Mark Frazier took a $36,000 pay cut this week to take a job as director of special education -- a union position that carries a $98,222 salary.
(Frazier also will no longer be collecting his $20,000+ a year stipend to run the Leadership Academy, which came on top of his $134,000 district salary for serving as lead community superintendent, one of the highest-ranking positions in City Hall.)
Last night, after the board meeting, he handed me a memo with a written statement regarding his new position. I quoted from it in today's online story, but the quote got cut out of the print edition, due to space limitations. But here is his full statement:
Within three days of Amber Dixon being named Interim Superintendent, I met to inform her that I was interested in pursuing the position of Director of Special Education in the Buffalo Public Schools. I then embarked upon the legitimate process of applying for Recruitment Bulletin 11-28. I was interviewed on November 4 and 22, 2011, before being unanimously approved by the Board of Education on November 30, 2011. I am grateful that members of the Board of Education continue to believe in my leadership with their vote of confidence in approving my appointment.
I am proud of the work I accomplished as a member of the Superintendent's Cabinet under five Superintendents from 2000-2011 as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Assistant Superintendent for Leadership and Evaluation, Community Superintendent, and Lead Community Superintendent on behalf of our students, families, and District employees. It is with unbounded enthusiasm and great passion that I look forward to serving the District and school community in my new capacity as Director of Special Education.
With his new position in special ed (filling a vacancy, by the way, that came about following a retirement), Frazier becomes the latest in a line of exempt administrators who have left their positions in the last several months. General counsel Brendan Kelleher returned to the private sector; executive administrator Erin Comerford took a job in the private sector; two people in human resources, Faren Gault Wilson and Kara Murphy, left the district; and let's not forget, former community superintendent Fran Wilson has been appointed chief academic officer, leaving her former position vacant.
It's worth noting that Interim Superintendent Amber Dixon says she will not fill Frazier's former position as lead community superintendent (the job change takes effect for him today).
That's not necessarily a new thing -- Dixon also did not fill Comerford's position, nor did she fill the human resources positions (she used the money from their salaries to add clerical staff in that department).
But what is new with Frazier's situation is that, for the first time in recent memory, an exempt employee has taken a lower-paying, union job within the district.
Will he be just the first of several to do so? That remains to be seen.
But more than one person has pointed out to me that several upper-level administrative openings -- including two assistant superintendent positions (one for fiscal services and one for shared accountability), a director of elementary ed, and a supervisor of reading, among other things -- have recently been posted, fueling speculation that other exempt administrators may soon be following Frazier's lead.
We should find out soon whether that will be the case.
Remember, soon after her appointment as interim superintendent, Dixon had predicted we would likely see fewer than 20 exempt administrators by January -- compared to the 28 on the payroll under her predecessor.
- Mary Pasciak
facebook.com/mary.pasciak twitter.com/SchoolZoneBlog mpasciak@buffnews.com
