Rudy Crew gets $368,000 to leave Miami-Dade schools (The Miami Herald)

My response coming soon! --Dr. Louie F. Rodriguez
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The Miami Herald
Posted on Wed, Sep. 10, 2008
Rudy Crew gets $368,000 to leave Miami-Dade schools
BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Rudy Crew and the School Board agreed to part ways Wednesday, ending Crew's tenure at the helm of the nation's fourth largest school district.
To buyout Crew's contract, the board will pay the schools chief a lump sum of $297,000. It will also provide Crew with health, disability and insurance benefits for two years and will contribute to his retirement.
The total severance package will cost the district $368,000, board Chairman Agustín Barrera said.
Said Barrera: ``Do we want to continue to barrage of attacking the administration publicly?''
Voting for the agreement: Barrera, board Vice Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman and board members Wilbert ''Tee'' Holloway, Martin Karp and Solomon Stinson.
''Man, if I were him, I'd be so happy,'' said Stinson. ``I'd be packing my clothes, leaving my house and getting the hell out of Dade County.''
Crew, whose final few months in Miami-Dade were riddled with controversy, did not attend the meeting.
Crew's attorney H.T. Smith said Crew was happy with the settlement, but that he had ``mixed emotions.''
''He loves the children, and he's concerned about the progress that's going to be made on his initiatives like the Parent Academy,'' Smith said. ``But he understands that the minority of board members have made him ineffective.''
Smith would not say if Crew had another job lined up. But he added, ``There will be a place for him in public education.''
Today is Crew's 58th birthday, his attorney said.
It's not the first time the Miami-Dade School board has ended its relationship with a schools chief on his birthday.
In 2001, Roger C. Cuevas was fired on a 6-3 vote on his 58th birthday.
Board members said they were happy to see the Crew matter settled and were already considering how to move forward.
Some board members said they believed the board would name Crew's successor later on in the meeting.
The decision to buy out Crew, this year's National Superintendent of the Year, came after only a short discussion at a School Board meeting Wednesday. Crew had said publicly that he was ready to leave the district, and even Crew's supporters said they wanted to move on.
Some board members were reluctant to pay Crew a severance package, given Crew's $325,000 salary.
Board member Marta Pérez called the deal ''overly generous,'' and said the board could not afford it.
''I think this could run into the millions of dollars,'' said Pérez, who has been one of Crew's most vocal critics. ``It seems to me that we are really giving and giving. And we don't have the money to give.''
Board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla asked Crew to resign without taking any severance.
''The district cannot afford this golden parachute,'' he said. ``How many jobs will be lost? How will it affect the classrooms?''
But Murray A. Greenberg, who was hired by the district last week to negotiate the buyout, called the deal ``fair.''
''This was the best we could do under the time constraints,'' he said.
Crew was wooed to Miami in 2004, where he became the highest paid superintendent in the country. Community leaders chipped in to buy him a house.
Crew will leave South Florida with a mixed record.
During his tenure, students posted incremental gains in reading, writing and math on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Crew also helped reduce school overcrowding, and rallied businesses and local municipalities to take part in the school system.
But Crew's management abilities were called into question when the district came in overbudget two years in a row. And critics lambasted him for failing to reach out to Miami's Cuban community.
In June, board member Diaz de la Portilla, led a charge to fire Crew for cause.
While his campaign gained momentum over the summer, it was ultimately defeated in a 5-4 vote in August.
Later that month, Crew lost his majority on the board when incumbent School Board member Evelyn Greer lost her seat to retired principal Larry Feldman. Greer did not attend Wednesday's meeting.
On Thursday, the board hired Greenberg and voted to negotiate a buyout.
Had the board not negotiated a buyout, it could have fired Crew for any reason. But without cause, the board would have had to pay Crew what remains in his contract, or about $700,000.