About Meria Carstarphen
- Born and raised in Selma, Ala.
- Taught Spanish and documentary photography for four years at Selma Middle School.
- Earned degrees from Harvard University, Auburn University and Tulane University. Graduated from Harvard's Urban Superintendents Program with a doctorate in education.
- Administrator in Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools, Kingsport (Tenn.) City Schools and District of Columbia Public Schools
- Superintendent in St. Paul, Minn., and Austin, Texas.
Metro Atlanta Superintendent Salaries
- Meria Carstarphen, incoming Atlanta superintendent, $375,000.
- Erroll Davis, Atlanta, $258,837
- Michael Hinojosa, Cobb County, $247,625
- Michael Thurmond, DeKalb County, $275,000
- Robert Avossa, Fulton County, $315,587
- J. Alvin Wilbanks, Gwinnett County, $503,623
Sources: 2013 data from http://open.georgia.gov/ and AJC archives
By hiring Meria Carstarphen as Atlanta’s superintendent Monday, school board members hope they’ve found a leader who can move past scandals and get back to the business of educating kids.
They’ll pay her a salary they believe matches the difficulty of her task: $375,000 a year, a big jump over outgoing Superintendent Erroll Davis’ $259,000 pay. She’ll also receive an additional $1,200 monthly automobile allowance and $800 per month for expenses.
Standing one by one as they cast their votes, the Atlanta Board of Education voted 9-0 to hand control of the 50,000-student district to Carstarphen, who has led the 87,000-student public school system in Austin, Texas, for five years. An audience of parents, teachers and staff gave Carstarphen a standing ovation.
Carstarphen, 44, said Atlanta Public Schools is at “a very special moment” when the city school system can rally from a low point created by widespread cheating on standardized tests in 2009. Most of the 185 teachers and administrators accused of changing students’ answers lost their jobs, and 13 defendants face criminal charges.
She said managing a large urban school district is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
“This may be closer to an inferno. It’s blistering with heat, but none of those things bother me,” Carstarphen said. “We will have a very special moment to be able to do some great work in this city.”
Board Chairman Courtney English said Atlantans are getting the right leader at the right time, praising Carstarphen’s experience, temperament and enthusiasm.
“This moment represents a time for the city to believe again,” English said. “We’ve been through a dark time, and that time is over.”
Carstarphen received a three-year contract, and she’ll start her job as superintendent July 7.
Her $375,000 salary exceeds the $275,000-to-$325,000 range described in a position profile last summer, but it falls short of the $600,000 salary suggested by Mayor Kasim Reed. The mayor said in October he had raised money from the business community for the superintendent's salary, but the city school board decided to pay Carstarphen entirely with taxpayer money.
While Carstarphen’s pay will exceed the $322,424 salary former Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall received during the 2010-2011 school year, it is considerably less than the $503,623 paid to Gwinnett Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks to manage the state’s largest school district, with 169,000 students.
Carstarphen will oversee a school system with about 7,000 employees and a general fund budget larger than the city of Atlanta’s. The school system’s budget is expected to grow from $595 million this year to $658 million next year, with some of the additional spending going toward pay raises and the elimination of furlough days.
Carstarphen’s contract requires her to contribute 10 percent of her salary toward her retirement, and it doesn’t include any provisions for performance bonuses, according to a one-page summary provided by the school system. The full text of her contract — including details about vacation time, sick days and other perks — wasn’t released Monday.
Carstarphen said she wants to raise the school system’s 59 percent graduation rate, improve lackluster academic results, expand early childhood education, grow advanced placement classes and create alternative pathways to graduation.
She'll also try to track down students who were affected by the school system's cheating scandal — something that hasn't been done so far. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last month that Atlanta Public Schools never singled out students whose tests were tampered with, instead opting to expand tutoring and remediation opportunities for all students.
“It’s time to bring the pride back to this school system … to face head-on those tough challenges we know are in front of us,” she said.
Davis said he was pleased that the school board hired a superintendent with a stronger educational background than he had when he took over in July 2011, days before a state investigation of cheating was released.
“I’m like everyone else — very excited about having someone here who actually knows what they’re doing,” said Davis, a former business executive who previously served as chancellor of the University System of Georgia. “She’s an experienced superintendent, far more than I.”
Elementary school teacher Rita Simmons, the city’s teacher of the year, said she was impressed when she saw Carstarphen interact with students.
“She’ll bring character to the school district. That’s something we need,” said Simmons, who teaches at Cleveland Avenue Elementary and served on the Atlanta Superintendent Search Committee. “She’ll lead us into a great resurgence.”
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