Morgan Hill School District Superintendent Carolyn McKennan
’s thin-skinned, three-page response to questions about her
compensation package is confusing, to say the least. It’s
confusing, because as a public employee, her salary and benefits
are public knowledge and responsible citizens have a right and a
duty to question how much they’re paying her.
Morgan Hill School District Superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s thin-skinned, three-page response to questions about her compensation package is confusing, to say the least. It’s confusing, because as a public employee, her salary and benefits are public knowledge and responsible citizens have a right and a duty to question how much they’re paying her.
So do board members, although from the size of her salary and benefits package (especially the lifetime health benefits and annual, cumulative ‘longevity’ bonus), a case can be made that trustees have been rather lax on oversight. No one can accuse trustees of being tough negotiators, that much is clear.
Teachers and citizens, therefore, are doing a job trustees apparently have not – they’re looking closely at how much McKennan makes, comparing it to other district superintendents’ salaries – and a compensation package that’s perilously close to $200,000 year is stunning – and asking an unpleasant but utterly necessary question: Is she worth it?
Let’s look at the blemishes on the MHSD (and therefore McKennan’s) recent record:
• An abysmal record with on-time, on-budget completion of large projects – Barrett Elementary School, Live Oak High School remodeling, Sobrato High School;
• The bungling of the elementary boundary changes two years ago – they were so badly drawn that the families of this district will have to be yanked from familiar schools, inconvenienced and stressed all over again with new elementary boundaries for the next school year;
• The souring relationship between teachers and MHSD administration that has degenerated from grudging tolerance to outright distrust;
• A successful attempt to have trustees rubber-stamp a controversial grant by providing a copy of the 79-page document to trustees shortly before the meeting at which they were asked to approve it;
• The cuts that have continued at the school district – from teachers to counselors to receptionists and beyond – while McKennan is receiving a ‘longevity’ bonus and given lifetime health benefits; And those are just the, er, highlights.
Of course, good things have happened at the district – elementary test scores are improving, for one, and the relationship between the school district and the City of Morgan Hill – at times frosty – seems to be improving. Central High has seen its graduation rate double the past few years.
Individual programs, such as elementary music, the high-tech ag program at Live Oak, the secondary music program, the grant-funded art program at the elementary level and others, are flourishing.
Much of these postives, however, are the result of the hard work and dedication of the district’s teachers and prinicpals. And in the same vein, McKennan is not individually responsible for district shortcomings; others on her administrative staff should shoulder part of that responsibility.
Citizens, parents and especially trustees have a duty to look closely at the record and evaluate McKennan’s performance. The state of Morgan Hill schools are her responsibility – a tough job, to be sure, but one for which she is clearly well-compensated. Trustees are working on McKennan’s annual performance review right now.
For parents and citizens, however, that task is made difficult by the school board’s refusal to release the criteria they’re using to evaluate her. As a matter of fairness – to both the employee, McKennan, and her bosses – the public – the criteria need to be made available to all parties.
We certainly hope McKennan knows the criteria trustees will be using to evaluate her. It’s only fair that taxpayers, the ones who pay her handsome salary and benefits package, have that information as well.
These are fair questions – unpleasant for McKennan and trustees, perhaps, but that’s beside the point – and ones for which all responsible citizens and parents will demand answers.
And school board, be warned: elections are next year; stonewalling or unsatisfactory answers will yield unpleasant results for incumbents at the ballot box.
To respond to this editorial or comment on this issue, please send or bring letters to Editor, The Morgan Hill Times, 30 E. Third St., Morgan Hill, CA 95037, fax to 779-3886 or email to
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