Durham Public Schools superintendent gets longer contract, salary increase
The Durham school board voted Thursday night to extend Superintendent Pascal Mubenga’s contract a year. It will now runs through June 30, 2023.
The board also increased Mubenga’s base salary from $226,950 to $236,950 and elected to cover his contributions to the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System and the North Carolina State Health Plan.
“The board is fully behind Dr. Mubenga,” school board Chairman Mike Lee said in an evaluation of Mubenga’s performance. “We rate him about as high as you can get in almost every single category. We’re very excited to have him here, and we look forward to him retiring here.”
Hiring Mubenga two years ago was one of the board’s best decisions, Lee said.
Lee cited the superintendent’s work on the district’s strategic plan, a sense of accountability and excitement he has brought to the district and his support of all staff, from teachers to bus drivers.
“He’s behind everyone in our system, and everyone feels that,” Lee said. “Everyone in Durham Public Schools feels that support, that momentum.”
The board’s decision follows a school year in which academic performance increased, student enrollment increased after years of decline and teacher turnover decreased.
Thursday’s vote was 4-0. Minnie Forte-Brown and Bettina Umstead were at a conference, and Matt Sears was on vacation.
Mubenga said little after the vote, thanking his staff and then saying only, “I’m very grateful.”
Former math teacher, principal
Mubenga’s career in public education in North Carolina spans over 20 years.
Before heading up Durham schools, he served as superintendent of Franklin County Schools in Louisburg. Before that he worked in the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
He was principal of Jones Senior High in Jones County, an assistant principal in Franklin County and a math teacher in Johnston County.
He was also a math teacher at Chewning Middle School in Durham for three years.
He began his career in public education as a math teacher for Nash-Rocky Mount Schools.
Mubenga earned his Ph.D. from Capella University in 2007 and has a master’s degree in secondary education from Liberty University and a bachelor’s in mathematics from Shaw University.
Mubenga has lived in the Research Triangle Park area for 30 years. He said he knew the challenges of the Durham school system going in and viewed the job as a chance to fix some of the district’s problems.
Test scores, enrollment up
Academic results from the 2018-19 school year included a reduction in the number of schools labeled “low performing” by the state.
About 84% of DPS schools met or exceeded state standards for year-to-year academic growth, compared to a state average of 75%.
The district’s enrollment on the 20th day of school was 33,024 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, up by more than 500 students from the previous year and reversing a trend of declining enrollment since 2014-15.
Also announced at Thursday’s board meeting, the rate of teachers leaving Durham Public Schools declined in 2018-19.
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 2:18 PM.