School board may accelerate hiring process of Register

An accelerated hiring process could lead to director of schools candidate Jesse Register being hired next week. Matthew Williams/The City Paper

An accelerated hiring process could lead to director of schools candidate Jesse Register being hired by Nashville’s school board next week. A special meeting for the purpose of approving a contract is in the process of being scheduled for this coming Tuesday, and if that contract is approved, Register could start work in Nashville in the middle of January.

Board of Education Chair David Fox is negotiating with Register on the board’s behalf. Terms of the evolving deal are between Fox and Register, Fox said, but the conversation is going well.

“I think we’ve gotten far enough in our conversations with both Dr. Register and Metro Legal that I feel comfortable scheduling a meeting for that period,” Fox said. “I feel encouraged with where we are in the conversation.”

Fox, for his part, is in favor of accelerating the process by forgoing a visit to Chattanooga. The board’s hired search consultant, Bill Attea, has said he recommends boards visit the home school districts of prospective hires. Fox believes an immediate visit to Chattanooga would not necessarily be helpful, as it’s Christmas break and Register hasn’t been employed by Hamilton County Schools since 2006. Phone calls with certain Chattanooga leaders could take the place of a visit, Fox said.

Attea has also recommended that the board complete an extensive background check of Register. Those have been completed successfully, Fox said.

The board as a whole will decide how to proceed, and no public discussions of this portion of the process have taken place. But even Gracie Porter – one of two board members who voted against offering Register the job in Nashville – says she is in favor of skipping the visit to Chattanooga.

“If we were going to make a trip, it should have been much earlier in the game, rather than after the fact,” Porter said. “Essentially, we have hired the new director. … We need to move forward with what we have promised Dr. Register that we are going to do, and what we have promised the community we are going to do.”

Though Porter voted against Register, she has publicly stated that she will support him when he is director, and said Wednesday that she looks forward to working with him.

Register’s initial contract request is 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 Garcia’s resignation, plus benefits, for a total package worth of about $250,000.

At the board’s request, Fox will ask Register to consider a total salary and benefits package close to Garcia’s $250,000 range, particularly in light of the current economic situation facing the district. Board members are also interested in negotiating a contract clause that releases the board from buying out Register’s contract in the event of a state takeover.

Nashville’s Board of Education, in a seven-to-two vote Dec. 20, decided to begin negotiations with Register, who worked for ten years as superintendent of Chattanooga’s Hamilton County Schools before stepping down in 2006.