Sep 12, 2008 9:52 am US/Eastern
Final Day On The Job For Rudy Crew
Rudy Crew's Contract Was Bought Out Earlier This Week
He's Receiving A Severence Package Worth $368,000
Alberto Carvalho Offered The Job, He Has Not Accepted Yet
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
It's the final day on the job for embattled Miami-Dade superintendent Rudy Crew.
He officially leaves the nation's fourth-largest school district on Friday, after the Miami-Dade School Board agreed to buy out his contract earlier this week.
The board voted 5 to 3 on Wednesday to give Crew a severance package worth roughly $368,000.
Crew, who came to the school district in 2004 and was voted National School Superintendent of Year, had 22 months remaining on his contract, worth a total of nearly $700,000.
Seven months ago, Crew's peers named him the nation's top school superintendent, bolstering a long-standing reputation as an education innovator. Student achievement in Miami-Dade County's schools has improved during his four-year tenure and the district is consistently a finalist for the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education.
But critics say Crew mismanaged the budget, spending money on programs whose results were never worth the investment or the administrators' high salaries. They say he also neglected to build ties with communities in the district.
The Miami-Dade School Board has offered the top job to associate superintendent Alberto Carvalho. However, he has also been offered the Superintendent's job by Pinellas County school officials. Carvalho has yet to accept either post.
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