City schools OKs new contract for Roosevelt
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The school board last night approved a new five-year contract for Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt that's designed to keep him here until August 2014.
The deal incorporates the nearly two years still left on his old contract, which was to expire in August 2011, and would bring his salary to $285,000 by the end of the new contract.
The board approved the new contract with a 7-1 vote. Mark Brentley Sr. voted no, and Randall Taylor abstained. The two are frequent critics of Mr. Roosevelt.
With a mandate to turn around academics and finances, Mr. Roosevelt joined the district in August 2005.
He's enjoyed the support of most board members since his arrival. Some of those members last night lauded Mr. Roosevelt's work and expressed a desire to keep him around.
"I see this as a proactive way of ensuring the continuity of Superintendent Roosevelt's leadership," member Dara Ware Allen said.
The new contract gives Mr. Roosevelt annual raises of $15,000, provided he meets goals set by the board each year.
That's the same arrangement he's had since joining the district at a salary of $165,000. He now makes $225,000.
The new contract also increases his annual number of paid personal and vacation days from 40 to 46; increases the district's annual contribution to his retirement account from $40,000 to $45,000; and gives him $5,000 to move additional belongings from New Mexico. Mr. Roosevelt still has homes there and in Massachusetts.
The agreement increases -- from about $12,500 to about $28,700 -- the district's annual contribution to a life insurance policy of his choosing. As before, the district also will provide him a separate $400,000 term life insurance policy.
The contract gives Mr. Roosevelt a one-time payment of $16,150. The agreement doesn't explain that payment, but Mr. Roosevelt said it, too, is for life insurance.
State law sets a six-year limit on contracts for school superintendents in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Mr. Roosevelt's original contract was for three years. In March 2007, the board added three more years.
That brought Mr. Roosevelt's contract to the six-year maximum, so the board last night had to break the old agreement and approve a new one to keep Mr. Roosevelt here beyond August 2011.
Mr. Brentley and Mr. Taylor called that an inappropriate end-run around the law, and they questioned the need to act with almost two years left on Mr. Roosevelt's old contract.
"What is the rush?" Mr. Taylor said.
In an unusual twist, Mr. Roosevelt had to first resign and then be reappointed to the new agreement.
First Published October 22, 2009 12:00 am
