4/16/13 - Brighton Superintendent Greg Gray confirmed today that he is the sole finalist to become the new head of the Portage Public School district near Kalamazoo although it appears the Board of Education may be fighting to keep him. Brighton Superintendent Greg Gray has confirmed for WHMI that he is the sole finalist to become the new head of the Portage Public School district near Kalamazoo. The Portage school board selected Gray at their meeting Monday night. Mlive.com reports that Portage board members praised Gray's track record and said he was the candidate that best fit their criteria for the job. Gray told WHMI that the Portage district had a similar make-up to Brighton but was much larger and represented a logical step in his career. He also rejected the notion that he was leaving a job undone in Brighton, saying, "I disagree. In the last six to eight months we've secured nearly $300 million in revenue, we've worked very hard to right-size the budget here. We've worked very hard to staff our buildings and classrooms with the highest quality in terms of staff. You know, your goal as a superintendent is always to leave your former district in better shape than you found it and I think that with the help of my great staff here, we can definitely say that." Portage board members said that in his time in Brighton, Gray closed a significant budget deficit, introduced a K-12 world language program and oversaw passage of an $88.5 million bond. Gray is expected to be in Portage Thursday for the first of several public interviews. Thatâs the same time the Brighton Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting, which was announced today. The items listed for consideration include the administrative contract of employment for Gray. The agenda item related to Gray is proposing a significant salary increase from his current annual income of $138,000 up to $205,000. The special meeting will take place in the board room of the BECC building on Church Street at 7pm Thursday. Meanwhile, the Portage board is also planning a visit to Brighton and if appointed, Gray would replace Ric Perry. Perry resigned in January after a board investigation found that he had an affair with the district's human resources director, who also resigned. (JK)
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