U-46 extends interim superintendent's contract
Elgin schools officials Monday night extended the contract for interim Superintendent Kenneth Arndt for another year.
Arndt, former superintendent of Community Unit District 300, has been serving Elgin Area School District U-46 in that capacity since former Superintendent José Torres resigned in August 2014 to head the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora.
He and Chief Executive Officer Tony Sanders have been jointly running the state's second-largest school district serving more than 40,000 students.
The school board voted 5-2 to extend Arndt's contract starting July 1 through June 30, 2017, with a $5,000 salary bump, to $70,000. He is limited by state law to working 100 days at $700 per day.
Board members Cody Holt and Jeanette Ward voted against the extension, though both agreed they were happy with Arndt's performance.
“This is a really tough call for me because of the raise,” Ward said.
Holt said he also could not support granting Arndt a raise due to budget uncertainties.
“My main concern lies with the situation in Springfield,” he said. “We could be looking at cuts in the future of programs and staff because of the budget impasse.”
Other board members agreed Arndt has served the district well.
“The team that we have in place with Mr. Sanders and Dr. Arndt is a very cost-effective solution to what we need in the short term,” board member Phil Costello said.
Sanders, who previously was Torres' chief of staff, handles day-to-day operations as CEO, while Arndt deals with bigger-picture issues, such as working on the district's budget and building plans and making curriculum decisions, per state mandate.
School board President Donna Smith said if proposed legislation that would allow Sanders to become certified as superintendent were signed into law, Arndt's contract would then terminate.
That proposal, sponsored by state Rep. Fred Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, would relax state requirements for superintendents to be certified educators and is under review in the House. State Sen. Mike Noland, an Elgin Democrat, is sponsoring similar legislation in the Senate.
Smith said the school board also is considering making changes to Sanders' contract, updating the goals, and removing a clause that states he would return to being chief of staff if the district hired a superintendent.
Sanders has two years remaining on that contract, which guarantees a 2.75 percent increase to his current base salary of $215,775 on July 1, with the same increase at the beginning of the following school year unless the school board increases the raise.