The Harrisburg school board on Monday night awarded a $63,750 contract to Barbara Hasan, a former assistant superintendent who retired from the district in June, for services as a principal mentor, a position newly created this year.
The contract, under which Hasan will be paid $70 per hour, will be for 25 hours per week of work and is effective Oct. 21 of this year through June 30, 2015.
Two other principal mentors, Lori Dixon and Joy MacKenzie, were hired at last month’s regular board meeting on Sept. 15. Their contracts are for the same hourly rate of $70 per hour, but for a smaller number of hours than Hasan’s, with Dixon slated to work 25 hours per month and MacKenzie 20 hours per month.
Hasan’s contract is between the school district and Hasan Educational Consultant, a firm founded on Sept. 18, according to a business filing with the Pennsylvania state department. The filing lists Hasan as the business owner.
Carol Kaufmann, the school board secretary, said at Monday night’s board meeting that this is the first time the school district has hired principal mentors.
The board agendas for Sept. 15 and Oct. 20 describe the position somewhat differently, with the September agenda referring to “principal mentor services” and the October agenda, which describes Hasan’s larger contract, referring to “support, evaluation, and guidance to Principals assigned by the Superintendent or designee.”
Kaufmann, however, said the jobs had the “same focus.”
After Monday’s board meeting, Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney said she was “excited” about having the principal mentors, who she said would help principals “in content areas as well as data analysis.”
All three mentors are past principals themselves, said Knight-Burney, herself a past principal. “Being principal sometimes is a very lonely place,” she added. “Sometimes they need that support.”
Hasan, who retired on June 27, has several family members currently employed in the district. Her daughter, Aqila, was promoted in July from high school math teacher to assistant principal at SciTech, a position newly created this year at an annual salary of $87,624.
Another daughter, Ayesha, is a first-grade teacher at Foose, while a son, Bilal, is the district’s federal programs coordinator.
The Harrisburg school district currently employs 10 principals and at least as many assistant principals in its 10 schools, according to individual school pages on the district website.
