Seven months ago, the Claremont School Board announced a $5 million budget deficit. This week, it hired a new superintendent — at a salary that makes him one of the highest paid in the state.
Timothy Broadrick, who has led the Alton, Barnstead and Prospect Mountain school districts — which all share one superintendent — for about seven years, will be paid $182,500 his first year and $187,500 his second. That’s in line with superintendent salaries in much bigger districts, including Nashua, Keene, and Portsmouth.
Broadrick will also receive a $2,250 monthly housing stipend in exchange for forgoing the district’s health insurance, at his request.
In addition, the Claremont School District will pay Broadrick’s current district up to $9,000 for work he does on behalf of Claremont prior to his July 1 start date. It will also pay Broadrick up to $500 a month for travel related to his job.
Broadrick made headlines this year as one of few New Hampshire school leaders to advocate for open enrollment, which allows students to attend any public school in the state if their own district isn’t meeting their needs. Claremont voters rejected that option this year with a new policy that would prevent their students from using open enrollment to attend school elsewhere.
Before he was named to his current position in 2019, Broadrick led a regional vocational-technical school in Massachusetts for nearly four years.
His contract with Claremont divided the school board.
Chairperson Candace Crawford said she voted against it because she considered it was too expensive for a financially struggling district.
“It seems like a lot of money,” Crawford said, though she acknowledged enticing an experienced superintendent to a struggling district was difficult. Fewer than 10 people applied for the position, and at least one had not worked in education.
The board’s vice chairperson, Mike Petrin, backed the contract, he said, because Claremont desperately needs an experienced school leader. “We understood that we have to pay more to get someone to actually come here and fix what’s going on,” Petrin said.
Broadrick could not be reached Thursday.
Last summer, the school board announced a $5 million budget deficit a month before schools opened. The district secured a $4 million bank loan, terminated contracts with nearly 19 new hires and eliminated 10 positions. And at least three administrators resigned, including the superintendent.
In a February letter, Broadrick told the school board, “Claremont’s situation intrigues me.”
He wrote, “If I were lost in the woods, I would need a guide with the knowledge and skill to help me find the way out. Even better, I would want that guide to teach me how to stay on the right path for my future journey.”
Broadrick, who had intended to retire in 2027, told the board he saw the superintendent's job as an opportunity to “make a significant contribution in a place where one is needed."
Broadrick described his leadership style in responses to questions from the board. He’s said he’s direct and empathetic but also comfortable disciplining employees who don’t comply with his directives. He said data will drive his decisions around curriculum, budgeting, and addressing the district's low academic testing scores.
Broadrick told the board he would write a recovery plan within his first year and see that through the second year while mentoring district leaders to carry it on.
“I will not be inexpensive, but that’s more commensurate with my experience and abilities than anything else,” he wrote. “I don’t want to take advantage of Claremont, but I am also considering a major change in my life for a couple of years to make this happen. If we succeed, it will feel like a bargain.”
Crawford, the board chairperson who voted against Broadrick’s hiring, said the cost of his contract was not her only concern. She said she talked to at least 10 people in the state who knew Broadrick’s work. “Generally the response was he would not be a good fit for Claremont,” she said.
Petrin, the board’s vice chair, said Broadrick is blunt, but that doesn’t trouble him. “That may be what we need right now,” he said.
