Superintendents: Baldacci plan will chase off experience, talent
By MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Saturday, January 20, 2007

Frank Boynton and Paul Knowles have a lot in common. Both men are in their 50s. Both are school superintendents. And both could lose their jobs if the Legislature adopts a controversial and radical cost-saving plan being proposed by Gov. John Baldacci.

The two educators, each with nearly three decades or more experience, face the prospect of having to decide whether to take lower-paying jobs to stay in Maine or to look out of state to stay employed in similar positions.

On the other hand, superintendents who retain their jobs face the daunting task of running districts as much as 10 times their current size.

Those are just a few of the scenarios the state's top school administrators would confront under the governor's plan, which would cut the number of school districts in the state from 290 to 26, eliminating hundreds, perhaps thousands, of clerical, teaching and administrative positions.

Effective June 30, 2008, all 152 superintendents who manage those districts would get a pink slip.

Boynton, who heads School Union 132 -- which includes Chelsea, Whitefield and Jefferson -- admitted he is exploring other career options in education as well as the private sector. But he said it's too early to make any kind of a commitment.

"I'll wait to see what the final legislation is before I make the jump," said Boynton, who earns $79,150 a year. "I'm trying to stay positive and continue to do my job. That's my goal. To do this job and do it well as long as I'm here."

He said over the next year and a half, as lawmakers debate the proposal, highly educated and committed superintendents, many with doctoral degrees, will find themselves unemployed. Finding positions with comparable salaries may take them out of state.

But after 33 years of service in Maine's education system, Boynton, 54, said it wouldn't be a choice he'd make.

"For me, it would be very hard to leave the state," he said. "I was born and raised here. All my education was in the state of Maine and I have 33 years of service in its education system. My whole life is dedicated to education in this state."

Donald Siviski, superintendent for Maine School Administration District 16, which includes the towns of Hallowell and Farmingdale, said he hasn't seriously thought about losing his job.

"We don't have enough data to assess the validity of the proposal so I can't even go there yet," Siviski said.

He said SAD 16 would become part of a capital area district consisting of 11 different school systems and 23 towns. That consolidation would pit him against his peers, including Boynton, for the top job.

Siviski, 57, who lives in Wiscassett and earns $90,000 a year, said he attended a two-day conference for superintendents in Portland last week.

At that conference, Siviski said he didn't hear one superintendent talk about losing their position.

They were more concerned about their staff. He said the governor's plan would eliminate 650 teachers and 600 central office personnel.

"These are highly trained, very specifically talented people who have devoted their lives to school districts," he said. "We can only speculate on the impact of the classroom, but the morale is definite."

Boynton, who lives in Durham, said his biggest concern is the students, especially those who have learning disabilities. He said they will be lost in the large network of school systems.

Greg Potter, Sheepscot Valley School Union 133 superintendent with an annual salary of $77,500, also has concerns for students.

"I'm less concerned with my personal impact than I am with the future of education and what I would desire as a parent, obviously, for my own children," Potter said.

"I've actually had a couple of meetings with superintendents since the plan was announced and the consensus is it's too much too soon and it isn't well thought out."

Knowles, School Administrative District 11 superintendent, agrees with Potter and wonders why educators weren't asked to take part in the planning process of the governor's proposal.

Knowles, 50, of Winthrop, said he has been in education for 28 years and holds four degrees, including a doctorate in education leadership.

"I'm concerned about myself and other personnel losing their jobs," Knowles said, "but it's about the children."

He questioned how the proposal would affect class size. He said one big success in Maine education is the lower teacher-to-student ratio.

Knowles, who earns $92,000, also said there's no way superintendents overseeing a mega school district could do all that is required of them. He said a superintendent wears many hats.

"People talk about the money we make, but if you look at the hours we put in and the responsibility, one could debate what we're paid," Knowles said. "We start between six and six thirty in the morning and are out two and four nights a week until 10 (p.m.) or later. How many people work those kind of days."

In addition to implementing the Maine Learning Results and No Child Left Behind, unfunded mandates from the state and federal governments, superintendents are charged with contract negotiations and budgets, dealing with municipalities and communities, policy making, data assessment, curriculum coordination and school construction.

If the school systems end up hiring more middle management to help with all the facets of a superintendent's job, he said, where's the savings?

And Potter, a Waterville resident, said there's absolutely no guarantee that Maine people will fill those 26 superintendent positions.

He said there's nothing in the governor's plan that says candidates must be recruited from within a school system.

"Experience is key and there are a number of states around the country that have larger administrative units than we have in Maine," Potter said. "I think it's going to be really competitive for those positions."

Potter is in only his second year as superintendent for a union with three member towns -- Windsor, Somerville and Palermo.

At 41, he's nowhere near being ready for retirement. If he lost his job, he said he would be willing to take a middle management or teaching position to be close to the students.

Augusta School Superintendent Cornelia Brown is another superintendent not ready to retire. She earns an annual salary of $92,000.

The 44-year-old Brown, who has made her home in Augusta, said she has heard two versions of what will happen to superintendents in Maine if the Legislature accepts the governor's plan.

Brown said she heard from Education Commissioner Susan Gendron last week that superintendents with multiyear contracts would be accommodated within a super school district, not necessarily as a superintendent, but in another administrative position.

"I started adding up the positions, and I think conservatively in all we're talking about 2,300 people who will be jobless," Brown said. "(Baldacci) said 600 and something teachers and add that to 150 superintendents, that's 750. And you've got at least 1,200 central office staff. That's a lot of individuals who are going to be unemployed."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com


Reader comments

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Jack of nowhere, ME
Sep 10, 2007 6:29 AM
I can't believe the ignorance of many comments here. So little people have respect for all that educators do, and that includes superintendents. While some reduction might be a good idea the grand scale of Baldacci's plan is going to send education in Maine into a downward spiral. It's a true shame. To those who think superintendents do no work for high pay I highly encourage you to do some actual research regarding the duties superintendents have (and while you're at it, take a look at how much teachers do, as well.) I'm awfully tired of people claiming educators have it so easy, get paid too much and get summers off. You people have no clue.report abuse
moose of augusta, ME
Sep 1, 2007 11:58 AM
Going to be a lot of superintendents missing the free conference in Bar Harbor with all the free lobsters they can eat on the taxpayer.report abuse
Paula Michaud of St. David, ME
Feb 7, 2007 11:20 AM
I think that they're all wrong. Baldacci's plan is getting us farther away from the real solution to the education problem. We need more people involved in education, with closer connections to the students... and certainly not higher pay. Higher pay and quality of education are not necessarily positively correlated. Everyone stresses qualifications... the heck with qualifications. Benjamin Franklin didn't receive much formal education. Hands on learning and community involvement is what we need more of. My child attends Madawaska Middle School. Here it's been years since they've been able to find a permanent superintendent... the current interim just resigned. I've asked the school board "What specific duties warrant a $400 per day salary? Can't we find another way to satisfy the requirements put on us by the state officials?" Years ago I wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper. I suggested that teachers not be required to have a four-year degree. It drew criticism from some. I pose the question "If the average Mainer is not qualified to teach elementary school students, then should we not focus on educating the adults in our community?" My background is three years of college, and I've worked as an education technician for one year. I value the learning I've gained through personal experiences more than what I've learned because of requirements for the degree I sought. I've written a book regarding some of the hardships we've faced in the courts of Maine... Dirty Decisions. I hope to get it in print sometime in February. pjm@ainop.com report abuse
Andie Disch of Waterville, ME
Jan 21, 2007 11:24 AM
Responding to taxpayer of Augusta, ME

You are right many people work this many hours and more...some hold 2 or 3 jobs but their responsibility at work usually consists of making sure that the lettuce goes on the hamburger before the tomato. If you are holding 2 or 3 jobs to earn a living, you need to get a real education.

Your superintendent does not only administer eduational policy but they run a transportation facility, food service facility and facility to take care of mentally and physically handicapped children all while operating under the constant and unfunded guidelines of the state and feds.

If you have this much responsibility at the burger joint you're working then you too should be making $92K.

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