Quantcast

Mixed reviews for new principals

By Kathianne Boniello

Educators in School District 26 expressed mixed feelings about the tentative agreement reached last week that abolished tenure for principals and other administrators in exchange for an 11 percent raise after a four-year stalemate.

Principals and assistant principals throughout the city have been working without a contract since December 1995 and have been left in a virtual wage freeze since the conflict began.

With some teachers earnings more than principals, there have been defections throughout the city system. Arnold Goldstein, the longtime principal of Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside, resigned last spring to become the principal of Jericho High School in Nassau County, where he got a $48,000-a-year pay raise.

The new contract agreement, which must be voted on and approved by the Council for Supervisors and Administrators membership before it can take effect, will be retroactive to Feb. 12, 1996 and expire on March 31, 2001.

John Holst, principal of PS 186 in Bellerose and the CSA representative for School District 26, which has consistently been the top performing district in the city, said the contract was not ideal.