School chief is given contract in Cambridge
The Cambridge School Committee last night narrowly approved a new contract for Superintendent Thomas Fowler-Finn, whose job had been in jeopardy because of what some had seen as a brusque leadership style.
Committee members voted 4 to 3 to keep Fowler-Finn through July 2008, one year after his contract would have expired. Parents voiced hope that the decision would stabilize the school system and hasten improvement.
Under new terms negotiated over the summer, Fowler-Finn agreed to change his top-down management style and participate more in community events, committee members said. (Community leaders have said he has made teachers and parents cry by screaming at them.)
The contract also calls for him to focus on getting black and Hispanic students to catch up academically to their white and Asian peers, as well as to hire more minority teachers and administrators.
This year, Fowler-Finn is scheduled to be paid $185,500, a 2.9 percent increase from his current salary of $180,250.
The terms of the new contract, which the committee would not release until Fowler-Finn's lawyer signs it, enables the committee to dismiss Fowler-Finn at any time without cause, provided that a majority of committee members agree.
It also allows the committee to discuss education issues directly with principals, which the previous contract discouraged.
A School Committee member, Nancy Walser, Fowler-Finn's strongest supporter, said the superintendent's leadership has been a ``quantum leap in the right direction."
``People do deserve a second chance, and he's going to get his second chance," Alfred B. Fantini, vice chairman of the School Committee, said at the meeting.
However, other members, including the School Committee chairman and mayor, Kenneth E. Reeves, said it was time for a change in leadership and voted against offering Fowler-Finn a new contract. Detractors said they wanted a superintendent who can unite teachers, administrators, and the School Committee.
Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com. 
