Adam Smith won a $100,000 pay raise on Thursday to serve in the new role of deputy superintendent of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system.
Smith, a 28-year veteran of the school system, was named last month as deputy superintendent as a consolation prize after failing to win the top job. On Thursday, the parish School Board .
Smith will see his pay increased from $134,732 to $235,000 a year. That makes him the second-highest paid administrator in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system and will earn him a lot more than other district leaders.
The top-paid employee, however, remains newly hired Superintendent LaMont Cole, who earlier this month signed a contract for $285,000 in annual salary.
Cole’s predecessor, Sito Narcisse, made $255,000 a year in salary during his three-year tenure. That’s $30,000 less than Cole and $20,000 more than Smith’s proposed salary.
Under Narcisse, top administrators topped out around $130,000 a year.
The board voted 6-0 in favor of Smith’s deputy superintendent contract. Board member Nathan Rust abstained. Board members Dadrius Lanus and Emily Soulé were absent.
Board President Patrick Martin V, who helped negotiate the contract, urged board members to support it. He noted that Smith has been a loyal district employee, but the contract is appropriate for the big job he will be undertaking.
"(Smith) is going to be very, very busy doing very important things to move our district forward,” Martin said.
Board Member Mark Bellue expressed concern about how much Smith will be making versus other high-level administrators.
Cole said he supports raising pay for all employees, including district leadership.
“If we don’t think about compensation packages for the talent we have, we are going to lose people,” Cole said.
Cole said he is looking to do a fresh compensation analysis to make district pay more competitive.
James Finney, a board watcher, said he worries that Smith’s contract will lead to a repeat of the heavy boost in Central Office spending that marked Narcisse’s tenure.
“$235,000 is more than most superintendents in this state make,” Finney said.
Martin said he agrees that the overall Central Office spending needs to go down, but said that pay for certain positions may need to increase.
“We have put a lot of responsibility to give Superintendent Cole appropriate support,” Martin said. “He can’t do it alone.”
Smith has tried three times to become permanent superintendent and twice has served as interim superintendent. His latest bid for the permanent job was cut short in late June when the board named three other finalists for the job — Smith fell one vote short — which sparked an immediate backlash that led to a stalemate that prevented any finalist from amassing a majority of five votes. The three finalists dropped out one by one.
The search was then briefly reopened and Cole, a veteran middle school principal, a chief academic officer for a Baton Rouge-based charter network and an elected member of the Metro Council, jumped in. Smith dropped his own bid and threw his support behind Cole, an old friend.
Cole started with East Baton Rouge schools in 1998 and Smith started in 1996. They have said they plan to work as a team to run the state’s second-largest traditional school district, home to more than 40,000 children.
Smith is to report to Cole, and Cole will evaluate Smith. Cole participated in the negotiations on Smith’s contract.
But as part of an unusual arrangement, Cole is not hiring Smith. Rather, the board is hiring Smith directly.
Smith’s job description of deputy superintendent ensures that he has a very big portfolio where he "manages the operations, activities and services of all district divisions." The job involves "daily oversight and coordination across all district divisions" and Smith would conduct department reviews and recommend changes to Cole. He would lead the development and review of district policies and regulations and supervise the formation of the district budget.
While Cole makes more money, Smith’s contract is six months longer than Cole’s. Smith’s contract would start Thursday and would not expire until Dec. 31, 2028.
Cole’s contract ends June 30, 2028. That’s just shy of four years in duration, the maximum length a school superintendent can be under contract under state law.
Smith would not start making his $235,000 a year salary until Nov. 1. Between Aug. 15 and Oct. 30, Smith is supposed to help Cole transition into his new job.
During his six months as interim superintendent, Smith was making the same rate of pay as Narcisse. He would continue to make that rate until Oct. 30 under the proposed contract.
After Nov. 1, Smith would receive his new salary as well as annual pay raises of 0.5%. By contrast, Cole gets no automatic pay raise but can make substantially more each year — up to $68,400 in year one — if he meets up to 12 ambitious performance goals.
Smith’s contract includes 10 general “performance expectations” in areas such as “leadership and vision” and “curriculum development,” but he earns no additional money if he meets them.
Another perk is that Smith would receive $400 a month, or $4,800 a year, for “in-parish travel and the maintenance and upkeep” of his vehicle. Cole is receiving a $1,500 car allowance worth $18,000 a year.
In January, Narcisse accepted a voluntary buyout. Six weeks earlier, the board voted against renewing Narcisse’s contract, in part because he sought a big pay raise that would have paid him notably more than what the board ended up paying Cole.
State law gives the superintendent the sole authority to hire and fire most school employees while the board’s primary hire is the superintendent.
The only other school employee whom the board currently hires directly is Gwynn Shamlin, the district’s general counsel. Heretofore, Shamlin has been the second-highest paid district employee. Last year, he made nearly $160,000 a year.
In hiring Smith directly, the School Board is taking advantage of a 1968 law that allows larger school districts to hire directly a “deputy parish superintendent.”
The decision protects Smith from being fired or demoted as long as he is under contract to the board.
Rust objected to the board hiring Smith directly, saying it ties the hands of the superintendent.
“This is hugely problematic,” Rust said.
However, Smith can be removed as deputy superintendent “with or without cause” by a majority vote of the board, as per his contract. Smith would then shift to another job with the school system unless there is alleged misconduct, in which case Smith could potentially be terminated.
The contract also says that if Cole gives Smith a “less than satisfactory” evaluation, Cole must give the board a copy and give Smith a chance to provide a written response that would be placed in Smith’s personnel file.