March 27, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

NEWSAISD: Carstarphen Seals the DealWhen the Austin Independent SchoolDistrict board of trustees voted March 23 toconfirm Meria Carstarphen as the district’snext superintendent, it was, in many ways, arubber-stamping exercise.There was more public discussion on thenight the board considered naming a newSouthwest middle school than there wasabout who the district is getting as its newchief executive. After a brief introduction byboard President Mark Williams, Carstarphenwas nominated by board secretary andDistrict 6 trustee Lori Moya, seconded byVice President Vince Torres, and elected bya unanimous show of hands.In a moment of stagecraft, Carstarphenthen appeared from the back of the boardauditorium to a standing ovation.Now begins the real getting-to-know-youprocess. On Feb. 26, when the St. Paulsuperintendent was announced as the solecandidate to replace Superintendent PatForgione, the consensuswas that the state-mandated21-day public vetting periodwas strictly pro forma. Infact, the 21 days turned outto be 26: If the board hadkept to the state-mandatedminimum, it would have hadto make the announcementon the Thursday of springbreak. Instead, even pushingthe meeting back to March23, the district was in theless than ideal position ofholding a public consultationprocess while its schoolsand offices were closed for aweek. In addition, as a sitting superintendent,Carstarphen still had a job to do inMinnesota. Since the Feb. 26 announcement,she had spent a total of seven daysin Austin and had been in St. Paul sinceMarch 10.Carstarphen’sContract Four-year term, with anoption for a fifth $275,000 annual base pay $25,000 cappedperformance bonus $15,000 annuity $1,000 a monthautomobile allowance Health insurance,relocation, and temporaryhousing costsWhile most Austinites understoodCarstarphen’s appointmentwas a done deal, the terms of hercontract were only released at themeeting. Initially, she has signedfor four years, with an option forthe board to extend for a fifth. At$275,000 plus bonuses and allowances,her starting pay is up fromher St. Paul salary of $195,000 butslightly below Forgione’s $285,000a year. Williams called the package“reasonable and fair” and comparableto superintendent salaries inthe rest of the “Big 8” of Texasindependent school districts(Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, FortWorth, Houston, San Antonio, andYsleta). Forgione said he would beworking with Carstarphen on thetransition while she finishes out hercontract in St. Paul and added, “Ipromise you thatMeria and I willwork together toensure that workis productive and that wepass that baton together.”After June 30, it’sCarstarphen’s district.While Williams praised heras a “passionate, energetic,reform-minded visionary,”St. Paul has actuallyexperienced that energyand vision. Sources withinthat district who prefer toremain anonymous saidCarstarphen is notoriousfor her hardworking attitude. As onelongtime observer put it, she’ll squeeze 17hours of meetings into a 15-hour day, andshe expects the same commitment of herstaff. (Before the vote, St. Paul Federationof Teachers President Mary Cathryn RickerJANA BIRCHUMNew AISDSuperintendentMeria Carstarphensaid she understood the sources’ caution:“If she signs today … she still has a fewmonths up here.”)Her proactive style has been a big hit withthe Austin business community, and in heracceptance speech, Carstarphen said, “All ourchildren must be successful if Austin is goingto continue as a vibrant, healthy, economicgenerator.” Her commitment to the best educationpossible for all children is also widelyapplauded, especially her belief in personalmentoring of students. However, like Austin,St. Paul has seen its share of rocky schoolrepurposings, and her take-charge style cancause friction. Even her biggest supportersfrom St. Paul said her relationships with staffand teachers have become strained. “It willbe interesting to see if folks from St. Paulstart following her [to Austin],” said Ricker.Carstarphen will now face the “People’sRepublic of Austin” attitude that there is nosuch thing as too much public input, as wellas groups that are wary of lip service. With aschool accountability system that even itsold defenders now say is far past time forreform, the AISD community will also bewatching to see whether her reported datadisaggregation skills really get to the rootproblems of struggling schools or becomeanother part of the “blame the teachers”official ethos.Education Austin President Louis Malfaroremains cautiously optimistic. However, hesaid, “She’s not here yet, so we’re not reallygetting any time to work with her.” With themajor focus of his union and the district onmore immediate issues like the current legislativesession and the next budget, headded, “She’ll have to drop into the middleof that when she gets here.”– Richard WhittakerCAP METRO THE WHEELS COME OFFFred GilliamTo say things are not going well at CapitalMetro right now … well, let’s not even botherwith polite euphemisms. It’s all going to hell.More than a year behind schedule, thetransit agency’s new commuter train hasbeen delayed yet again – this time indefinitely.And that announcement came after revelationsin the Austin American-Statesman thatthe agency owes millions of dollars to the cityof Austin and other communities it serves –but has drained its cash reserves to build itsnonfunctional train and other pricey projectsand apparently can’t pay it back. According tothe States man’s Ben Wear (March 15), CapMetro’s savings, which once reached into thehundreds of millions, are now down to a meretwo-month safety cushion.Simultaneously (as we reported last week),Cap Metro announced that employees of oneof its labor subcontractors, Veolia Transportation, had driven trains into unauthorizedareas of track during testing and thatthe March 30 launch of the Leander-to-Downtown Red Line service would be delayedby about a month. Then it got worse – it wasannounced that Veolia is under investigationby the Federal Railroad Admin i stra tion,the March 28 kickoff party has beenscrapped, and nobody knows for sure whenMetroRail will begin operations.“At this time, I am not satisfied with theprogress Veolia has made with safety andtraining,” said Capital Metro President/CEOFred Gilliam in a statement. “Capital Metrois deeply disappointed over this delay, butunder no circumstances will we jeopardizesafety by rushing this process.” Gilliam calledfor Veolia to replace its safety director,announced that experts from the MassachusettsBay Transportation Authority will bebrought in to advise (ironic, since MBTA isrun by Veolia), and said the community willreceive an update by May 15.Don’t think this will go down well amongcity politicos. In a statement, Austin CityCouncil Member Mike Martinez supportedthe delay, but concluded, “We must also seekanswers to the many questions surroundingCapital Metro and judgment errors that haveplagued the agency for some time now.” Hewas far less polite talking to the daily – heopined that Veolia was simply a “scapegoat”in the fiasco, and said: “Other folks are goingto have to accept their responsibility as well.… It really brings into question the competenceof the organization.”– Lee Nichols18 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E MARCH 27, 2009 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m