Boyd staying on as Santa Fe schools chief

SANTA FE — Joel Boyd is staying as the superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools.

In a news release, Boyd announced Saturday night “his decision to continue serving the students of Santa Fe and building on the success that the district has achieved over the past two and a half years.”

Three weeks ago, Boyd was selected as the lone finalist for the superintendent’s job in Fort Worth. The school board of the Texas city was scheduled to meet Monday to vote on making a formal job offer to Boyd.

“I’m honored by the outpouring of support from our Santa Fe community,” Boyd said in the news release. “Collaboratively, we’ve made great strides in Santa Fe over the past two and a half years, but our work is not finished. I am eager to continue leading our team of teachers and staff as we strive to provide a world-class education to our students.”

Santa Fe school board President Steve Carrillo said, “I’m very happy with the superintendent’s decision.

I think this is fantastic for the district and for the community of Santa Fe. We are fortunate to have national talent leading our district.”

The Santa Fe board met Friday night to discuss possible adjustments to Boyd’s contract in an effort to entice him to stay.

The board took no action after an hour-long executive session.

Carrillo had said before the board went behind closed doors that paying Boyd more to try to keep him from going to Fort Worth wasn’t a good idea but that the board could discuss “nonmonetary” incentives.

Among the district’s accomplishments under Boyd has been the creation of a program to get dropouts back into classes, with about 80 enrollees this year, and a significant jump in the Santa Fe Public Schools graduation rate in the most recent statistics.

Boyd earns $180,000 a year with a total benefits package of more than $200,000.

The last Fort Worth superintendent made $338,000, after 40 years in the job.