Middletown schools superintendent gets $21,600 bonus [Asbury Park Press, N.J.]

Sept. 27--MIDDLETOWN _Middletown Township Board of Education awarded its superintendent a $21,560 bonus for progress he made last school year on a series of goals for the district.

School board members praised the work of Middletown Superintendent William George during Tuesday's school board meeting.

"I think Dr. George has done a tremendous job of moving this district forward," Board President Chris Aveta said.

Under his contract, George is entitled each year to merit pay, which is calculated based off his progress on goals that the school board sets each year.

For the 2012-13 school year, the board gave him five goals that, if he had met them fully, would have entitled him to $27,750, or 15 percent of his base salary. George makes $185,000 annually. His award was about 11.7 percent.

The board awarded George either full or partial credit for each of the goals, several of which Aveta said the board intentionally made difficult to achieve.

Among the goals, George earned:

_Full credit for a goal of reducing district expense by at least $185,000. He achieved that in various areas including health insurance auditing and enforcement, professional development and transportation costs. That earned him merit pay of 3.33 percent of his base pay.

_Full credit for increasing revenues by at least $100,000. He achieved this through the sale of unneeded textbooks, "increased efficiencies" in preschool revenue and arguing for a boost of $128,254 in extraordinary aid, state funding for the district's special education program. That also earned him 3.33 percent.

_Half credit for meeting the district's goals for increasing standardized math test scores by 10 percent for two different classes. The district met that goal for eighth-graders, but not fourth-graders. Full credit would have been 3.33 percent.

_Two-thirds credit for improving the in-district special education programs. Aveta said that the school board thought George made significant progress by adding more inclusive classes and programs, but that there was more work that could be done. Full credit for meeting this goal was 2.5 percent.

_Two-thirds credit for developing a long-range facilities and demographic plan, which evaluates the district's buildings and student distribution. Aveta said the board thought George's work so far toward this goal will have a long-term positive impact for students, but that it did not fully meet their goal of having a long-range district vision.

Aveta said in an email that the board has developed the merit pay goals for this school year, which need to be approved by the Monmouth County Superintendent for approval. He expected that approval to be complete in time for the goals to be announced at the board's Oct. 21 meeting.

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Susanne Cervenka: 732-643-4229; scervenka@njpressmedia.com.

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