Unified board ponders next move
BY PAUL SLOTH
Journal Times | Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE - Less than two weeks ago, Barbara Pulliam said her biggest concern was finding a place to live in Racine.
Now she's been offered a job with another school district in Georgia, and the Racine Unified School Board is prepared to reopen its search for a new superintendent.
The board learned Monday that Pulliam will not be Unified's next superintendent.
In the midst of contract negotiations with Unified, Pulliam turned the district down and decided to accept an offer to be interim superintendent of the Greene County School District, a small district in Greensboro, Ga.
On Tuesday, the school board there voted 4-0 to offer Pulliam a job, according to The Herald-Journal, a weekly newspaper in Greensboro.
The Unified School Board was prepared to offer Pulliam an annual salary of $170,000 in addition to a generous benefits package, according to contract documents obtained by The Journal Times.
In April, Unified's board voted 7-2 to hire Pulliam. Board Members Julie McKenna and Dennis Wiser cast the dissenting votes. Pulliam was one of three finalists, including Craig Bangtson and Carlinda Purcell, considered for the job. Pulliam turned her back on Unified in order to stay in Georgia, where she will earn $155,000 for a one-year contract, said Carey Williams, owner of The
Herald-Journal.
Pulliam's attorney offered little explanation about her decision when he called Unified's attorney Gib Berthelsen Monday
afternoon.
"I'm completely bewildered," Bertelsen said Tuesday when he learned that Pulliam was considering another job offer. "This was the first indication of any reason why she did this."
Pulliam resigned as the leader of the 52,000-student Clayton County, Ga., school district in July 2007 after 3½ years on the job, her last as a superintendent.
Pulliam was scheduled to meet with Unified staff Monday, but she did not show up, district officials said Tuesday. She was set to start in the district July 1. She did not return calls seeking comment on her decision.
A better offer
Pulliam's decision was based on the "totality" of the situation, said Joe Flynn, an attorney from St. Paul, Minn., who represented Pulliam in her negotiations with Unified.
She had to consider a number of variables, including relocation, scenery and economics, Flynn said.
"She simply found another offer a better fit for her and she took it," Flynn said. "It's unfortunate, but it is not unusual."
Unified's board was expected to discuss Pulliam's contract during a closed-session meeting Monday, according to board President Tony Baumgardt.
Baumgardt expected to update the board Monday about the ongoing negotiations between the district and Pulliam's attorney, he said Tuesday. He wasn't expecting the call that Berthelsen received from Pulliam's attorney.
"The message was that Dr. Pulliam was withdrawing her application," Baumgardt said. "That was really the end of it. For whatever reason, and I can't even speculate, she is no longer
coming."
Baumgardt and Berthelsen had been negotiating Pulliam's contract with her attorney during the past two weeks.
A ripple effect
With Pulliam scheduled to start in less than a month, the situation leaves Unified without its two top officials heading in to the next school year. Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard announced her resignation last week as chief academic officer. Her contract ends June 30.
"This is going to have a ripple effect within the district," said School Board member Wiser.
The district's contract with Jack Parker, Unified's interim superintendent, expires June 30. The district will proceed immediately with a new search for a superintendent, Baumgardt said.
Parker, who has served as interim superintendent since October 2007, will continue in the job at least through the summer, giving the board time develop a plan for its next steps, Baumgardt said in a statement Tuesday.
The news of Pulliam's decision came as a shock to board member Don Nielsen, who accompanied Pulliam on a tour of the district after she was chosen for the job.
"I spent an hour and a half with her. She was excited. That's what is so troubling," Nielsen said.