Los Alamos Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kurt Steinhaus accepts a one-year extension to his contract at Tuesday evening’s regular school board meeting. Photo by Maire O’Neill/ladailypost.com
By MAIRE O’NEILL
Los Alamos Daily Post
Los Alamos Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kurt Steinhaus accepted a contract extension of a year Tuesday evening during the school board’s regular meeting.
The extension grants Steinhaus the maximum allowed by law, which is three years and approved an increase in compensation at the same percentage given to other staff.
Steinhaus thanked the board for its vote of confidence and said it is a privilege serving as LAPS superintendent.
“Along with incredible students and parents, we have outstanding teachers, school leaders and staff supporting the learning process. I enjoy working with the whole team,” he said. “I accept the school board’s contract extension and salary raise proposal, only after we identify funds to provide a much-needed raise for all LAPS staff.”
Steinhaus said his leadership priorities for the remainder of this school year include exceeding expectation in the LAPS Strategic Plan, developing a fiscally-responsible budget proposal for the 2018-2019 school year, and “finishing strong” with success for every single student. He said as part of continuous improvement for LAPS he will provide meaningful end-of-year feedback for school leaders.
“For next year, I will work with the school board d to update the Strategic Plan, serve as instructional leader for the Los Alamos Public Schools, direct prudent fiscal management, support student and staff well-being, and take LAPS to the next level of excellence,” Steinhaus said.
“I plan to celebrate and honor diversity while fully supporting differentiated student learning, school safety and professional development for all staff members,” he said.” I will find innovative ways to build community, foster whole-child learning, and support students, teachers and staff,” he said.
In introducing the agenda item, Board President Jennifer McCumber said she would like to propose that the board extend Steinhaus’s contract by one year, which will mean that it becomes the maximum allowed by law to three years. She said she also would like to propose that he receive the same increase in compensation as the other staff does once the budget is determined.
Board member Ellen Ben-Naim said that given the excellent evaluation and the consensus on the board’s and the community’s support for Steinhaus, that of course the one year extension should happen. Board member Andrea Cunningham also expressed her support for Steinhaus.
Board member Bill Hargraves said he agreed with the salary increase but on principle had to disagree with the extension because he had stated for three years now that he dislikes three year contracts.
“It has nothing to do with Dr. Steinhaus in particular. I’ve just come to the conclusion from my experience with school boards that one or two year contracts are better in a business sense. But that’s my only comment, but it’s not a negative comment on performance at this point,” he said.
At Hargraves’ request, the motions for contract extension and compensation were split and he was the only no vote on the contract extension. The motion on compensation passed unanimously.
