One might wonder whether members of the Danvers School Committee actually read the administration's grant request to the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation before voting to extend Superintendent Lisa Dana's contract for another two years.
The grant application cites a "sense of malaise" and lack of urgency in delivering "a world-class curriculum" as some of the reasons for seeking $375,000 to address problems in student achievement.
Sounds like something school leadership should be addressing. But as in many things involving our schools, the prevailing wisdom is that there's no problem that can't be fixed by throwing a little more money at it.
So the Danvers school system is seeking another grant to find out why some kids aren't making adequate progress in school; meanwhile the School Committee grants Dana a 2.5-percent raise — along with a $5,500 "equity adjustment" — bringing her annual salary up to $140,102. The total increase in pay amounts to 6.8 percent, and the contract commits the school board to keeping Dana at the helm through June of 2013.
As a result, the committee has effectively tied the town's hands for five years regardless of Dana's performance. (Based on other communities' experiences, any effort on the town's part to break the contract would likely involve a lengthy legal battle and the payment of substantial compensation. Dana, on the other hand, history also indicates, could leave for a better job any time without penalty.)
School Committee Chairman Bill Bates insists Dana's performance to date justifies the higher-than-average raise and extended contract. And colleague Eric Crane said it ties the superintendent to Danvers for the foreseeable future. (Though he also indicated that Dana "likes the situation" in Danvers and isn't looking to go anywhere else.)
This latest action is hardly surprising for a committee that plucked the relatively inexperienced Dana from the administrative ranks in 2003 after the former superintendent died of cancer.
Indeed, the consultants cited in the application for the Tower grant, unwittingly or not, seemed to have a pretty good grasp on the way things work in Danvers. One cited "a desire among all stakeholders to maintain the status quo," while another sensed a "culture of benevolence" of which, we might add, the superintendent is the latest beneficiary.
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
