Tangipahoa board OKs school chief pact

• By DAVID J. MITCHELL
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Jun 17, 2009 - Page: 5B

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AMITE — The Tangipahoa Parish School Board unanimously approved the parameters of a new three-year contract for Superintendent Mark Kolwe on Tuesday.

The board approved a motion from member Al Link to give Kolwe 5 percent annual raises, boost his monthly car allowance from $800 to $1,000 and give him $250 per month for communications technology, up from $100.

Link said the agreement, which would begin July 1, would also give Kolwe four weeks leave per year and out-of-pocket expenses.

In making the motion, Link said he wanted to make clear that the board feels “very strongly” that it has a superintendent who has worked diligently to move the school system forward and deal with other issues, including the pending school desegregation case.

Link said the board feels like it has “a winner in our superintendent.”

Kolwe thanked the board for the vote of confidence and said he would continue to move the district in the right direction.

A final version of the contract was not available Tuesday, but the board asked its attorneys to draw up the agreement under those conditions.

Last month, the board gave Kolwe a 95.6 percent overall grade on his annual performance evaluation.

The decision Tuesday came after the board met about 30 minutes in executive session about the contract, which had been negotiated by Board President Danny Ridgel and Vice President Ann Smith.

Kolwe’s current two-year agreement expires June 30, under which he makes $135,645 annually.

After the meeting and in response to a question, Ridgel said Kolwe would no longer get state teacher raises, as he had under the current agreement.

Board member Sandra Bailey-Simmons said before the meeting Tuesday that she had planned to oppose the contract because she had not seen it yet.

Link said in making his motion, though, that members reviewed in the closed session what other districts pay their superintendents. He said board members had reservations but changed their minds.