In an atmosphere as casual as a Sunday School picnic and as formful as Electoral College voting, Patty Jaffe was unanimously confirmed last evening as the Interim Superintendent of the School District.
Last Wednesday, one week to the day before Ms. Jaffe was to retire, the Board announced it had selected her to serve as Interim Super. She agreed to an open-ended contract on a day-by-day basis, however long a search takes, for a maximum annual salary of $200,000.
Nice ‘n Easy
The School Board set the pace for informality, with the President attired in jeans, the Vice President in a baseball cap and flipped-up sunglasses.
About a half-dozen children turned the Board Room at District Headquarters into a sort of indoors sandbox, playfully enjoying the formfree pre-meeting moments in a nearly empty setting.
Initially, the Board Room mode seemed somber. Someone central was missing — Dr. Myrna Rivera Cote, the departing Superintendent, whose official final day is Wednesday. This was one of the only times in 3 ½ years that she has not been present. Her chair, near the crown of the horseshoe-shaped seating arrangement, remained unoccupied, and her absence was unremarked upon.
When Board President Steve Gourley solicited audience comment, Dr. Luther Henderson raised technical objections to language in Ms. Jaffe’s contract. He said the inclusion of the assertion that the School Board was saving the District $40,000 with the way the agreement was written amounted to a “political statement,” and therefore inappropriate. Mr. Gourley said all contracts are political statements. Dr. Henderson appeared to concur.
David Mielke, President of the Teachers Union, enthusiastically endorsed the choice of Ms. Jaffe. He said he spoke earlier in the day with a teacher who urged the Board to name Ms. Jaffe on a permanent basis. “I have not thought it through,” Mr. Mielke said. “But I thought I would pass it on.”
After Ms. Jaffe, a 40-year employee of the District, was confirmed by the Board, she said, from her current Assistant Superintendent chair, “Thank you. And I am thrilled — especially because my husband Leonard has come to his first Board meeting.” From the second row, he spoke up succinctly, “And my last,” setting off a titter in the sparse crowd.
When Mr. Gourley was urged to encourage Ms. Jaffe to make a victory statement, he demurred, he said, until there was a much larger gathering.
Whereupon Board member Patricia Siever delivered a laudatory message. “You have more than demonstrated the knowledge and ability to lead our District through this transition period. You have served the District as a dedicated teacher, principal and administrator. You understand, thoroughly, where we have been, what the District needs and where we can go.”
