Adding up

Gerald Boarman was considered a star when he came to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham as its leader in 2000. He'd gained national attention as principal of Eleanor Roosevelt High School in the Washington suburb of Greenbelt, Md. In addition to a chancellor's salary that's now $245,000, the state-run school also provides an apartment and a car.

The job of chancellor ranks with those of other chancellors in the University of North Carolina system, to which NCSSM belongs, although the science and math school is unique, a boarding high school for top students who pay no tuition. It is meant to be an elite school for the best and brightest, and advocates say public support is worthwhile to keep these good students in the state.

Ideally the school reaches out to all corners of North Carolina, providing the potential for a superior high school education for students who might otherwise turn to private schools here or elsewhere (if they could afford it) or simply be denied challenges in a school worthy of their potential. And, the theory goes, providing an opportunity such as NCSSM means that more top students will move on to our public universities.

A report last Sunday by The News & Observer's Dan Kane did raise some questions about the school's administration that can be answered with closer scrutiny from UNC system officials. Boarman, for example, has enjoyed healthy salary increases that put him on a par with top officials at Elizabeth City State University. That university is the smallest in the UNC system but one with 3,100 students, compared with NCSSM's 670 students.

Boarman also has shown an interest in hiring those connected with him at Eleanor Roosevelt, including two vice chancellors and the security director. Other hires have family connections with those who have served the school as administrators.

Would it be natural for Boarman to hire people with whom he had worked? Perhaps, but this is not a private school, and it cannot be run as such. The chancellor must be aware of the need to make it clear that job opportunities must be seen as accessible to everyone. He and his board of trustees also need to be mindful of salary numbers that appear to outpace the growth of the school itself (though doubtless growth is designed to be limited).

Boarman may be doing a fine job, but no institution in the UNC system can or should operate without proper oversight. UNC President Erskine Bowles needs to review the mission of NCSSM as well as the structure and compensation of its administrative offices.

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