Current School Board policy and state law give authority to the Board of Education to “employ by contract and set salary schedules for the superintendent, business administrator, principals, teachers, and other employees of the district.”
In our last school board meeting of July 9, 2013, at Snowbird ski resort, I questioned why we were not following that policy.
In the audio you will hear the superintendent state that the process has not changed since he has been at the district and he claims that the board does approve hiring when they place the names on the consent agenda.
Sadly, the ensuing conversation is yet another example of board members with over a decade of serving on the board do not understand their powers and authority.
At one point, board member Heather Bennett states that the “principals don’t have contracts” after she makes the statement, she looks to the superintendent for approval and asks him, “am I correct?”.
At another point in the conversation board member Doug Nelson will state in a condescending tone, “we are not voting like we vote on a policy”. I am not sure what other kind of voting he is talking about. The policy places both issues in the same list.
At the end of the conversation McKell intones: “as a board member …that is not your role”.
The board president then declares that it is “confusing”.
Superintendent: Lulling the School Board
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio of the a portion of the 07/09/13 School Board Meeting
Here is the link to the document given to us in the meeting:
HR DOC 07/09/13
I question the current practice because the intent of the law and policy is to give the board, who are elected by the people, the final approval on the hiring of a principal. This gives the people a voice on such an important postion within the school system.
Our current practice is for the school board to be told by the superintendent and not have a vote in the decision or the opportunity to weigh in before a potential candidate is offered the job.
This has now allowed principals to be placed or transferred within our school district, bypassing the school board altogether. We now have a number of principals in our schools that are substandard and the school board is powerless to do anything about it because they have abdicated their authority to the superintendent.
On June 3, 2013, the School Board received an email from the superintendent telling us who the new principal would be at a school. I have attached the email below. I have redacted the name of the principal and the school. I have done so because had I had the chance to approve the name, I would have. I have no objection to the principal that was selected.
I do however take exception to the fact that in violation of our own policy and state law, the school board was extracted from the approval process.
I am advised by former school board members that they were part of the decision making process every step of the way. They were informed of the candidates and of the finalist and who would be offered the job. These updates would occur during the closed session portion of the school board meetings where they could ask questions and discuss the qualifications of the candidates and give their nod to the superintendent to proceed.
It would be at the following school board meeting that the new principal’s name would appear on the school board agenda and on the consent agenda for board approval.
Here is an agenda from July 2005 (McKell arrived in 2003) with the attached HR Report. Contrary to the assertion of Board VP Heather Bennett principals do have contracts. They were also publicly approved by the school board the day they were announced to everyone else. Contrary to the superintendent’s statement, that is not what is occurring now.
July 12, 2005, Board Meeting Agenda
It is most unfortunate that the current board has abdicated their powers and authority and have left teachers, parents and students without another intended layer of protection. It appears that the Superintendent hired a new principal prior to June 3, 2012, with no School Board input or approval whatsoever.
In a newspaper article from last year, the opening headline read: “The Park City Board of Education hired a new principal for Parley’s Park Elementary School at its meeting Tuesday morning.” That statement would be in line with state law and the policy/practice at Park City School District; “…Board of Education hired a new principal…”. We cannot say that in the Salt Lake City School District.