Mpls. board approves Ed Graff's 3-year superintendent contract
The Minneapolis School Board approved a contract with new superintendent Ed Graff Tuesday. Graff is currently the superintendent of the Anchorage School District.
Graff will earn $225,000 a year in Minneapolis under the three-year contract. That's about 18 percent higher than former Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson's salary, although Johnson was eligible for a yearly performance-based bonus.
Board member Tracine Asberry says the salary is in line with recommendations from the national organization Council of the Great City Schools and the district's attorney.
"You have to think about the time, it's 2016," Asberry said. "You have to think about what we're asking from our next superintendent and the expectations around performance."
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Asberry said the board will discuss performance goals for Graff after the first year of the contract.
"The first year just allows us to kind of assess the situation," Asberry said. "Remember that the new superintendent is coming in with a budget that he hasn't approved or set, and then he's coming in with an Acceleration 2020 bold plan that he has to also evaluate. So year two and three is about setting performance goals."
The Minneapolis school district has not had a permanent superintendent since Johnson stepped down for personal reasons in December 2014. District Administrator Michael Thomas is currently serving as interim leader. Thomas succeeds Michael Goar, who left the district for a new job June 1.
Graff's contract begins July 1.
Correction (June 8, 2016): An earlier version of this story incorrectly described how Graff's pay would be structured over the length of his contract. The story has been updated.