School Superintendent Carter resigns following months of discussions

Closed-door sessions, rumors began last
summer
by NATHAN WRIGHT, Staff Writer
Windsor Unified School District Superintendent Robert Carter
resigned last Thursday, following months of private discussions
with the school board about his performance. The board began
discussing Carter’s evaluation last summer.
Evaluations are done in private, but must be identified on the
agendas of public meetings. The board meets twice a month, and two
references began to appear on the board’s agendas at almost every
meeting beginning last summer. The first read “Public Employee
Discipline/Dismissal/Release,” and the second “Public Employee
Performance Evaluation: Superintendent.”
Rumors about the notices began to circulate among the school
community, but the matter stayed out of the public eye until last
week when Carter resigned.
The details of the resignation were not available at press time,
but Windsor Unified School District President Sandy Dobbins said
that an agreement between the district and Cartert is nearing
completion.
“I have to wait until the I’s are dotted and the T’s are
crossed,” Dobbins said. “We’re working on joint language that we
(the board and Carter) are both comfortable with, that accurately
reflects the agreement that’s been made.”
Dobbins didn’t feel comfortable discussing why Carter had
resigned.
“The relationship was just not a good fit,” she said. “There’s
nothing else I can really say at this point. I’d love to be able to
elaborate, but we’re working towards the final language on the
agreement.”
The school board had hoped to finish that agreement by March 26,
but at the end of that day, the document was still with the
attorneys.
Carter, who lives in Marin County, did not return phone calls
from the Times.
Pete Stefanisko, the president of the Windsor District
Educators’ Association (the teachers’ union), observed, “When he
(Carter) came in he was known as a mover and a shaker. That’s what
the board was looking for, and how he was advertised. What they got
was status quo.”
Stefanisko believes the board was hoping Carter would be able to
raise revenue, especially through creating successful grant
proposals, but that never happened. Still, Stefanisko was surprised
by the resignation.
“I’m surprised that the board actually followed through with
it,” he said. “You hear rumors, but the fact that they did this
sends a pretty strong message that they want something else. We
(the teachers) support them in that direction, and there’s nothing
against Dr. Carter.”
Dobbins said more details of Carter’s resignation will be
forthcoming. The board plans to discuss its next move next
week.
“We’ll be having a discussion on April 6 at our regular school
board meeting regarding an interim position and what we intend to
do with that,” said Dobbins.