By Mike Szymanski, Studio City Patch | http://bit.ly/JIRAlr
25 May :: This week, the super-popular principal of Carpenter Community Charter School in Studio City was supposed to give an answer to a higher-paying job offer at another school.
The parent volunteers—known for their creative responses to issues at the Los Angeles Unified School District affiliated-charter school—scrambled to figure out a way of matching the difference, and then asked LAUSD if they could keep him.
Even though there’s not yet a straight answer from the district, the overwhelming support and response for the principal made him decide to stay at least another year—no matter what the district says.
“For me, it’s all about the kids, and I don’t want to disrupt the school at this time of the year with rumors going around or anxiety at the school,” Martinez told Studio City Patch. “I love this school, I am going to stay.”
It’s a busy time at Carpenter. Not only did they just have their biggest fundraiser of the year last weekend, but this week they are celebrating Teachers Appreciation and holding their big Music Festival on Friday after school. School testing just ended, and there was a tense Governance Council meeting last Thursday.
It was at the public Governance Council meeting that it was first brought to light that the principal was facing some tough decisions about whether or not to leave the school he loved and helped usher in as a model charter school.
Parent Mary Odson presented to the School Governance Council a special funding initiative from Parents for Carpenter, the fundraising branch of school volunteers.
“We may have to do this in order to keep Mr. Martinez at the school,” she said.
She outlined the history of three principals who had come to the school during her own involvement at the school, and talked about how difficult it was to keep administrators who were at a high-performing school like Carpenter, because the lower-performing schools get a higher pay scale for adminstrators.
Martinez took a slight pay reduction when he became principal at Carpenter. His position as a vice principal was being elminated by the Los Angeles Unified School District and he was going to be sent back to the classroom. He applied to Carpenter, and they loved him.
“We made the offer right away,” Odson said. Parents and teachers were on the principal selection committee.
Martinez recalled, "It was the first school I applied to, and it seemed the right fit."
Although it is a charter-affiliated school that allows more autonomous control of its money, Carpenter is still bound by LAUSD contracts, and is considered a school where the principal can only make between $91,000 and $114,000. Schools with more challenges, based on a complex point system, such as Coldwater Canyon and Roscoe Elementary Schools allow principals to make approximately $99,000 to $123,000 (depending on years of experience, degrees, etc.)
Earlier this week as he was waiting for word from LAUSD whether the PFC proposal was legal and approved, Martinez told Studio City Patch, “The parent involvement is so incredible here, they really know how to get things done. I love this school, I love the people here, I want to stay.”
The PFC is not allowed by LAUSD to offer Martinez a higher salary than the competing schools, but they can match what another school will pay.
Martinez said that because he is a relatively new principal, he has received a Reduction in Force notice every year that he has served at Carpenter. Recently, schools offering a higher pay rate were seeking him out to move to their school.
The school has ranked a seemingly impossible-high 930 Academic Performance Index score—increasing every year Martinez has been at the school. Carpenter’s students rank in the high 80 percentile in math, science and English while the LAUSD average lingers around the 51 to 62 percentile.
The PFC has approved an amount to match the offer made by the school wanting to snatch Martinez away.
Other schools have rallied to privately fund positions at the public school that the district has otherwise de-funded, but Martinez wanted make sure that everything would be properly handled in the Carpenter situation.
Meanwhile, Odson and the PFC are trying to get the district to change their antiquated ranking system that puts a successful school like Carpenter at a disadvantage because the principal pay scale is low.
If pay were based on the number of students, Carpenter's principal pay rate would be ranked at the highest level, but it is not because it is a high-performing school.
As Odson points out, "This ranking system doesn't really make sense when it comes to the role of principal. If Carpenter was a regular business, compensation would be pased on your responsibilites and how well your business is running."
Michellene DeBonis, who co-wrote the charter school papers with Odson, and was also on the committee to pick Martinez as principal recalled, “After our interview and when he left the room ‘I said if we lose this guy I don’t know what I’ll do,’ because he was so obviously the one.”
Martinez whipped out his computer to show some of his accomplishments during their interview. He was perfect for a school that was emphasizing technology and arts. And, with his leadership, and the support of the rest of the faculty, the school moved to become an affiliated charter school.
So for now, he’s planning to stay.
Martinez said, “The parents stepped up to try to make this work out, and that is what I love about this school, is the parent involvement.”
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