Proposed MUSD superintendent contract is criticized

By Doug Spoon, Editor

For the second time in four years, criticism over a proposed contract for the superintendent of Menifee Union School District has prompted the school board to take a second look.

The MUSD governing board last week tabled a proposal to approve a renegotiated contract for superintendent Jennifer Root, who has been on the job for one year. During that Oct. 12 board meeting, the president of the Menifee Teachers Association criticized the proposal and urged the board to reconsider the renegotiation.

Root, a first-time superintendent, was given a 32-month contract (through June 2023) at $250,000 per year when she was hired in September 2020. That amount was about $6,000 more per year than departing superintendent Steve Kennedy, whose renegotiated contract in 2017 also was opposed by teachers but ultimately approved after at first being tabled by board members.

Only one board member (Bob O’Donnell) remains from that group, but the new board’s willingness to consider spending even more than that on a second-year superintendent became evident recently. The tabled proposal calls for a base salary of $257,858 for this year, $263,371 for 2022-23, and $268,981 for 2023-24.

That, said MTA President Shelli Sullivan, is simply not warranted, considering the short time Root (left) has spent in the position and her relative inexperience as a superintendent.

“I have to question that the superintendent is already renegotiating her contract,” said Sullivan, who represents a union that continually wages a struggle in its own contract negotiations to get a 2 or 3 percent raise one year at a time. The fact that the board appeared ready to guarantee Root a 3 percent raise this year plus raises for two more years simply is not warranted, she said.

“Her contract already exceeded the previous superintendent; now the new contract would be almost $19,000 over [by the final year],” Sullivan continued. “I understand it’s normal to have raises allowed, but this can only be seen as a meritorious raise. If her performance is so stellar, why does the district continue to pay a mentor/coach for her?”

Sullivan’s reference was to a contract in which the district pays Dr. Gary Rutherford – who served as interim MUSD superintendent after Kennedy’s departure – to lend guidance to Root during her relatively short time in the position. This strategy is not uncommon in districts over a short time period, Sullivan said in an interview with Menifee 24/7. But to extend that mentoring agreement over the length of a proposed Root contract extension does not make sense, she said.

According to the proposal for Root’s new contract, “The Board shall provide the Superintendent with an executive coach. The Superintendent may recommend a particular coach, but the Board shall have full authority and discretion to approve the selection and the terms of the consulting contract. Annual costs for the executive coaching shall not exceed $6,000.”

Adding a possible $18,000 to the superintendent deal is unacceptable to Sullivan, who says she has “no animosity” toward Root and is “not trying to cause trouble.”

“When you negotiate a new contract, you always try to do the best for yourself and your family; I understand that,” said Sullivan, a teacher at Bell Mountain Middle School. “She has the right to ask, and I have the right to object.”

According to Sullivan, Root’s current salary puts her right in the middle among Riverside County school superintendents – with 10 paid more and 10 paid less. The new contract would put her “near the top” of superintendents in the county, she said.

“I take no issue with that, except that our members are in the bottom third in the county,” she said, referring to the teachers’ pay.

Once again this year, teachers are working under the terms of an expired contract, with negotiations over a new pact continuing. One step taken in their favor was the board’s approval last week of a memorandum of understanding in which their base pay is increased 3 percent through June 2022 “for support due to the increased demands related to COVID-19.” That increase goes away after the current school year, however, and a new contract is yet to be agreed upon.

In her 28-year career in education, Root has spent time as an elementary and middle school teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, and assistant superintendent. She was most recently assistant superintendent of business services for the Anaheim Union High School District.

When tabling the contract proposal at its Oct. 12 meeting, the MUSD board did not specify when it would be addressed again. After the proposal for Kennedy’s renegotiated contract was tabled in 2017, the same deal was brought back and Kennedy got what he wanted.