Sources: Register would accept salary in low $250s

School board will vote on deal tomorrow

Email | Print By Amy Griffith Graydon

Sources have told NashvillePost.com that prospective Nashville Director of Schools Jesse Register has agreed to accept a salary in the low $250,000 range.

The possible contract was negotiated over the holidays. Board of Education members will tomorrow consider the full agreement and vote at a public meeting on whether to hire Register. Register negotiated the contract with school board Chair David Fox, and all members of the board were sent copies of the completed document this afternoon.

Register’s initial contract request was for a salary of $275,000, plus a $10,000 individual health insurance plan. The salary of former Director of Schools Pedro Garcia was $218,000 at the time of his resignation, plus a benefits package adding up to a total compensation worth about $250,000.

Late this afternoon, Fox declined to comment on the reported salary figure. Contract copies will be made available to members of the media immediately prior to tomorrow’s meeting.

But Fox has stated publicly over the holidays that negotiations were going well. The entire hiring process, if the board votes tomorrow to accept the contract with Register, would be completed more quickly than the approximately three weeks projected by the board’s hired search firm consultant.

School board members decided Dec. 20, in a seven-to-two vote, to begin negotiations with Register. Register worked for 10 years as superintendent of Chattanooga’s Hamilton County Schools before stepping down in 2006.

Tomorrow’s meeting will begin at 5 p.m. and will be held at the Metro Nashville Public Schools central offices at 2601 Bransford Ave.