Payzant Not Chosen by Miami District

San Diego school trustees and top administrators breathed a sigh of relief after Supt. Tom Payzant was not selected Wednesday by the Miami-Dade County, Fla., school board for its top post.

“Hallelujah!” San Diego school board President Kay Davis exclaimed when informed of the news. Davis and her four colleagues had been openly worried that Payzant would leave San Diego if offered the post in Miami, the nation’s fourth-largest district and one of the most innovative.

In fact, the San Diego board had spent much of its time in executive session Tuesday pleading with Payzant to pull his name from consideration, arguing that the many innovations he has begun in San Diego require his continued presence to succeed.

Payzant expressed relief Wednesday night that the decision was made less than a month after he agreed to submit his name.

“When these things hang on, it’s difficult on everybody,” he said. “I said from the beginning that I have one of the best jobs in the country for an urban superintendency, and I had the privilege of being a finalist for what is one of the other top urban superintendencies in the country.”

But Payzant declined to say whether he would have taken the post if offered it.

Paul Bell, Miami deputy superintendent for education, was selected by the seven-member Miami-Dade County board on its 18th ballot, a spokesman there said. Payzant received one vote during an early round. He was one of 12 finalists for the position, which included 8 non-Miami applicants, the spokesman said. Payzant was one of only two outsiders to receive any votes.

Davis said the San Diego board “absolutely” remains committed to enhancing Payzant’s existing contract by improving his retirement package--a plan she announced last month as a way to entice him to stay--even though trustees are no longer competing with Miami. Davis declined to release details of the package pending its acceptance by Payzant, although she said it would address his present lack of strong pension benefits as a result of frequent job moves during his career.

Davis said the contract enhancement would also require Payzant not to consider any other position for three years.

Payzant said Wednesday he is sensitive about the timing of the enhanced benefits package because some people believe he was using the Miami candidacy only to improve his San Diego contract.

“I’ve made it clear that I was not necessarily looking to leave San Diego, since this is a very positive place for me, and certainly I have a lot of things that are unfinished and need to be accomplished here,” he said, “and I’ve still got a lot of energy to work on those things.”

Payzant said he would have no problem with agreeing to the three-year commitment. Another board member, Ann Armstrong, said the pension improvement “is the fair thing to do and needs to be done anyway.”

“We need (Payzant) here to continue the high level of trust between” him and various educational groups, including the teachers union, Armstrong said.

The 49-year-old Payzant has been superintendent in San Diego since Nov. 1, 1982, when he arrived from Oklahoma City. His current four-year contract provides him $110,000 annually and expires Nov. 1, 1992.

The San Diego Unified School District has 120,000 students and is the nation’s eighth-largest.