Superintendent Candidate Meeting With School Officials Monday

By John Voket

The top choice to be Newtown’s next superintendent of schools will meet with a group of local school board and administrative staff Monday following a site visit to neighboring Derby. Board of Education Chair Elaine McClure told The Newtown Bee this week that pending a successful site visit October 1, final salary and benefit negotiations, Derby’s current superintendent, Janet Robinson, would likely transition to the post here in Newtown by January 2.

According to sources in the Naugatuck Valley, last week Ms Robinson released information to The Connecticut Post and New Haven Register, the daily papers covering Derby, saying she was likely leaving the district bound for Newtown. One article reported Ms Robinson recently received a contract extension and 4.3 percent raise to remain in the Derby district.

Newtown, which has nearly triple the student population of Derby, is reported to be negotiating salary in the range of what was being paid to Newtown’s former superintendent Evan Pitkoff, who departed at the end of June for a position with a regional education support agency.

Ms Robinson reportedly told The Post it would be impossible at this point for Derby to make a counteroffer exceeding the $30,000 to $40,000 increase she would enjoy by coming to work in Newtown. The story reported her current salary at $136,600.

“She is the final candidate,” Ms McClure said. “We put out a memo to the staff last Friday.”

The school board chair said the apparent choice of Ms Robinson has come after refining a list of more than 40 candidates from across the country, down to five who all underwent local interviews in recent weeks.

Ms McClure said it is the board’s goal to have a new superintendent in place by January 2, and indicated Ms Robinson has a 90-day notice clause in her current contract. That means in order to make the January 2 deadline, the final job offer and resignation from the Derby district all must transpire sometime next week.

The school board is scheduled to meet in regular session October 2, but Ms McClure said the board may or may not be ready to act on an offer to Ms Robinson by then. She said Newtown’s new assistant superintendent, business manager, and several members of the school board were scheduled to meet with the Derby mayor and other officials there.

“We’re planning to receive more references at that time, meet lots of people, ask lots of questions and we’ll meet with the candidate at the end of the day,” Ms McClure said. She said Ms Robinson will undergo a more formalized background check if she is offered the position.

“We think she looks great,” Ms McClure said. “If we go and everything is positive, we’ll need to discuss an offer with the rest of the board.”

The school board chair said Ms Robinson was preliminarily asked about her salary expectations to determine whether or not to move forward with the site visit and further background checks.

“The number [$166,000–$176,000] is close to what Evan was making,” Ms McClure said. Dr Pitkoff’s latest reported salary figure is $160,533.

Ms McClure said one thing that may delay an official announcement of Ms Robinson taking the position would be scheduling a site visit for her to come to Newtown.

“She should come and do a site visit,” Ms McClure said. “That’s a normal part of the process.”

Despite what may be just a short delay, Ms McClure said the announcement of a new permanent school superintendent is “days, not weeks, away.”