NOTE: This is a press release from the District Public Relations office.
(Duncanville, Texas) – Tonight Duncanville ISD will be included in two newscasts as part of the media’s coverage on the state budget crisis. WFAA Channel 8 will run a story at 6:00 pm on how the district has reduced expenditures by $10 million over the past four years in preparation for tough times, better positioning Duncanville ISD for today’s economic climate. We feel this story will be a very accurate depiction of our current status.
KTVT Channel 11, however, will air a misleading story at 10:00 pm about the Duncanville ISD Board of Trustees’ intent to restructure the contract of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alfred Ray. We want to provide our staff and community direct access to current and accurate information. At a special called School Board meeting on Monday, February 21, the Superintendent and members of the Executive Leadership Team presented the Annual District Performance Report for 2010 as part of the Superintendent’s annual
review process. A copy of that presentation can be viewed here. As demonstrated in the presentation, the Superintendent met or exceeded all priorities set for 2010.
After the presentation, district staff left the meeting and the Board convened into closed session to discuss the Superintendent’s performance. As part of these discussions, it is customary for the Board to discuss the Superintendent’s contract renewal. After the closed session, the Board reconvened into open session, taking action to approve restructuring the superintendent’s contract. This gave the Board President the authority to begin discussing with the Superintendent the Board’s intent to eliminate two clauses in the current contract – longevity pay and a performance bonus. There was no contract approval at this meeting.
The Superintendent’s current contract, which is available online, clearly outlines the superintendent’s annual compensation package that includes his base salary, longevity pay, and a performance bonus. The proposed contract restructuring would remove longevity pay and performance bonuses from the compensation package. To transition to this new compensation structure, the Board intends to roll the longevity pay and performance bonus amounts into the base salary. Please note that these are funds that have already been committed by the district under the current contract. The proposed new compensation restructure would show the Superintendent’s base salary as $230,000 and would be within approximately 1-2 percent of what the Superintendent would receive this year under the performance bonus and longevity pay contract structure. This of course assumes that both the superintendent and board agree to the proposed terms. Additionally, the proposed restructured compensation plan would remain well within the district’s market comparison for
superintendents of similar size districts.
Duncanville ISD prides itself on transparency and fiscal responsibility, and we want our community to have the facts. Board of Trustee President Louis McElroy shared the following statement with Channel 11 reporter Jay Gormley: “We, the Duncanville ISD Board of Trustees, have decided to re-structure the Superintendent’s current compensation to reflect our appreciation of the great job he has done. Due to his good judgment and frugal fiscal policies our district is prepared to weather the severe monetary and policy hits from the decline in the state’s budget. We do not plan to lay off or terminate any teachers and will continue forward with our current academic programs. This restructuring of the superintendent’s
compensation is an excellent way for the board to convey our gratitude to our superintendent with very minimum, if any, impact to our taxpayers.”
It is our practice to video tape any and all media interviews. Superintendent Alfred Ray’s unedited interview with CBS 11 reporter Jay Gormley can be viewed here.
