A bad habit converged with hardball politics and understandable
salary concerns resulting in an unfortunate, unwise and unnecessary
blow-up at the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees
meeting last week.
A bad habit converged with hardball politics and understandable salary concerns resulting in an unfortunate, unwise and unnecessary blow-up at the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting last week.
School principals and assistant principals walked away with a 7 percent salary increase, but the fallout is palpable. Until trustees steer clear of bad past habits, which have existed in Gilroy’s public school system for decades, these caustic, divisive situations which cause community upheaval will continue to arise. The Board needs to clearly communicate a shift in direction with staff and the community in concert with the next superintendent who must be able to fairly and effectively bridge the gap between the board and the staff.
There is no remedy but over communication and a commitment from the board to table important votes when it’s clear that further discussion among the members will at least result in constructive dialogue whether or not members end up “agreeing to disagree.”
Flashpoint governance stands in stark contrast to the steady hand at the helm so desperately needed in GUSD at this time with a superintendent bolting mid-year for southern California.
Clearly, when school principals show up at a board meeting en masse for the first time in anyone’s memory to demand a like salary increase already given to the teachers and classified employees, something is gravely amiss.
Our principals are our leaders. Their example, their skill and their dedication can make all the difference. The bar should be clear and set high and they should be rewarded for exemplary performance.
They should not be treated, however, as spitting-image links in a chain. Some are stronger leaders, more effective, more willing and more dedicated. To deny this is folly. Shall we reward all school leaders equally, or acknowledge superior performance with just financial rewards?
GUSD’s principals should not be the “Unrepresented Employees,” they should be the “Best Representative” employees as school principals, and many are.
But clearly both outgoing Superintendent Edwin Diaz and the school board members have failed as leaders to assess the current process and change it.
If there is a school board member who believes all principals and assistant principals performed at the same level last year and thereby deserve the same salary increase, please write in and this newspaper will publish the explanation.
Meanwhile, the board should shelve this ugly chapter and concern itself with writing a new book: “All Principals Do Not Perform Equally.”
The superintendent should be responsible for evaluating each principal in detail at least annually. The evaluation parameters should be presented to the Board for comment so that the mission is clear and agreed upon beforehand.
Following the evaluations, the superintendent should recommend salary increases – or not – depending on performance, goals reached and the judgment of the superintendent. The Board, in turn, should have the ability to comment on those before signing off.
It’s understandable that the principals wanted to secure a salary increase before the superintendent’s departure. He had been, at least, the de facto negotiator with them.
But the system is currently flawed. How can Gilroy speak of performance-based pay for teachers when we treat our principals as “Unrepresented Employees?”
