Officials expect a lame-duck District Board of Education to approve late Wednesday a one-year contract extension for Superintendent Clifford Janey as well as give him a $25,000 bonus, half of what he is eligible to receive under his currentcontract.
Janey, who started his job in 2004, is already the District’s highest-paid employee, making $250,000 per year at a time when the median District household earns $44,949 annually, according to U.S. Census figures. He runs a school system that has 58,000 students, but that number been shrinking in recent decades.
The bonus is based on an evaluation Janey did of himself, of his success completing his goals for the schools and on an evaluation done by an ad hoc committee comprised of Board of Education members Robin Martin, At-large; Jeff Smith, District 1; and William Lockridge, District 4. Janey and the committee members set those goals together, Martin said.
“We didn’t rate him on effort, but we rated him on efficiency and on the effort he made toward those goals,” Martin said.
Committee members called the bonus and contract extension a “vote of confidence” on Janey’s success, adding that they did not feel the bonus smacks of impropriety at a time during which the District’s public schools have asked for millions of dollars to help keep afloat. Members said the $25,000 and extended contract represented the board’s desire for what Lockridge called “continued stability” within the system, which, until Janey was hired, had seen several superintendents come and go.
“It’s also a plea for more things faster and a vote to support him in any way he needs to help him move faster,” Martin said.
Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty has made reference to a possible school takeover plan and suggested that under it, the Board of Education would serve a diminished role and Janey would answer to Deputy Mayor for Education, Victor Reinoso, an outgoing School Board member.
Martin said he and Board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz called Fenty to inform him of the bonus and extension. Fenty wouldn’t comment on the bonus Wednesday, but he said that a school takeover plan could be forthcoming before he takes office Jan. 2.
