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Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?

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By Steve Alexander Reporter

M30o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?

Published: Tue, October 16, 2007 - 8:34 pm
Last Updated: Tue, October 16, 2007 - 9:27 pm

Steve Alexander

We now know how much the Mobile County School Board is offering Roy Nichols to be the next superintendent.
Nichols has agreed to a three-and-a-half year deal worth $210,000 per year.
The new superintendent chose to have $15,000 of that deferred.
In the end, Nichols will make at least $50,000 a year more than outgoing Superintendent Harold Dodge.
Board President Judy Stout says she expects the full board to approve the contract.
Stout said, "Once its approved, we're prepared to sign him on. He and his wife had already made plans with realtors, et cetera tomorrow (Wednesday) anticipating an agreement, so we're not going to be able to sign it until Thursday."
Nichols said, "I really think the contract offer is very fair. And I'm excited about it. I'm looking forward to coming to work here."
The board has been criticized for micro-management under current Superintendent Harold Dodge. Nichols had said he wanted the contract to include language outlining the roles of board members, but Nichols said, "Its not part of the contract. We're still working on that. We've agreed in principle."
When asked about the dollars included in Nichols proposed salary, board member Hazel Fournier brought up a well-known football coach in Alabama.
Fournier said, "Its not too much in terms of what we expect him to do, And I'm going to explain it like this: if you can pay (University of Alabama Head Football Coach Nick) Saban 4.2 (million dollars), you can pay this superintendent 210 (thousand dollars). He doesn't have a football team, and this man has 65,000 children to work with."
Teacher union officials have been watching the whole process.
What do they think about the salary agreement?
Wade Perry with the Mobile County Education Association said, "$210,000 is an awful lot of money. It's $60,000 dollars a year more than Dr. Dodge is making. I think this community still has a lot of concerns about whether or not the superintendent was actually the problem. In fact, the community has indicated that they think the school board is the problem and the new superintendent is not going to solve that."
The school board is scheduled to meet at 8:30 Wednesday morning to officially approve the contract with Nichols.

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