The Hernando County School Board approved a 4 year contract with Superintendent Dr. Lori Romano on January 26th 2016. A week earlier, Dr. Romano was a finalist in Osceola County, vying for the Superintendent position with a salary range of $185,000 to $225,000. Ultimately, Osceola chose Dr. Debra Pace who had experience in that District. The approval of Dr. Romano’s contract in Hernando County was not unanimous as Board Members Susan Duval and Beth Naverud cited issues with the contract regarding evaluation procedures and performance related factors.
A major driving force behind a 4 year contract was to provide the district with stability. Chairman Matt Foreman stated at the January 26th informal board meeting that with the approval of the 4 year contract, Dr. Romano would be the longest tenured Superintendent since James Kenneth Austin. He was appointed by the Governor in 1967 and held the position for 21 years.
The terms of Dr. Romano’s contract provides her a base salary of $140,000 in Year 1 and a $7500 health insurance reimbursement. Currently she is making $120,000 and receives a $10,000 health insurance reimbursement. In addition, according to FL Statutes she will receive $2000 in certification pay. According to another statute she can receive up to $3000 in performance pay for year 1 of her contract.
In year 2 her base salary will go to $145,000. Her health insurance reimbursement will drop to $5000. She will still be eligible for the additional $5000 in certifications and incentives.
In year 3 her contract will go to $150,000 as her base. She will again receive an additional $5000 in additional compensation as a health insurance reimbursement.
In year 4 she will receive a base of $155,000 as well as an additional $5000 related to reimbursements. There will be no certification or performance pay in year 4.
It is important to note that the $5000 reimbursement pay for certification and performance in years 1 through 3 will only be paid out if she meets the requirements of the statutes. She will continue to receive a $500 per month vehicle and cell phone allowance in all four years of the contract. On top of the compensation package listed above is the Retirement FRS contribution.
In terms of Dr. Romano’s evaluation, she will be evaluated annually by the school board at a public meeting. The contract states that her performance evaluation shall consider, “changes in the District performance in the following areas: (1) Graduation rate; (2) Industry certifications earned and student participation; (3) Dropout rate; (4) School grades.”
Board members Naverud and Duval were not happy with the following language in the contract since they would like to be able to use a 360 survey to evaluate Dr. Romano’s performance, “The specific evaluation instrument shall be the existing instrument as previously utilized by the BOARD. Any modifications to such instrument shall be made upon consideration of recommendations by ROMANO as superintendent, and approved by the BOARD at a public meeting.”
Ms. Duval stated at the January 26th School Board meeting, “I have concerns over using the same evaluation form that all of us have publicly stated is a very flawed form. ” She believes the school board must manage, direct and initiate a new evaluation process and 360 employee survey.
Ms. Naverud addressed Dr. Romano at the informal meeting on January 26th, “I’ve never had anyone tell me how I should evaluate them… The 360 survey was something that would give me the opportunity to ask in the field about those items because I don’t experience that side of you on an everyday basis. The stopping of the 360 survey is just way beyond your powers or should be way beyond your powers.”
Mr. Foreman clarified that originally they scheduled a discussion of the 360 survey for January 19th, but there were scheduling conflicts and that meeting was cancelled by him as board chair. He stated that the plan is still to move forward on the 360 survey.
In addition to Ms. Naverud’s concern over the evaluation process, she cited concern over Dr. Romano’s tendency towards top down management. “I think that our teachers deserve the right to be trusted. I believe our administrators have the right to be trusted and I don’t think that they should be micromanaged. The systematic movement of everything to central office is taking away all the power from the schools and these serve their students. The farther you take the decision making away from the children, the worse it is for the kids of our county. And that is my truest belief.”
School Board Member Johnson did not echo Ms. Naverud’s feelings. He stated that he’s spoken to teachers and “They feel empowered by their administrators in the field to have more latitude on how they deliver their instruction.”
Ms. Naverud did offer that she would be fine with a 2 year contract and that the pay rate was acceptable. “I do believe we need to bring our county up to a competitive area. I think our base pay at this point for like sized districts is low and I do believe that whoever sits in this seat deserves more than what we have been currently giving,” stated Ms. Naverud.
Ms. Duval agreed with Ms. Naverud that the superintendent salary needed to be brought up, but perhaps not quite as high. She explained, “While I agree that the Superintendent’s position needs an increase in base pay, my concern is over the size of the increase at $20,000… I think one of the things that struck me about this is that the board recently changed the 2016-2017 school calendar in the face of what the employees voted for and supported and we did that to save $80,000.” In the scheme of things, she admitted that $80,000 is not a great deal of money, “but the board felt it was worth doing.”
Ms. Duval also agreed with Ms. Naverud that a 4 year contract was too long stating, “I also have a concern over having a four year contract that ties future boards to a contract that they have no say in or will have no say in.”
During the school board meeting on January 26th, Chairman Foreman stated, “I believe by and large Dr. Romano has had to make a lot of difficult decisions coming into a difficult district… The compensation I recognize at a time when respectfully teachers aren’t paid what they should be paid, administrators aren’t paid what they should be paid. I recognize those things. But what I also recognize is that to go through a superintendent search, this is my opinion obviously – is not in our best interests. To spend $25,000 trying… not necessarily finding whoever that right person might be, is not a good use of our money.” He also believes that Dr. Romano has made concessions to stay here, stating that a superintendent that is appointed in a like sized district would make more.
The accuracy of this statement is difficult to gauge, since the size of a district would not be the only factor in determining a superintendent’s salary. Like sized districts with more robust economies would naturally offer a higher salary rate. For instance, Alachua county has roughly 26,000 students and pays their elected Superintendent $159,063.00. Alachua is home to the University of Florida.
The motion to approve Dr. Romano’s contract passed 3-2 at the meeting on January 26th, 2016 with Ms. Duval and Ms. Naverud voting against it.
According to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, the salary of an elected Superintendent in Hernando County for the 2015-2016 school year would be $125,795. The appointed superintendent salaries for many counties exceed the salary rate for elected superintendents. There is much competition between the counties to attract the strongest candidates, driving salaries up. The Hernando County school board is paying a premium to have an appointed superintendent which allows them to have greater control over who occupies that position.