Friday, July 23, 2010

One superintendent, 19 years

Neil Pedersen announced this week that he'll retire as superintendent of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in 2011, leaving after 19 years in the job. That's the second-longest tenure among current N.C. superintendents, the district says, and an almost inconceivable stretch among bigger districts, where turnover every three to five years is the norm.

In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which was formed by the merger of city and county school districts in 1960, Jay M. Robinson holds the record, leading from 1977 to 1986.

The separate districts had been led by long-timers: Elmer Garinger led Charlotte City Schools for 11 years, plus another two as the first CMS superintendent, while James Wilson led the county district for almost 16, according to a list compiled by retired administrator Chris Folk. But since then, everyone but Robinson has cycled through in three to six.

Peter Gorman is starting his fifth year with CMS. There's plenty of speculation about how much longer he'll stay, both from people who are afraid he'll leave and those who hope he will. He's gotten a lot of national attention; it seems likely he could step into a high-profile job if wanderlust strikes. But he said when he came he hoped to stay through his daughter's graduation (she's in middle school now). I haven't heard anything to the contrary, but I'm not sure I would. High-level job negotiations tend to be closely guarded.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My guess if if he wins the Broad Award he'll be gone, replaced by Ann Clark, who hopefully will be less of a Dr. Frankenstein.

Anonymous said...

This will be his last year. At 5 years he will be vested in the state's retirement system, such as it is, and he'll move on to greener (spelled $$$$) pastures. Maybe somewhere south, so he doesn't have to move far or he can have two residences and his daughter can stay here.
I mean, if its good for certain high school football players, then it's good for him. Right? I mean he hasn't truly done anything to fix that mess yet now has he?
You know, it’s not who you know, it’s who you …

Anonymous said...

What player are you talking about, 6:09? Lemay? If you are it is 3 residences, not 2.

jarrod said...

I am looking forward to high school football this year. I now have my girls in 2 high schools one at butler and one a Independence our rival. Who to pull for?

Anonymous said...

To 9:55, so one is the rising senior in your previous district and CMS would not let the younger one join her since your house is now in a differnt district? If this is right, I could draw another conclusion but I think everyone else can?