City School Board members met in executive session last night to discuss the flap over Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard's salary increase. Per his contract, he got a 4-percent increase in January, tied to the Consumer Price Index.

The session took place after the regular board meeting.

School board members Allen Williams and Cynthia Elliott have essentially accused Brizard of helping himself to a raise.

Williams and Elliott interpreted the contract incorrectly, said board President Malik Evans, in a phone interview this morning.

"The superintendent has done nothing wrong, end of story," he said. "They have provided no evidence that the superintendent is guilty of anything."

And he said that Elliott's call for a resolution to remove the superintendent, made during the board meeting, was "ridiculous." (Elliott also sought the removal of Evans as president of the board.)

No one expected the superintendent to be removed from office, but public humiliation, planting seeds of mistrust, and creating a divisive atmosphere are damaging.

Elliott excels at this stuff.

Perhaps some people are angry that Brizard received a salary increase as he cut jobs. But it happens in the private sector every day.

Brizard is the highest paid public employee in Monroe County. But there is a nationwide shortage of school superintendents.

It's called supply and demand, folks.

This whole thing is oddly reminiscent of former Superintendent Manny Rivera's tenure.

Various groups tied his days up with absurd distractions, and then complained about the district's low graduation rate.

Elliott says that she is not interested in the political games played at the district, that she's only interested in the welfare of city school children.

What a charade.

Her shenanigans at this point are predictable.

If she were that interested in city school children, she would know that sending the district headlong into yet another superintendent search for no reason is a crazy idea.