Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 19, 1993 TAG: 9303190119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TOTA CONSIDERS SUPERINTENDENT JOB IN CALIF.
Roanoke School Superintendent Frank Tota, who plans to retire June 30, is one of six finalists for a superintendent's position in San Jose, Calif.If Tota receives an offer from the San Jose Unified School District, the third-largest in California, he can take it and retain an annual $35,000 consultant's fee promised as part of his early-retirement package, a Roanoke School Board member said Thursday.
"He is perfectly free to take another job and would not lose his benefits," said J.M. "Jay" Turner, who was School Board chairman when Tota's contract was negotiated four years ago.
Tota is being considered for a job left vacant when James Baughfman resigned in October. He left after being accused of lying about having a doctorate from Stanford University, said Victor Freitas, a San Jose School Board member.
Tota was chosen from 16 semifinalists because of his "super track record," Freitas said.
One thing that impressed the board was Tota's success in bringing magnet-school programs to the Roanoke system, he said. San Jose, which is under court-ordered desegregation, relies heavily on the programs to integrate its schools.
Magnet schools are federally funded programs - such as the aerospace courses taught at Lucy Addison Middle School - offered at schools with large minority populations to encourage racial balance.
Approximately two-thirds of San Jose's 42 public schools offer magnet programs, San Jose School Board member Richard Couser said.
He said the superintendent's position would pay up to $125,000 a year.
There are 30,000 students in San Jose's school district, which has an annual budget of approximately $125 million.
Couser said finalists would be interviewed March 27 and 28 by a 35-member committee of community members, teachers, students and business people. The board hopes to reach a decision by April or May.
The San Jose job is not the only one for which Tota has applied. He is also being considered for a superintendent's position in New York state, Roanoke School Board Chairman Finn Pincus said.
Fincus said he did not know where in the state.
"He's talking to several places," Turner said.
Tota could not be reached for comment Thursday. However, in an earlier interview, he said several job prospects opened up after he received the American Association of School Administrators' Leadership for Learning Award on Feb. 11.
The job opportunities made him reconsider what was to be a quiet retirement with his wife at Smith Mountain Lake, Tota said.
Whether he takes another job or not, Tota still will receive 35 percent of his annual $100,000 salary for seven years under an early-retirement package for which he becomes eligible at age 55. Tota is 54.
But there was confusion among board members about whether Tota would have to work for it.
Turner said Tota must simply be available 20 days of each year to do consulting work. It is up to the board whether or not to call on his services.
"I don't think we will avail ourselves of it," Turner said. "The idea of the early retirement was not so much to get the 20 days, but to give early retirement."
Pincus, however, was not so sure Tota would be paid for nothing.
"We'd have to discuss that," he said.