DETROIT - Two school board members in Detroit have called for Superintendent Connie Calloway to reduce her personal security detail, which includes two armed police officers who escort her on business, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Board members Annie Carter and Marie Thornton said that the superintendent should reduce her protection unit in view of layoffs among teachers and support staff the board approved last month, the Free Press reported. Calloway declined to comment, but district spokesman Steve Wasko told the Free Press in an e-mail that the two police officers are "an appropriate level of support" for Calloway, given her position.
The officers receive about $95,000 a year combined in base pay, according to the Free Press. The district has provided security services for its leaders since 1993. The superintendent's unit was reduced from a 24-hour detail in 2005, but currently is more extensive than school leaders in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, officials in those cities told the Free Press.
Calloway has not received any threats since taking her post, the Free Press reported.
SOURCE:
The Detroit Free Press, "Detroit schools chief Calloway asked to cut her security," Nov. 17, 2008
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "DPS: Agreement in lieu of takeover," Nov. 3, 2008
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