South Bend superintendent's contract approved

January 26, 2012|By KIM KILBRIDE | South Bend Tribune

SOUTH BEND — Before approving a $186,000 annual contract with South Bend Community School Corp.’s new superintendent, the vice president of the school board gave her an admonishment.

“Kind of remember,” Bill Sniadecki told Carole Schmidt, “when you start looking for budget cuts again, look furthest away (from the classroom).”

The district is facing a $10 million shortfall over the next two years, and among other things, Schmidt has unsuccessfully proposed that up to half of the district’s kindergarten aides be eliminated.

The school board had a special meeting this afternoon to approve Schmidt’s contract as permanent superintendent.

In addition to her $186,000 salary, she’ll receive a car allowance of $500 a month and computer equipment that can be used for school-related purposes at work or at home.

James Kapsa, South Bend’s former superintendent who retired last summer, was paid $145,000 annually.

At the time the board began conducting its national search for Kapsa’s replacement, Roger Parent, the board president, said the next superintendent would likely have to be paid considerably more because of the pressure the district was under to improve student achievement.

Last summer, two of South Bend’s high schools thwarted state intervention, but an intermediate school, Dickinson, has been in the lowest category of the state’s accountability system for the past four years and could soon be subject to state intervention.

McPherson & Jacobson, the search firm that worked with the board, previously provided some comparison salaries of superintendents in similar-sized districts in the state.

Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., slightly larger than South Bend with an enrollment of 23,000, pays its superintendent some $198,000, for example.

Schmidt will also receive retirement benefits, including an annual contribution to her state Teacher Retirement Fund Account.

Staff writer Kim Kilbride:

kkilbride@sbtinfo.com

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