School Board Retains Asst. Supt. Postion, Rescinds Salary Increase

Following is an email  from the Board announcing their response to Monday night’s meeting regarding Jodi Hirschman’s petition to rescind  the Asst. Supt. position.

HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON U F S D
Message sent – 7/2/2009
A Follow-up to Monday’s Board of Education Meeting

Dear Hastings Community Member:

On Monday night the Board held an open meeting for community members to share their concerns on the change in position of the district’s current Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Personnel to Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Personnel (CIP). We appreciated the chance to hear directly from many of you and listened to what you said. While the tone and focus of the input varied, many of the comments were quite constructive.

Following that meeting, the Board met in executive session to consider a course of action. The next day, board members met with Dr. Shaps and Dr. Cohen. We have tried to find a balance between the differing perspectives within the community and the educational goals of the District. Based on these inputs, we are keeping the appointment of Dr. Cohen in place, but will not be extending the salary increase that was associated with this promotion. The salary will instead align with that of the current Director position, which is governed by the Administrator’s contract. We appreciate Dr. Cohen’s willingness to take on additional responsibilities without a commensurate salary increase in recognition of the difficult economic situation.

We understand and share the community’s desire for openness on District issues and will work to provide for participation. However, decisions that include personnel issues do not always allow for public discussion. In those cases, the Superintendent, who is charged with leading and managing the schools, and the Board have the responsibility and authority to make decisions. We weigh all the available information and attempt to make the best decisions based on the interests of all involved.

We believe this position has already contributed enormously to the education of our children and to the productive collaboration among administrators and teachers. Dr. Cohen has worked very effectively in the past two years as the Director of CIP. With the additional needs to provide support that will complement and build on the strengths of our new administrators and to upgrade human resource practices in our district, we believe that Dr. Cohen assumes responsibilities consistent with the work of an Assistant Superintendent. Please note that the Assistant Superintendent will not have hiring, firing or disciplinary authority over the principals. That authority, along with their formal evaluations, will remain with the Superintendent.

For those who’d like more information, we can provide examples of recent activities and accomplishments in the District under Dr. Cohen’s guidance and details of her new responsibilities with the administrative team.

Our ongoing intent is to provide a superb educational experience for our children that reflects the values of Hastings and is fiscally responsible, particularly in these difficult economic times. Going forward we will strive to improve communication and relationships between community members and the school district and we ask you to work with us. As always, please feel free to contact Board members if you have questions and concerns.

Thank you,

The Hastings Board of Education

Eileen Baecher
Caryn Campbell
Lindsey Hicks
Donna Laing
Gabrielle Lesser
Jodie Meyer
Wendy Naidich

Posted by Jane Cody