OK Lincolnites, was this gesture honorable or tacky?
LPS Superintendent candidate Dennis Van Horn has offered to take a "pay cut" of sorts by accepting a salary of $195,000, while putting $60,000 into some kind of class-size reduction fund. The cash outlay for the superintendent position is $255,000.
I'll go ahead and say what I think about the offer. I think it's lame. It reeks like a cynical attempt to win votes via shallow pandering. It is the sort of lazy, uninspired idea that somebody with no other way to differentiate himself from the crowd might offer up as part of a desperate attempt to be noticed. It is a misdirection, a distraction from the things that really make for a good superintendent.
I don't know Mr. Van Horn and I know nothing of his motives. He may take offense at my characterization of his offer because his motivations were completely innocent; or he may take offense because I hit the nail on the head. Either way this offer was a mistake, and it doesn't endear him to me as the person who ought to be in charge of Lincoln's schools for the next decade.
That's my take. What's yours?
Comments
See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
My opinion is I think it was a genuine gesture. I don’t know him either, so I have no other reason other than to hope most people at that level are honest with their actions.
Like you I don’t know Van Horn either to make a judgment on this. I agree that at first glance, it does seem sort of gimmicky. The article doesn’t provide a lot of background info on Van Horn to determine how usual or unusual this is for him. If for example Van Horn had a history of significant donations to the community or LPS or related philanthropy, other voluntary reductions in his salary, or a record of advocating for more modest salaries for both himself and other executive LPS staff, it would seem to me that would support the notion that this declaration of his is a genuine offering.
If on the other hand there was no such history, that might make it seem like this is - as you suggest - just a politically expedient attempt to get some PR.
I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in the meantime.
Doh. Just read the news. The issue is moot now.
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