The New Haven Board of Education has agreed to end Superintendent Dr. Carol Birks' contract.
The board reached an agreement with Birks for her exit, effective Wednesday.
All but one member of the board agreed to the separation. Board member Dr. Edward Joyner voted against the separation, saying he believed the board had grounds to terminate Birks.
"I thought we had sufficient cause to dismiss Dr. Birks. It's that simple," he said.
The board said the separation was a mutual agreement and Birks is not officially being terminated. The agreement must be put into writing and signed. Birks has seven days after signing to rescind her signature.
"I think what it says to any employee that wants to come to our district is that we honor our contracts. The fact is it didn’t work out for her or for us at the end of the day so we decided to separate. And she got something and we got something. At the end of the day, that’s what you wan tot have. You want to have an employee that can go back and say, you know, they treated me fairly," said board President Darnell Goldson.
Birks will be paid severance under $200,000, and will be kept on in an advisory role until sometime near November 1.
Local
Ilene Tracey will take over day to day operations of the district immediately.
Birks started with the district in 2018.
