March 18, 20204
To: Riverhead School District Board of Education, etc.
Re: Idea for hiring the next, permanent, Superintendent of Schoolsfor Riverhead Central School District
It’s like Versailles in there!
The last few years, the Riverhead Central School District has run its administration in the same, failed way. With each opening, we have hired a high-paid, high-profile, single Superintendent, whose role seems to be to make decisions in a somewhat unilateral way, and to also seem like the strong, single face of the school district. That strategy is the way that other Long Island schools do thing. But, it is not the only way. And, it is definitely not working for us as a district.
Even worse for us, all around our elevated Superintendent, there are long time administrators with their own power and opinions. It appears (as best as can be construed from outside the organization) that this more permanent government has the effect of either: ousting the superintendent, causing the job to be unbearable for the superintendent, or allowing the superintendent to fall into corruption (ie: absolute power, corrupts absolutely.)
Our school district cannot afford to hire another Superintendent, give that person a lot of power and decision-making, and then watch as that Superintendent fails in some manner. When the high paid employees the school board and school administration decide on then end up leaving us with a sudden turnover situation, the taxpayer is often left paying a “double salary” for the old and the replacement superintendent. It is hurting us financially. It is hurting our stability as an organization. It is hurting our reputation in the Riverhead community and the Long Island community.
What we need is new ideas.
One idea is to simply hire a Superintendent at a lower salary. His/her salary will be less of a burden on our budget. The salary figure will be less of a high mark for other administrators in our school district to look up to in comparison. And, hiring someone at a lower salary might invite in someone who is “on a mission” to truly help and someone who is “a giver and not a taker” type personality/professional.
We should not invite economic injustice and disparity into our district culture. At our own school district, the former Superintendent’s high salary caused an actually stir at a school board meeting. A school bus driver confronted the Superintendent and the disparate salaries of him and other staff. Many of our employees in the room seemed in sympathy with those thoughts.
In other districts, the high salaries of Superintendents have caused community rebellions and cranky, upstart school board challenge candidates. There is a limit to the salary that middle class and working class people can see supporting with their tax dollars. Page 1 of 3
Another idea:
Perhaps we should hire two, Co-Superintendents.
There are many reasons to hire Co-leaders in organizations. And, in fact, Co-Directors is a current trend in the nonprofit world.
-Instead of someone who has climbed to the top and demands a high salary, you can offer the job to two people who are more in the milieu of your other leadership positions. This could make for more respect among the top leadership and the administrators under them. Moreover, other administrators might feel more “with” the superintendents, rather than “under” the superintendents, if they were making more similar salaries.
-Creating “flex jobs” inside our district: By breaking the enormous job of being Superintendent into two positions, you could possibly make the positions less than 40 hours a week. Thus, you might be able to pay less in dollars and use the reward of “flexibility” (instead of a high financial package) to the superintendents. In this way, you might hire someone who: is new in their career and also goes to school themselves; or, someone who has a lot of family responsibilities, but wants to be attached to a school career; or, someone with a consulting or other freelance business, but wants a steady, part-time administrative job.
-Since our school district has had mostly white leadership for such a long time, it is hard to break the cycle and support a person of diversity to lead us. Also, due to structural racism in America, and especially due to patterns of discrimination in the world of education and business in America, sometimes candidates of diversity may be less likely to have the correct paperwork or degrees to be the sole Superintendent.
Having two candidates who are the “winners” and get the job, can often allow oppressed groups a chance to win that second spot. If a hiring committee takes a vote, they could even use proportional representation the way communities do to let minority voices win one of the slots.
If we had Co-Superintendents, we might be able to navigate NY Education Law and Regents rules to see if only one of the candidates could hold the usual degrees and certificates, while the other candidate would be their partner in decision making and bring different strengths and resources to the table.
The Riverhead Central School District has had too much turnover in Superintendents recently to keep doing the same old thing over and over again. We must look at better ways to hire a Superintendent, or fill that role.
If we must hire one person, than we should at least look to our past, where more parent and community input happened during the search. I have been told that in the past, PTO officers or representative were even invited to be part of the interview team for Superintendent candidates.
I hope the administration and school board will explore new ways to seek out a new Superintendent or Superintendents, with parent and/or community input. And, by using new pathways, and more consensus, I am sure the next Superintendent will stay with our district for a much longer time.
Though, the least request that I am making – and I have heard someone else ask you at a board meeting, and I have seen people make this suggestion on social media – is that you advertise for the position of Superintendent and that you allow some input from the parents and the community.
Kind regards,
Kimberly Wilder
Coordinator, Riverhead Area School Info/RASi,
a project of Wilderside, Ltd.
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Possible suggestions for Co-Superintendent candidates
It could be an exciting, new direction to have Co-Superintendents
Possible “Certified” Co-Superintendents:
(I have not spoken with any of these people. I have observed them from afar and I am guessing that they may have the proper school leadership certifications)
-Dali Rastello, who created our Dual Language Program.
She is a consultant. Maybe it could fit into her working life to be a half time, Co- Superintendent, and keep her other operations open.
-Any of our former RCSD Superintendents, who the administration or board feel could be welcomed back into the fold.
–A note on former Superintendents: It turns out that our former, longtime Superintendent, Nancy Carney, has just showed up as the new Superintendent of Springs School. Perhaps if we had advertised the Superintendent or Co-Superintendent position sooner, we might have had her back.
-Dr. Maria Casamassa, one of our administrators, Director of Humanities
-Dr. Jeannine Campbell, one of our administrators, Director of STEM
-Mr. Gassar, one of our administrators, Director of School Counseling
If we could use the certificates of a candidate such as the above to comply with NYSED rules about Superintendents, perhaps we could have a Co-Superintendent who offered resources such as leadership, connection to the community, cultural diversity, and/or diversity of thought to the team.
Possible “probably not officially certified” Co-Superintendents:
(While I am colleagues with some of these people, I have not presented them with this idea or asked their permission to be listed here. I am simply recognizing their talent.)
-Parent leaders from some of our clubs and organizations
-Administrators from other school districts who may want to bump up to the challenge of the role of Superintendent
-Joselo Lucero, speaker and community advocate
-An administrator from OLA
-An administrator from Butterfly Effect Project
Riverhead Area School Info 