EVANSVILLE — The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. could name its new superintendent during a special public meeting before the school board at 5:30 p.m. May 19.
At the end of the day Tuesday, the school corporation posted a negotiated contract with the board’s recommended candidate to succeed retiring Superintendent David Smith.
That started the ticking clock described in state law.
EVSC attorney Pat Shoulders identified Indiana Code 5-3-1-2(b), which in effect requires that a recommended contract for a new superintendent be posted on a school corporation’s website 10 days before a meeting — the May 19 meeting — at which the school board will consider the contract and hear public comments.
Shoulders said board members will then decide whether to approve the contract. They could identify their choice to succeed Smith and actually sign the contract during the May 19 meeting.
That would be when people discover the new superintendent’s identity.
What are the proposed terms?
The proposed three-year contract, negotiated over roughly the past week, includes an annual base salary of $215,000 with “all benefits applicable to twelve (12) month administrative employees” and deferred compensation of $30,000 annually. There’s also an automobile allowance of $1,000 per month “in light of the unique nature of the professional duties of the Superintendent.”
The total package works out to $257,000 annually.
Smith, who will retire July 1 after 14 years in the job, received $294,615 in total compensation in calendar year 2024, according to Indiana Gateway for Local Government, a public access portal jointly maintained by Indiana University and the state. His certified EVSC contract, which runs July 1 to June 30, calls for him to receive $282,585, plus payment for up to 10 unused vacation days.
The school board agrees to give the new superintendent a written performance evaluation by June 30 of each contract year. If the evaluation finds he or she has turned in a “satisfactory” performance, the contract says, the superintendent will get a 3% increase in base salary and deferred compensation effective July 1.
There are other benefits in the contract:
JCPS in Louisville is identifying its superintendent finalists
They’re choosing a new superintendent a little differently in Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky’s largest school system. JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio is leaving June 30 to become president of Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana.
JCPS has identified two finalists vying for the spot to succeed Pollio: Ben Shuldiner and H. Brian Yearwood. The two men will even answer questions from community members during two separate forums on May 20, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
Shuldiner is the current superintendent of the Lansing School District in Michigan, while Yearwood most recently served as the superintendent of Columbia Public Schools in Missouri.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: EVSC school board could hire new superintendent later this month in public meeting
Reporting by Thomas B. Langhorne, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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