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The Details of the Kishimoto Contract

By Vanessa de la Torre

July 01, 2011

On the day Christina Kishimoto begins her tenure as Hartford superintendent, the school system released a copy of her three-year contract, which appears to put her first-year base salary at $215,000 rather than the initially reported $205,000.

According to the contract, the "annual base salary of the superintendent shall be the sum of (a) $205,000 in periodic payments ... and (b) an additional amount of $10,000" toward retirement.

The second year of the agreement calls for a base salary of $231,000, but it's unclear whether the $10,000 for retirement is included in that amount. The same goes for the third-year salary of $238,000. We've placed a call for clarification to board of education Chairman David MacDonald, who negotiated the contract.

As reported Wednesday, Kishimoto can earn up to an additional $30,000 annually as a performance bonus if she meets board targets on student achievement and "organizational goals."

One particularly interesting detail, though, lies in the board's formal evaluation of Kishimoto. According to the contract, the board "shall evaluate the superintendent prior to the expiration of each year during the term of this agreement by no later than September 30." In plain English, it appears that the first evaluation will occur at the end of this coming September, fairly soon after the start of classes.

Annual fringe benefits include 24 sick days, 24 vacation days and 10 personal days. In addition, Kishimoto "shall have the holidays on which board offices are closed."

Kishimoto also gets a monthly $400 car allowance for the business use of her personal vehicle. Mayor Pedro Segarra had opposed that provision in a letter to MacDonald this week.

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UPDATE at 3 p.m.: When asked about Kishimoto's salary, MacDonald said: "I'm not going to comment on the language right now ... I don't have the contract in front of me so I'd rather not comment." He then suggested we call Jill Cutler Hodgman, a legal adviser to the board.

Read the full contract and Segarra's letter by clicking in the Related Links box.