. faces an ethnic studies controversy. A new state law bans studies that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, but ethnic studies supporters state the law is anti-immigration. The Money skills, he says, mirror those of a corporate CEO and include leading what is often a community’s primary employer, managing an operating budget of millions, surviving the demands of working long hours seven days a week, and being regularly in the spotlight. Hinojosa, who led the Dallas (Texas) Independent School District for six years, says it is “very typical to get sought after from the outside.” www.DistrictAdministration.com By Marion HerBert 7. Helena School District Superintendent Bruce Messinger discusses the revisions to the district’s controversial sex education curriculum during a school board meeting at Helena Middle School in the fall of 2010. Helena officials have changed some of the most controversial aspects of their proposed sex ed policy. 8. Standing outside the tornado-damaged Holt High School last April, Tuscaloosa County (Ala.) School System Superintendent Frank Costanzo helped emergency personnel in setting up communications, temporary shelters and distribution centers for residents. 9. The Los Angeles Unified School District, like most California districts, is struggling under a funding debacle. Superintendent John Deasy speaks to the media while students line up for a security check at Gardena High School last January, where a gun went off in a student’s backpack and wounded two students. 10. Among other educators, Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier testifies on Capitol Hill last April, before the House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing on “Education Reform: Promoting Flexibility and Innovation.” He asked lawmakers for more flexibility to reform schools using federal money. September 2011 39 At the same time that many former superintendents are being rewarded for performing the same role in the private sector, current superintendents are facing criticism around the country that they are overpaid. The average salary for superintendents nationwide for the 2010-2011 school year was $161,992, according to Educational Research Survey’s 38th http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2011

District Administration - September 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Tech Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Conversations
They Work Hard for the Money
The Road to Rigor
District-Charter Collaborations on the Rise
Designing Safe Facilities
Tony Smith Tackles Oakland
Product Focus
New Products
Research Center
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Professional Opinion
Student Counsel

District Administration - September 2011