Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Steven Adamowski received a positive review by the board of education and will receive a bonus equaling 8 percent of his salary.

        Board members also are considering raising his and other administrators' salaries.

        “We lost some quality administrators last year based on our salaries being so low,” said school board president Rick Williams.

        They don't want that to happen to Mr. Adamowski, he said.

        The superintendent's base salary is $136,200. As part of his contract, he doesn't get a raise. Instead, he can receive a bonus of up to 10 percent of his salary based on how well he achieves certain standards outlined by the board.

        Sixty percent of his evaluation is based on student achievement; 20 percent is based on leadership, and 20 percent is based on district goals.

        “We all agreed he had an excellent evaluation,” Mr. Williams said. “We are extremely pleased on where the district is going.”

        Some strong points included students' improvement on state proficiency tests and other state measurements. The district anticipates achieving an additional three to four state standards in the annual state Report Card based on that success, and could climb out of the “academic emergency” state ranking if four are achieved.

        Board members are also pleased with results of the district's school accountability model, which ranks the district's schools on how well they accomplish their goals in areas such as student achievement and attendance.

        Mr. Williams said they also appreciate Mr. Adamowski's efforts in the redesign of five neighborhood high schools into smaller schools that house specialty programs. Two of those high schools — Aiken and Taft — began their redesign this year.

        “We're starting to reap the benefits of the reform he has initiated,” he said.

        The board also acknowledged some improvements must be made.

        They suggested Mr. Adamowski lead the already data-driven district to incorporate even more data in strategic decision-making, and increase the district's focus on successful academic programs, the teacher evaluation system, student-based budgeting and school restructuring.

        Both Mr. Williams and board member Dr. Florence Newell said the superintendent needs to improve communication with the community, and to close the achievement gap between black students and other races.

        Based on the evaluation, Mr. Adamowski will receive nearly $11,000, or 8 percent of his $136,200 salary. Last year, he received 5 percent, or $6,810, and the year before he declined a bonus because of budget cuts.

        Mr. Williams said the base salary is out of line with other districts competing for strong leadership and the board hopes to vote on revised superintendent and administrative salaries by October or November.

        A survey by the Ohio School Boards Association of other Ohio districts showed the following superintendent salaries for fiscal year 2000: Akron, $130,000; Cleveland, $155,000; Columbus, $159,499; Toledo, $122,708.

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