When us mere mortals come before our bosses for our annual review, we have to show results. We have to show that we’ve been doing our jobs, meeting the goals we set last year, and generally not screwing things up so badly that the media takes note. And then, after all that, our average pay raise is usually 3.1%. If our employer is feeling generous and we’ve proven our worth, that might climb to 5%.
Which is why we’re shocked and angered to learn that Dr. Greg Smith, Clear Creek ISD’s Superintendent, was granted a 5% pay increase, despite a tumultuous year. Yes, that’s right, the Board of Trustees gave him quite the jump in pay. Dr. Smith now makes $300,580.43 annually, a $14,313.35 increase. Yet CCISD won’t release his performance evaluation, according to Community Impact, so we’re going to provide a few of Dr. Smith’s greatest hits this year:
- Completely failing to serve Special Education students, incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and consultant fees to rectify the matter.
- A busing debacle that left Special Education students without transportation to and from school for at least three weeks.
- Completely ignoring the plight of James Collins, who by all accounts was not granted due process. Mr. Collins had to take his matter to the Board of Trustees, which at the time was a fully incompetent, lazy, complacent group of seven.
- Turning a blind eye to how Clear Springs High School was gerrymandered by the School Boundary Advisory Committee (which did not accurately represent the students and families in CCISD).
- A D rating for Clear View High School, dropping CCISD’s overall TEA rating to a B (the same as Houston ISD).
And hey, those are just a few of the mistakes he made. Dr. Smith claimed to “own” the busing debacle, but you know what? He didn’t. He sent his little flack, Elaina “Domino Effect” Polson, out to take the media hit. A cowardly move, to be sure, when you’re the face of the district.
Would we have given him a raise? It would have taken a lot of convincing for us to agree to even a cost of living increase. He certainly rakes in enough money – money that could be better spent on our children. And his performance suggests that he is not properly overseeing his army of lackeys, er, assistant superintendents.
No, Dr. Smith did not deserve a raise. At all.