Canadian citizen Yaw Obeng has obtained a visa and will begin his $153,000-a-year job as Burlington schools superintendent within the next few weeks. He’ll also start a second, part-time job as a University of Vermont adjunct professor. That position was critical to securing Obeng an H-1B visa allowing him to collect a U.S. paycheck.
“This is wonderful news for the community of Burlington and its children,” Porter said during a press conference at school district headquarters on Colchester Avenue.
The school district’s immigration lawyers floated the idea of pursuing a visa through UVM after Obeng struck out in two previous visa applications, forcing school officials to delay his July 1 start date.
He was then able to secure a visa to work at UVM, and, in piggy-back process, a visa to work for the Burlington school district, according to the scenario Porter outlined at the press conference.
The school district has spent around $55,000 on the superintendent search and legal bills for the visa applications. Critics questioned why the district could not find a U.S. citizen to do the job. Porter said Obeng is highly qualified, and became a favorite in the interview process with teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders.
It was worth it to go through the visa challenges to hire Obeng, Porter said.
“I would have had no problem going further for the right candidate,” Porter said, adding that Obeng’s Canadian citizenship was not important in his view. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t live in a world that has those kind of boundaries any more. Boundaries are simply political.”
The school district will continue to seek an O-1 Visa, which was denied earlier this summer. Obeng has said he wants to be a permanent U.S. resident and the O-1 is the true path for that, Porter said.
Correction 8/26/15: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Obeng was born in Ghana. He is of Ghanian heritage but was born in Germany.
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Obeng applied and won a part-time faculty job at UVM.
I’m sure that wasn’t a stacked process.
$153K to be a superintendent. Then how many other people in administration? Can anyone else see why school taxes are so high?
Was he the only applicant for the UVM job?
Couldn’t get him through the front door, so they lied and said he was a UVM professor so they could get him through the back door. This whole thing stinks from beginning to end. And to the commenter who asked “as he the only applicant for the UVM job,” the answer is that he was the only one so well connected that the powers-that-be would make sure he was hired.
Pretty disturbing really. I think anyone can see this is a sham to get around the legal immigration process.
I’d like to know how much Obeng will be paid to be an adjunct professor at UVM, how many hours he will be working at UVM, how much a typical Superintendent of Schools makes, and how many hours a typical Superintendent of Schools puts in, and how this all adds up.
We are paying Mr. Obeng $153,000 per year and he will be splitting his time between BSD and UVM.
As a Burlington tax payer AND a UVM tuition payer, I am totally disgusted.
Neither the Burlington School Board nor the UVM administration has any regard as to how my hard earned money is spent.
That’s the way to set an example for the kids! if you can’t get the federal government to do what you want them to, get a university to make up a fake position for them and sneak their way in!
The superintendent and the school board need a strong lecture in basic immigration law. An O-1 visa is for non-immigrants. That means it is temporary (3 years) and intended for people NOT seeking to become permanent residents. Declaring publicly that is your intent is in direct conflict to the intent of the O-1 non-immigrant visa, and will only further torpedo his chances to get one … not that he qualifies under its very strict criteria anyway.
An initial mistake in not researching immigration law prior to hiring a foreign national has been compounded by legal maneuvering to create a technically adequate but ethically questionable work authorization.
I wouldn’t gloat if I were on the School Board.