Karen Janney, the newly hired superintendent at the Sweetwater Union High School District, has agreed to terms on a contract that puts her in charge of the largest secondary school district in California for the next three years.
The Sweetwater District board of trustees unanimously approved Janney’s contract Tuesday night, which has her making an annual salary of $235,000 or a monthly income of $19,583.33 plus benefits.
Her contract shall also call for an advance in salary one step on July 1 of every year, commencing July 1, 2016, “subject to obtaining across-the-board ratings of satisfactory in the board’s annual evaluation of her performance.” Each step shall be the equivalent of two percent of the superintendent’s then-current salary.
The contract states that an evaluation of the superintendent shall be completed by April 15 of each school year.
June 23 marked the first official day on the job for Janney, as she replaced interim superintendent Phil Stover.
“Tomorrow is literally a new day, a new leadership and vision for a better Sweetwater,” Stover said about Janney who shadowed him for two weeks to prepare her for the job.
“I ask each of you to embrace the leadership of Dr. Janney as she works to truly make Sweetwater an enjoyable and fulfilling place to serve our community.”
Janney said her goal as superintendent is to work hard at restoring the district’s reputation.
“We understand that one of our biggest goals is to build trust within the district,” she told a boardroom full of community members, parents and district staff. “And we’re going to do that by being open and transparent for two-way communication.”
The five member governing board – with the help of the search firm The Cosca Group, who conducted a nationwide search-selected the former educator from a list of 15 candidates earlier this month, making her the first woman at the helm.
A search committee that included community members and teachers gave input on the selection of candidates.
Janney becomes the Sweetwater District’s permanent Superintendent since Ed Brand was placed on paid administrative leave last October by a temporary school board that included former trustee John McCann and San Diego County Office of Education Board members.
With Janney’s hiring the district closes a void that saw two interim superintendents and one temporary superintendent as it looked for a permanent replacement.
A new school board elected last Novemberr made finding a new permanent superintendent before July its top priority.
Janney’s contract runs through June 30, 2018.
