In a Dec. 16 public overview of the annual evaluation of Austin ISD Superintendent Meria Carstarphen, AISD board of trustees President Vincent Torres said the board is pleased with progress made by the district under Carstarphen's leadership during the 2012–13 school year.
"She has led the work to manage our resources wisely with a strategic, long-term view and, as a result, we have received high bond ratings over the past three years," Torres said in his review. "Further, as an example of her personal commitment and understanding of these financial constraints on the district, for two consecutive years, she has declined the equivalent of a 3 percent salary increase."
Torres shared a brief summary of some of Carstarphen's work with the school district during the 2012–13 school year. He highlighted some of Carstarphen's achievements, including her work on restructuring of the Alternative Education program in AISD for discretionary removals, her increased focus on literacy and numeracy, and her leadership in establishing social and emotional learning programs in three vertical teams. He pointed out AISD graduation rates for all student groups also increased, reaching an all-time high in the class of 2012.
Challenges for Carstarphen include new high school graduation requirements, investing in and supporting schools' staff, and improving the environment at AISD campuses to respond to the competition from private and state charter schools, he said.
During citizens communication, a few speakers said they agreed with Torres' summation of her work.
"From what I've seen of Dr. Carstarphen, every time she goes to any school and she meets with any of the students she always talks to them at their level, and she shows them that she cares," Austin resident Larry Amaro said.
Carstarphen thanked her staff.
"It's my evaluation, but a superintendent never does that work alone, and so many other people are a part of the results and the struggles that we go through, and so it's not just a reflection of me, it's a reflection of the whole organization," she said after the meeting.
The board did not discuss or vote on whether it would offer the superintendent a contract extension beyond June 2015, when her contract is slated to expire. For the past two years, Carstarphen has received one-year contract extensions.
"There was never any pressure to talk about [a contract extension]," Carstarphen said, noting statutory guidance regarding evaluations requires the board to take no more than 15 months to complete an evaluation. "I think [completing the evaluation] frees them up to start thinking about the future and what they want to do. ... They still have a lot of things that they have to work on that I think certainly would take priority before they start talking about contracts."
Carstarphen has worked for the district since July 2009.