I read with interest the profile in Sunday’s newspaper of new Wallingford School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo. My main question after reading it is: Why did the school board opt NOT to hire someone from a larger or at least comparable-size school district? The Marlborough district that cur-rently employs Menzo has 700 students. Wallingford has 7,000. The entire Marlborough school budget is $7 million. Wallingford’s budget is $85 million. Marlborough is really not a school district in the sense that we think of it in this part of the state. Marlborough has one elementary school. After sixth grade, students attend regional schools.
The article by staff reporter Samaia Hernandez points out Menzo’s many qualifications. But I would like to know whether the other finalists the Wallingford school board considered came from larger districts than Marlborough (they had to) and what kind of discussion board members had about the giant leap that Menzo is taking. I think the other issue I have is related to the first. Considering his lack of experience running a school district with more than one school, why did the board hire him at the high end of the salary scale ($165,000)? I would expect that kind of salary if someone was coming from a larger district or a similar size one.
Let me know what you think.
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2 comments:
I agree with you. He must have done an extraordinary job selling himself in the interview. I believe that people should be rewarded (monetarily) for skill. However, he does seem to lack the large-scale governing skill that this job requires. It would be interesting to get more feedback from the board. It will also be interesting to see if people blog or write opinion letters.
As a wallingford resident and parent I have the same questions. With the budget and radical changes Menzo has proposed this week you can clearly see he is unfit for the job and did an excellent job selling himself to the BOE. Shame on the BOE for getting the wool pulled over thier eyes.
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