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GUEST OPINION
Pasadena Unified Board Meeting, June 15, 2023 (Photo Staff)
The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education may pay over $1 million for a new superintendent this year.
By Adrienne Ann Mullen
The Pasadena Board of Education received presentations on August 3 from several recruitment firms, as they began the search for yet another district leader. The average cost for hiring a recruitment firm is approximately $28,000. A fiscally responsible board would put students first and use these funds to purchase classroom essentials.
A fiscally responsible board would keep the interim superintendent in place for at least a year before deciding that a replacement is necessary. If the board does hire someone new this year, the District will be footing the bill for three superintendents (past, present, and new) each over $300,000 this year, with the combined total compensation near $1 million.* The current board majority is making very expensive decisions. How can they profess to put students first when making poor and expensive decisions that ultimately affect the classroom?
Past unnecessary expenditures include defense of a frivolous lawsuit filed by a sitting board member which cost the District nearly $40,000 in attorney fees. Micromanaging the previous Chief of Finance and Operations to the point of leaving the District will result in the hiring of yet another Chief of Operations to manage Measure O funds, another anticipated $200,000+ in salary.
One board member professes to be diligently watching District expenditures; however, she is trying to manage mere pennies while spending thousands of dollars needlessly.
Voters need to be more mindful, when elections begin this fall, that taxpayer monies need to be spent more wisely with more public oversight. Board members are public servants and should be treated as such.
*The Board is planning to approve the contract for the search firm at the regular board meeting on August 24.
Dr. Adrienne Ann Mullen is a former PUSD Board of Education Member.
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I understand that some of the current board members, including on Ms. Kenne’s FB page, are objecting to the facts in this article. Here is why the article is accurate when it says that PUSD could in effect be paying for 3 superintendents if they hire a new person during this year:
Dr. Blanco’s contract is a public document. It is through June 30, 2024. So she would be paid at the supt. rate though June 30. That’s what Ms. Kenne means by the extra $42,000 above her deputy supt. rate. So
1) if a new person is hired in January, that person would be paid as a supt. for January through June 2024.
2) Dr. Blanco’s contract says she is paid at a supt. rate through June.
3) Dr. McDonald is being paid for this year as if he is serving as a supt. for the whole year, through June 30, 2024.
So if they hire someone in January, they would be paying for 3 superintendents during the time period from January through June. Kenne’s point number 1 is irrelevant. Yes it’s true that that’s how much a supt. would be paid, but that’s irrelevant to the point of paying 3 people. And her number 4 is not accurately stated. Dr. Blanco will continue to be paid at the interim supt. rate, not at the deputy supt. rate. The $42,000 above the deputy supt. rate means she will be paid at the supt. rate.
In summary, if a new person is hired in January, the district will in effect being paying the costs for 3 superintendents from January through June, even though only one of them, the new one, would have the title of supt.
The total cost of that would be $315,00 plus benefits x 2 (Dr. McDonald and Dr. Blanco) plus whatever the cost of the new person is for January through June, approximately $160,000 plus benefits. So that is indeed close to a million dollars,. probably on the order of $900,000 for the full 2023-2024 year.
If the School Board spends $50,000 or over on a Recruitment Firm to find a new Superintendent, then Pasadena tax payers should not vote to pass a parcel tax for more waste!