Eugene school Superintendent Sheldon Berman’s early exit catches some unawares
By Josephine Woolington, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"There have been a lot of rumors for quite a while that he might be leaving in the near future," Shannon said.
Some parents, such as
Eugene
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
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
This is not the first time Berman, 65, has left a superintendency earlier than expected. Before coming to
The
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
Several parents in the Churchill and
But
Berman will receive an annual 5 percent salary "step" increase for the next school year, pushing his base salary to
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