7/16/2011 6:45:00 AMA Cleveland schools CEO wage package sans fat or frills: editorial
July 16, 2011, 6:45 AM
By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board
After years of well-larded contracts with provisions for chauffeurs and country clubs, it's refreshing that new Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon just took a no-frills, one-year contract -- just as he promised. That keeps the focus on academics -- just as he promised. And it removes a perennial sore point with residents fed up with Cadillac benefits for school leaders trying to steer an Edsel system toward Chevy status.
Gordon, a first-time schools CEO and surprise choice for the job, will earn $230,000 a year, about $33,000 less than his predecessor, former CEO Eugene Sanders. The contract gives Gordon a more-than 30 percent increase from his former salary ($176,077) as the district's chief academic officer.
With the lower salary and decreased perks, total savings will be $90,000, says a district spokeswoman: Gordon won't get a board-funded annuity or a $500-a-month car allowance or a driver. Instead, he will drive his own car and get a district-paid cell phone and a laptop computer -- without the personal computer, modem and fax machine that Sanders claimed.
Off the list as well are district-paid memberships to health clubs, social clubs and in-town meals, even if school business is discussed. The latter seems extreme. Even during hard times, most companies pay for business-related meals.
Gordon, however, says he could care less about the meals. Instead, he wants to concentrate on improving the district's scholastic ranking -- currently in continuous improvement, the equivalent of a decent "C" grade -- as well as getting more kids through to graduation and finalizing a plan to optimize the use of district buildings.
And one can't help thinking the district is headed toward an upswing when the new CEO promises to create a system to "pretty aggressively" recruit youngsters from struggling charter schools to attend Cleveland's higher performing public schools.
That would be a stunning turnaround from the days when the district's reputation was so poor that even the most mediocre charter schools could siphon off students.
These days, some of Cleveland's premier public schools -- Whitney Young, a school for gifted and talented children on Harvard Avenue, and the widely lauded MC STEM school for science and engineering -- are posting strong test scores and still have seats available.
Gordon's challenge -- and it's built right into his contract -- is to create more schools capable of joining the top tier and more families eager to send their children there.