Recap: Special Board Meeting - New Superintendent

PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS

Ann Wuertz - "I am writing with great concern once again at the salary structures this board continues to make. No disrespect to Mr. Hanna, who will be voted on this evening, but just six years ago we had an incoming Superintendent with her doctorate starting at $175,000 where no yearly increases were accepted with the exception of the new contract that was $185,000.  Mr. Hanna's contract is $35,000 over the most recent superintendent's contract. We currently have employees with their doctoral and with their certificate of eligibility for superintendent, at a salary significantly less shown the disparity between the two. We are the poorest district in the county and one of the poorest in the state, and we are throwing money out towards salaries like we have it. Our salary structure with the most recent administrative hires and increases, set you up to have to offer a much larger starting salary for the superintendent position, putting us on a level, more in line with the larger and wealthier school districts. Thank you." 

Tammy Vondra - "My concern about the superintendent approval tonight is the salary high? $220,000 per year. Is that higher than what we paid the last one? What's the clause if we terminate him?  If there is a payout like the last one, if we terminated in less than four years - should we consider changing it to fewer years? 

I am sure he may be qualified, but I am concerned as he moved around quite a bit between Philadelphia to Rhode Island, and then back to Philadelphia, and now in New York City. Just looking out as I don't want another fiasco like we have been dealing with these past few years."

Tom Keech -  "I just like to take a moment to respond to these comments. From a financial perspective, we have worked tirelessly as a district to get our financial house in order. Over our last three years, where we've seen our taxes rise nearly 14% in total, something had to be done.  With the help of our district's administration, business office, and employee groups, we adopted a budget earlier this month, with a zero percent tax increase. The first in over five years here in Coatesville. 

In order for this to be possible there needed to be cuts made at all levels. Although these cuts were personally painful to me, it became a matter of what our community could afford. With Dr. Dunlap's help, we restructured administrative salaries, responsibilities, and presented a plan where we utilized our administrators in a much more effective manner. It saved us many, many thousands of dollars by making these changes. We use some of this money to increase the salaries of the positions of administrators that had increased workloads and increased responsibilities.

The overall aspect is we still lower our total salary dollars spent by the Coatesville School District. It is some of this money that we used to increase the position the dollar amount for Superintendent salary, while we're still lowering the total number of payroll costs, even with this increase in salary to the superintendent. Our new superintendent's contract reflects the overall experience that he has in his many years as a superintendent and administrator in education. 

I just want to make a note that [his] salary still falls below the median salary for superintendents in Chester County.  That's an indication of where we feel we fit in financially with those other school districts.

In our search for a new superintendent, we utilized what our community groups felt was the main focus and that was the experience, experience at many levels and with diverse populations.

Mr. Hanna checks off all the boxes that our community was looking for.  He brings with him a wealth of administrative experience, the most of any Superintendent that I can recall being hired by the Coatesville School District in the last 30 years.

I for one am looking forward to the many years of service that we get to work with Mr. Hanna. Thank you.”

MOTION ITEMS FOR APPROVAL

FINANCE COMMITTEE

A.  Human Resources Report

RECOMMENDED MOTION: That the Board of School Directors approve the resolution for the appointment of the new Superintendent, as outlined below:

Resolution

WHEREAS, there is a vacancy in the office of District Superintendent in the Coatesville Area School District (“the School District”); and

WHEREAS, the Board of School Directors (“the School Board”) has engaged in a rigorous search with the assistance of the Chester County Intermediate Unit to locate excellent and high performing candidates; and

WHEREAS, after a careful evaluation of the many fine candidates who applied, the School Board has determined to appoint Tomás Hanna as the next District Superintendent; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Hanna has indicated his willingness to serve the School District and its students, parents and other constituents in the capacity as District Superintendent;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved, that:

1. Tomás Hanna is hereby appointed as District Superintendent in accordance with Section 1073 of the School Code for a term of four years beginning July 1, 2020 and ending June 30, 2024, at a salary of $220,000, all in accordance with the terms and conditions of the employment agreement as presented;
2. That the School Board hereby approves the employment agreement as presented;
3. That each School Director hereby waives his or her right to receive the five (5) day written notice that normally is required under section 1073 of the School Code, 24 P.S. §10-1073, in light of the facts that: (a) each member of the School Board received actual notice five or more than five days before this meeting; (b) the COVID-19 pandemic makes mail notice as ordinarily required by the School Code unreliable; and (c) the timing is such that it was believed that further delay would not be in the best interest of the School District;
4. The President and Secretary are hereby directed to execute the agreement as presented and to execute such other instruments and take such other actions as necessary to enable Mr. Hanna to begin his service on July 1, 2020.

Pass  ☒            Fail  ☐  9-0

Tomás Hanna:   “I am humbled at this opportunity, and I look forward to this challenge. And I know it's a challenge. I want to thank those of you who came out this evening to support this and to support this board of directors. Thank you.  Thank you for your support. Thank you for the investment that you're making not only me but in this district, they deserve it. You deserve it. We deserve it.

I can't wait to start. Folks in the audience, I can't thank you all enough for coming out. You know, we'll get this done.  Right?  And it's going to be you, who get it done. I'm just going to be facilitating. Yes, I'll lead, but I will facilitate. You all are the experts. You will teach me and I’m looking forward to that.

I want to thank my family. Priscilla… I’m nervous – I think I’m nervous more because of them [his family], not because of any of you guys.  I want to thank them for putting up with me and for just being so supportive.  I do this for you.

CCIU, Thank you. Thank you, George, thank the team who's here. For those of you out in the public and those of you watching, they put these candidates through the wringer.  You all asked us to do stuff that was so relevant to the work that has to happen, so I thank you for that.

It wasn't just a bunch of questions like “how’s it going,” you made us think about this work, deeply about this work. One thing that I said to the board was that I really appreciate doing this, but doing it alone was really hard because that's not in my nature to do this alone.   So I reserve the right for all of those plans I talked about getting right to engage more people to assure their right to make sure that the right plans for this time, right and so I thank you, George [Fiore].

I thank my family and there might be some family watching from Puerto Rico this evening. I can't thank them enough for their support and guidance.  And I want to thank my previous districts.  And yes, this will be the fourth district in 31 years. All right, so it's Philadelphia where I was born and raised in still live.   

I started as a teacher, as a bilingual teacher, as a teacher to students for whom English is not their first language.  In the barrio in West Kensington. Right? I’ve been there, done that. 

So not only that we teach, but then we start engaging in school administration to sort of do that work that was in a school how you make it broader so I want to I want to thank you know my district, New York City, nine years in New York, not a cup of coffee.

Right, five hours a day, right? Because I went from Philly to New York, every single day. That was a commitment, right? Because I rather spend five hours a day traveling to be with great people doing great work, then 45 minutes a day miserable not knowing what tomorrow's gonna look like. I have a sense I know what tomorrow looks like here. So I thank you for that.

Students, families, teachers, principals, community-based organizations clergy, folks who wanted to smack me upside the head, folks who wanted to hug me. Thank you because, without those experiences, this doesn't happen.  Right? So for me that that's super important.

I started with students. That's why we're here so I can't wait to engage young people and why they love their schools.  Why they love their district.

What else would they want to see… Dreaming, let’s imagine; let us build it.   But tell us!  Right? And I know that's going to be hard and it sounds like promises and I think someone said to me, like, if we should be in Missouri – that’s a “show me state.”  So, we're gonna act. What does that look like for me right now?

So let's create an experience for our students.  Grounded in quality, grounded in meaningful programming that touches their hearts, that touches their minds, their souls, and that gives them what they need to make great choices when they leave us. That's our role. That's our role.

And so, because I would like our school district to be referred to as buildings that are joyous.  Where kids want to learn, and don't want to go home. That's what I want them to be called, and if they are called that now, build on that. Let's build on that together. So let’s dream it, then build it.   Let’s dream it and build it so they come. Those who would ordinarily say, I'm not so sure I think I'm gonna take a pass and those who are thinking about maybe going elsewhere, because we know what's true; it’s what we've seen, right?  An average of 230 young people leaving every year. That's true.  Right? So let's build something that attracts, keeps, and potentially brings back people: young people to our district. I'm looking forward to trying to figure that out. Is it going to be easy?  Absolutely not.

Others have tried, but you know what -this young man right here.  I gotta give you [Dunlap] credit, I'm gonna talk to you about you for a minute.  I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge Dr Dunlap. Right? Who for the past year has just done the work, was not a caretaker, wasn't keeping the seat warm waiting for a decision to be made; active with his team got you guys a zero deficit. I think that deserves a round of applause. Took the role. Set the wheels in motion. And in my opinion, made the Coatesville Area School District the place that I wanted to consider joining. Because of his work.  Right?  So thank you.

And I appreciate you because we talked mentor, and that right there is a mentor. So yes, if you look at my resume first superintendency. I have worked with many superintendents. 

So, what do we do, we look for leaders to emulate, to support us, to push us. I've been that for some, but I've also found folks who have done that for me. 

All right, moving forward. I'm confident that the work I've done so far has prepared me for this challenge.  Let's be clear; this will not be an individual effort. It's going to take every single one of us in this room: at this table back there, in our homes, in our schools, to do this work and do it well.

So, to the faculties, to the staff, to the employees who toil every single day in service of our students and their parents, I challenge us. I challenge us; I charge us to share what we do well. Because we do stuff well.  Stuff is a very technical educational term. Stuff, right? We do it well. But I also challenge us and charge us to not be afraid to explore that which could engage kids even more. Right? Let's do that.

What else could we do that's better?   Let's dream.  Let them dream it. Let's listen; let's try to provide it to them. To our students, families, communities, and array of partners here in the CASD, I look forward to engaging you all -those of you who are not in this room, those of you who serve this community, whether you're an elected official, clergy, community-based organizations, football coach, athletic, whatever.  Any place. Anytime. Let’s engaged in a conversation so we can all get to know who we are. So that we can do this work and do it well, and build on the successes of our district.

As Kotter says, "There's urgency."  (Leadership guru) Urgency, we have here. I believe there's a coalition to do this work, it starts here, it pushes out there and pushes beyond these walls. A coalition of people who want to make this a premier district in the Commonwealth. But we want this to be the district of the first choice, not of last resort. That's where I would like us to try to build. 

So I'm really clear: Now is the time; Coatesville is the place, and we are the people to do this work. I look forward to getting started.  I thank you for your words.   I thank you for your investment. I thank you for the time that you put in to get this right. My commitment to you is to work my tail off every day to try to make this right and to engage you, engage our young people, their parents, they deserve it - we deserve it.  Thank you very much."

Rob Fisher welcomed Mr. Hanna and his family. Stated no need for public comment because there was only the one agenda item. He thanked Mr. Hanna for recognizing the IU and thanked the IU for the process. He thanked Dr. Fiore for all of his work and invited him to introduce his team. Then he asked for comments from the board. 

Tom Keech expressed how impressed he has been with Mr. Hanna and thanked him for joining CASD. 

Amelia Mills thanked the board for their diligence of finding a superintendent.

Henry Assetto shared how he believes the district has so much potential! "With great leadership, we can move the district ... and give our students an even brighter future." 

Brandon Rhone thanked the Hanna family for allowing Mr. Hanna "to jump in the deep end."

Andrew Finkbohner - "There are some tangibles that you bring to the table that are paramount to this district." He thanked Mr. Hanna's family, and he couldn't be prouder to be part of the board. 

James Bookman thanked Mr. Hanna and believed that he demonstrated his passion by doing homework.

Rob Fisher shared with Mr. Hanna that the community will rally around him because that's what this community does.