Susan Lovelace, School Committee chair, offered background Sept. 13 about the process involved in evaluating a superintendent as well as information about the top school leader's contract. A chart below details each School Committee member's rating. That information was updated Sept. 17.

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The revised statement issued Sept. 17 says:

1. The School Committee per Policy CBI evaluates the Superintendent annually. The tool used for this evaluation (CBI-E) was developed sometime prior to Mr. Levenson’s tenure and has been in place for many years. The complete policy and evaluation tool are attached at the end of this statement.

2. Superintendent Levenson’s contract also includes a provision that adjusts his salary based on the progress he and his staff make on a set of a comprehensive goals designed to improve teaching and learning in the Arlington Public Schools.

Section III of the Superintendent's contract reads: "An additional merit adjustment in base salary may be awarded based on the performance of agreed upon performance goals and objectives. This merit adjustment may be an increase up to approximately
ten percent (10%) of base pay if all the performance goals and objective are met or a decrease in salary by approximately five percent (5%) if the performance goals and objectives are not met."

In school year 2005-06, a subcommittee was formed to develop a matrix for measuring progress toward achieving performance goals and a point system that would correspond to a merit adjustment in the Superintendent’s base salary. The Superintendent Accountability Scoring Grid and can be accessed from the district Web site.

 

In the school year 2006-07 the Accountability Subcommittee that develops the criteria for measuring the performance goals recommended that 25% of the merit adjustment be based on the total points awarded by the full committee on each of the questions listed in the evaluation tool outlined in policy CBI-E.

 

The number of points awarded were to be equal to the average composite score on each question with the stipulation that 0 points would be awarded if the composite score is below 3.

In Superintendent Levenson’s cover letter introducing the FY2008 budget, dated April 3, 2007, he stated that: “. . . I will not take any raise next year associated with my merit compensation. I remain committed to a strong accountability system, but I do not feel right benefiting while others are hurting.”

 

The Accountability Subcommittee continued to measure the progress toward the goals on the Superintendent Accountability Scoring Grid and awarded points for completion, however Superintendent Levenson will not be receiving any additional compensation for earning those points.

3. The extension or termination of the Superintendent’s contract is NOT tied directly to either the evaluation required under policy CBI or the points earned on the Superintendent’s Accountability Scoring Grid. The CBI-E evaluation tool and the accountability grid are useful but limited tools that are required by policy and contract to assist the committee in assessing the progress and overall performance of the Superintendent.

Arlington Public Schools File: CBI