Volusia superintendent gets $10,000 bonus for creating strategic plan
Volusia County Superintendent Scott Fritz will be getting a $10,000 bonus as outlined in his contract, the School Board approved on Tuesday.
It’s performance-based pay for creating a strategic plan, which provides a road map of sorts for the district and includes how to measure its progress in different areas.
The board’s attorney Ted Doran explained that the board gave Fritz one goal to meet by Aug. 15, 2020: Create a strategic plan that has “measurable, attainable, smart goals with key performance indicators.”
“If he did it, he is entitled to (performance pay),” Doran said. The superintendent’s contract requires the district to set aside the funding for performance pay each year. The board unanimously approved the bonus.
In an interview after the meeting, Doran said the entire strategic plan was completed in June 2020 — before Fritz took a leave of absence that started in July to receive cancer treatments.
But because of the coronavirus pandemic and because Fritz was absent, the School Board did not approve the strategic plan until Feb. 23, after he had returned to work full-time.
MORE:Read Fritz’s contract here
During Tuesday’s meeting, teachers union president Elizabeth Albert pointed out to the board that although teacher salaries rank in the lower third when compared to other Florida school district’s, the superintendent’s salary ranks near the top.
“What I’m asking for is equity,” she said. “I’m asking for something for the people who carried the load this year … Every single employee in this district — from FMTs to school bus drivers to cafeteria workers, paras, office specialists, teachers, principals, everybody — they deserve it.”
The School Board heard similar critiques in November when it decided to give Deputy Superintendent of Teaching, Leading and Learning Carmen Balgobin an additional $29,000 over the seven months she acted as superintendent during Fritz’s absence.
Doran emphasized in an interview with The News-Journal that teachers and support staff have a different contract than the superintendent that does not include performance pay. He also pointed out that when Fritz was hired, the School Board opted to include performance pay in his contract to incentivize him to do “extraordinary things,” rather than giving him a larger base salary.
More:Volusia interim superintendent gets 34% raise despite pandemic financial concerns
Fritz’s contract allows for annual performance pay if he meets goals outlined by the School Board. Since his first year on the job wasn’t a full 12 months, the performance pay was set at a lump sum of $10,000. Moving forward, the annual bonus if he meets the goals set for him will be equivalent to 10% of his $205,000 base salary — that’s a possible additional $20,500 each year.
The discussion about performance pay should have taken place by Aug. 15, which is when the superintendent’s contract renews each year, but the pandemic and Fritz’s leave of absence made that impossible. The board also did not set new goals or standards for Fritz for the current year, but on Tuesday began planning to set goals for the 2021-2022 year.
MORE:Read the full strategic plan
The creation of the strategic plan was a nine-month process, and was facilitated by an outside group called DeliverEd. It covers five goals:
- Engage all students in high levels of learning every day.
- Recruit, retain and develop high-quality staff.
- Provide a safe, healthy and supportive environment.
- Ensure resources and operational processes are strategically aligned.
- Strengthen communication and community engagement.
It also includes a new vision statement: “Create life-long learners prepared for an ever-changing global society.”
