N.C. School Boards Association to conduct the Durham superintendent search

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Durham schools name interim chief

School board members appointed the Durham school system's chief operating officer as interim superintendent Tuesday night.

Hank Hurd, 56, will serve in the position effective Jan.1 until the board appoints a new superintendent. Board members hope to seat a candidate by April and no later thanJuly 1.

Hurd will fill in for outgoing Superintendent Carl Harris, who announced his resignation last week to take a post with the U.S. Department of Education. Harris, superintendent for three years, will leave the school system Dec. 31.

Durham schools chief tapped for national job

The superintendent of Durham's public schools will leave at the end of the calendar year to work for the U.S. Department of Education.

Carl E. Harris will serve as the federal agency's deputy assistant secretary for policy and strategic initiatives.

The news surprised local leaders, who credited Harris for a three-year tenure marked by community cooperation, academic progress and relative calm after years of turmoil in the school system.

School board seals a deal

The Durham school board has completed contract negotiations for Deputy Superintendent Carl Harris, who is to take over the school system when Superintendent Ann Denlinger retires at the end of the academic year.

In closed session last week, the board instructed its attorney to finalize a contract for Harris that is modeled closely after Denlinger's.

School board members would not get into specifics of the contact but said that Harris will be paid less than the $196,994 Denlinger pockets -- the fourth highest superintendent salary in the state -- but will receive a salary and benefits package commensurate with his level of experience and that of similar school systems, board member Heidi Carter said.

School chief ready to start

The money has been agreed upon and that contract signed. When Durham Public Schools Superintendent Ann Denlinger enters retirement in June, Carl E. Harris will get the keys to the district and a $34,000 raise.

The school board's selection of the deputy superintendent to lead the Durham schools became official Friday with the signing of a four-year contract that is quite similar to Denlinger's.

In the contract, Harris will be paid $185,000 a year to start, with the possibility of annual 5 percent bonuses based on his evaluation and the support of two-thirds of the seven-member school board.

School leaders differ in styles

In selecting Carl Harris to succeed schools Superintendent Ann Denlinger when she retires, the Durham school board chose a successor with a distinctly different leadership style, while avoiding a repeat of the rancorous search process that launched Denlinger's tenure eight years ago.

On Thursday, the same night that Denlinger announced she would leave her post at the end of the school year, the school board voted unanimously to give the job to the second-in-charge.

Unlike the typical process when superintendents leave their districts, there will be no lengthy public search of potential candidates. Board members had all but decided that Harris was Denlinger's heir apparent last summer when the district nearly lost him to a Georgia school system.