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Adamowski Leaving, But When?

another dispute between mayor segarra and the board of education

By Jeff Cohen

June 28, 2011

The city of Hartford is supposed to have a new schools superintendent by the end of the week. But as WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, Christina Kishimoto still doesn't have a contract and Mayor Pedro Segarra has gotten involved.

Steven Adamowski is the outgoing superintendent of schools and his contract expires at the end of July. But Kishimoto, his successor, is supposed to begin this Friday -- July 1st.

That has apparently become a major sticking point. In a letter to school board chairman David MacDonald, Mayor Segarra tells the board that he has for months said that there should be no overlap.

Segarra has other issues with the proposed contract. First, he insists that Kishimoto shouldn't get an incentive payment beyond her $205,000 annual salary. He also thinks the new schools superintendent should be a city resident, and that she should drive a city-leased car instead of getting a $400 monthly car allowance.

MacDonald wouldn't go on tape with WNPR, but in an interview he said that the plan is still to have Adamowski serve as a special advisor to the superintendent for the month of July. MacDonald also said that having both Adamowski and Kishimoto on staff during July isn't problematic, and that it's a policy decision of the board.

MacDonald said it's inappropriate for the city to try and hold up Kishimoto's contract on this issue. Still, he says he's trying to work with Segarra to reach a friendly resolution.

This isn't the first time Segarra has gotten involved in the board's superintendent search process. After it became clear that a spokesman for the board of education was doing lobbying on Kishimoto's behalf, Segarra held a press conference earlier this year to call the entire search process into question. It was a last-minute decision that brought him some praise and a good deal of criticism.