The Hammond School Board extended the contract of Superintendent Scott Miller on Tuesday, giving him a $28,000 raise over the objections of one board member.
Miller’s new contract is retroactive to July 1, 2021, and runs through June 30, 2024. It gives him a new base salary of $178,000.
Before the board voted 4-1 to extend Miller’s contract, many audience members spoke against the raise for Miller who’s been superintendent since 2019. Before he was named superintendent, he served as director of the Hammond Area Career Center.
Most of the objections concerned Miller’s lack of an educational doctorate, although he’s currently enrolled in a degree program at Indiana State University.
While many Indiana school chiefs hold doctoral degrees, it’s not a state requirement. They are required to hold a professional educators license, which Miller has received.
With about 12,000 students, the School City of Hammond is the largest district in Northwest Indiana.
Board member Carlotta Blake-King said Miller hasn’t fulfilled his 2019 pledge to obtain his advanced degree.
“The evaluation process was outright corrupt, tainted and scarred …” she said. She voted against the contract renewal.
Blake-King said Hammond schools lost ground academically and money under Miller.
“Academically, we are on life support,” she said.
Board member Cindy Murphy disputed Blake-King’s assessment and defended Miller’s tenure.
She said Miller has met all the criteria to be an Indiana superintendent.
“He’s done a great job,” she said. “This year, our staff got an 11.3% raise. Shouldn’t our superintendent, who did all the hard work to make sure the budget got back to where it should be deserve the same thing?”
Murphy said Miller has been taking classes to receive his doctorate. “You can’t get a Ph.D. overnight,” she said. Miller’s contract also calls for him to work 260 days, while most superintendents have 230-day contracts, she said.
“He doesn’t get unlimited money on the base, there’s a lot of misinformation out there,” she said.
Under the contract, Miller will be evaluated annually and if he’s rated “effective,” he will get a $3,000 salary increase or $5,000 if he’s rated “highly effective.”
A speaker, who supported Miller’s contract, said he was underpaid compared to superintendents in smaller districts. Lake Central Superintendent Larry Veracco, for example, has a base salary of $172,943. Last year, the Crown Point School Board increased Superintendent Todd Terrill’s base salary from $165,000 to $176,000.
After the vote, Miller thanked the board for the vote of confidence and the new contract.
“To my naysayers, I say it’s time to bury the hatchet, we have to work together … building people up heals relationships and tearing them down destroys them.”
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
