New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Board sets goal for evaluating schools chief next year
NEW HAVEN — Months of closed-door sessions with the Board of Education did not produce an evaluation of Superintendent of Schools Iline Tracey’s performance but rather a list of seven goals for the 2021-22 academic year.
In a document provided through a Freedom of Information request, the outlined goals included not only what will be expected of Tracey but how her work will be measured.
“The evaluation will be at the end of the academic year and will measure Dr. Tracey’s performance against the stated goals,” said district spokesman Justin Harmon.
Harmon said the stated goals were hammered out during conversations with the board in executive, or closed-door, session. Edits based on board feedback were made before the document was released to the public.
Tracey proposed the goals and the board offered changes, described by Harmon as not significant.
Tracey Thursday deferred comment to Harmon.
The 18-page document lists seven goals.
The first is to work collaboratively with the board to articulate the vision and mission of the district, the document says.
She also is to make sure systems are in place to support the learning of students and staff, provide technical advice to the board on contract negotiations, legislative updates and promote a robust staff evaluation and recruitment process, the document says.
By the time June rolls around, Tracey also is tasked with engaging stakeholders in implementing the district’s race and equity policy and organizing all aspects of the district’s transportation, food service, finance and facilities operations, according to the document. She also must work to strengthen family and community relationships and foster and maintain a coherent and sustainable governance environment, the document says.
Each goal comes with a list of tangible metrics meant to measure whether she had success, according to the document.
Among those metrics are to make sure 100 percent of certified staff will participate in a formal evaluation process – which is a state mandate, the document says.
The board also will look to see whether schools reduce chronic absenteeism and increase literacy and math performance.
A 38-veteran of the school district, Tracey officially became superintendent in July 2020 and received a three-year contract; here salary is set at $250,000 a year. For several months before that she had served as interim superintendent.
School board member Darnell Goldson said the board has not evaluated Tracey through two contracts, first as interim superintendent, and the current one.
“The board, despite my repeated warnings, missed the deadline, and Tracey refused to extend it,” Goldson said of the evaluation
timeline he said is spelled out in the contract.
The board has not evaluated Tracey for the past school year, one that was spent entirely during the pandemic. The district spent the first semester of the 2020-21 school year fully remote then gradually began welcoming some students back into the classroom on a hybrid basis in January.
Harmon said Tracey “had set goals for the year but the board had not,” and the “contract called for an evaluation to be based on district goals that would be set in collaboration with the board.”
“When the end of the year came, some members of the board wanted to evaluate Dr. Tracey without reference to goals. She refused because no goals had been collaboratively set,” he said.
Harmon said any potential extension of the superintendent’s contract is up to the school board.
A message seeking comment was sent to school board President Yesenia Rivera.
Controversy arose last spring after it was discovered a district principal allegedly said a racial slur in the presence of colleagues who reported the incident to district officials. The principal was put on leave and reassigned. Some members of the board and public felt there should have been a more thorough investigation and more support provided to staff and students at the school. The incident drew an apology from Tracey over how the situation was handled.