HILLSBOROUGH: Stipend questioned for 10-day principal

How much should a substitute administrator be paid?

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Harold Blackstone will serve as interim principal at Amsterdam Elementary School this month.
   He’ll substitute for Mary Ann Mullady, who will be on a leave of absence from Dec. 10-20. He was approved 6-2 by the school board Monday night.
   Mr. Blackstone will be paid $583.51 per day, a stipend that board member Judith Haas questioned.
   She said she had “concerns” with the board’s continuing policy to pay high daily salaries for substitutes in administrative jobs.
   Ms. Haas said she thought Amsterdam School “needs a leader” and that Mr. Blackstone is “a lovely, lovely man” but she didn’t think interim hires needed to be paid at the same rate as the person for whom he or she is substituting.
   Teachers make about $270 a day, she said, yet daily substitutes are paid $90 and long-term substitutes $105.
   Mr. Blackstone, who retired in 2004, was not part of the “technological revolution” nor was he trained in teacher evaluation, she said.
   Member Thuy Anh Le said Mr. Blackstone “brought stability” when he subbed at the Woods Road School from Jan. 25 to April 26 in 2011.
   Member Christopher Pulsifer said many jobs pay more, not less, for replacements.
   Superintendent Jorden Schiff said Mr. Blackstone “was ready to start tomorrow” and asked for approval. He said the board’s human resources committee could discuss the issue going forward.
   With that, Ms. Haas joined the yes votes. Jennifer Haley and Dana Bogusewski were the no votes.