Eugene school Superintendent Sheldon Berman’s early exit catches some unawares

June 27--Eugene School District Superintendent Sheldon Berman's announcement Wednesday night that he will leave the district after the 2014-15 school year caught some people by surprise -- but not others.

Eugene Education Association union President Tad Shannon said Thursday that he was not "entirely surprised" by Berman's decision.

"There have been a lot of rumors for quite a while that he might be leaving in the near future," Shannon said.

Joy Marshall, Lane County's director of education for the pro-schools group Stand for Children, said she was not expecting Berman's decision and said it "will be hard to find such a skilled educator" to replace him.

Some parents, such as South Eugene High School council co-chairman Jeffrey Paules, said they didn't see Berman's early departure coming. Other parents, like Bob Matherly, said there's been growing concern with Berman's performance among parents dissatisfied with several districtwide policy changes, such as implementation of a common schedule for all four district high schools.

Eugene School Board members voted Wednesday night to approve Berman's request to leave the district in 2015 -- one year before his three-year contract expires. Berman cited "family circumstances" for his departure and said he wanted to give the district enough notice "to find the right next superintendent to build on the work we've accomplished."

Board members approved an agreement on Wednesday that includes some changes to Berman's contract. One of those changes relieves the board of evaluating Berman for the just-ended and coming school years. The school board has evaluated Berman annually since hiring him in 2011.

Board Chairwoman Mary Walston said evaluating Berman now wouldn't provide much benefit to the district and would be an unnecessary cost. "If Dr. Berman will not be here in a year, the developmental aspect of an evaluation would largely be moot," Walston said in an email Thursday.

In his past two evaluations by the school board last year, Berman won mostly positive reviews. When asked whether he had any reason to believe his evaluation this year would not be positive, Berman sidestepped the question, saying the school board "got totally occupied" with contract negotiations with the teachers' union. "They didn't get to my evaluation."

When asked, union president Shannon said he was surprised that Berman's job performance won't be evaluated by the school board. He said teachers are being held accountable to a new state-mandated evaluation system that is "very extensive and time-consuming for both teachers and administrators."

"I find it a little bit curious that the person in charge of the district wouldn't be subject to any evaluation whatsoever in the next year," Shannon said. "I think teachers will find that curious. It seems a little bit like a double standard."

Matherly, a parent at Charlemagne at Fox Hollow Elementary School, said some parents also are concerned by the board's decision not to evaluate Berman.

This is not the first time Berman, 65, has left a superintendency earlier than expected. Before coming to Eugene, he led the 100,000-student Jefferson County School District in Louisville, Ky., from 2007 to 2011.

The Jefferson County Board of Education voted in 2010 not to renew Berman's contract. His tenure there had been controversial, with some parents objecting to a student assignment plan that Berman helped craft upon his arrival in 2007 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the district's three-decades-old desegregation plan was unconstitutional.

Walston said the school board has not yet discussed a plan to select a new superintendent. She said the board may talk about a search process in August.

Stand for Children's Marshall cited a number of Berman's accomplishments during his three years at the district, including expanding a college readiness program known as AVID, expanding an after-school program for low-income students, and creating a needs index in the budgeting process so high-needs schools get more support.

"Throughout all the work, you see his emphasis on equity for underserved kids," Marshall said.

Union president Shannon said Wednesday night that he has been concerned that the district has not sought out the "naysayers and skeptics" when making controversial, districtwide policy changes. As examples, he referred to the district's decisions to move to the common high school schedule, purchase new math textbooks and withdraw from the Lane Education Service District without seeking input from all teachers.

Several parents in the Churchill and South Eugene communities also have expressed concern about Berman's advocacy for the new math curriculum and common high school schedule.

But Louise Bronaugh, a South Eugene High parent, said she has been impressed with Berman's efforts to engage parents. She said he started meeting with parents at the district office every two months, sharing information about what's going on in the district. "In these meetings, I found him to be a good listener and a great consensus builder," she said.

Berman will receive an annual 5 percent salary "step" increase for the next school year, pushing his base salary to $209,229 . Berman does not receive health insurance or retirement benefits.

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