Contracts Approved For Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent

The superintendent and assistant superintendent’s contracts, previously good through 2013, were extended another year on Thursday evening in a special Board of Education meeting.

Both Superintendent Nicholas Fischer and Assistant Superintendent Christine Carver have rolling contracts, which are revisited each year to retain the contracts through three years. This method raised some questions during the discussion, with board member Barbara Major saying it was the reason she voted against both contracts. Major said that she would have preferred to table the vote until after the results on the Connecticut Mastery Tests are released today.

“I’d like to see that my faith in Dr. Fischer is either proven right or proven wrong,” she said.

The question of CMT results was raised earlier in the evening, during a vote to accept an evaluation of Fischer’s performance. The discussion on that item mostly involved a suggestion that board members should be informed of any new initiatives. Fischer said that while he is accountable for the academic status of the district, he disagreed that the votes should be delayed on account of the CMT results.

“It represents maybe one-tenth of the information we have about what the kids are doing,” he said.

Fischer said the rolling contracts represent a “commitment to where the district is going.” He said he understood the board was largely satisfied with his performance based on the unanimously approved evaluation, which is not yet a public document. He said if there are any concerns or dissatisfaction with his role in the district’s performance, the board needs to address them in their evaluation in the lead-up to April 2012. According to the contract, an automatic one-year extension of the rolling contract shall occur unless the board takes action to not extend the contract in April.

Board Vice President Susan Connolly said there was a legal obligation to extend the contract since no action was taken on halting the extension in April. She said that due to scheduling issues, the meeting was taking place after the start of the fiscal year, which the contract follows, and that Fischer and Carver had technically been working without a contract since July 1.

Board Secretary Jason Catala said he understood the obligation, but felt that the CMT results were an important factor in measuring the district’s success. The vote to accept Fischer’s contract was 6-1, with Major opposed.

The conversation grew testier during the discussion of Carver’s contract. Catala, who proposed eliminating the in March, questioned a clause requiring the district to either offer Carver another administrative job if the position is cut or pay her $850 per month for 10 months or until she finds new employment. If Carver was offered an administrative job, she could potentially bump out another person holding that job.

Catala asked whether the clause could be removed, but Connolly said it would require a renegotiation of the contract. He also questioned whether a continuation of Carver’s $1,250 doctoral stipend was appropriate since Carver has earned her doctoral degree.

Fischer said Carver is paid about $20,000 less than a position with comparable duties in comparable districts. He said he understood Catala’s concerns, but felt the questions amounted to an “absence of acknowledgement” of Carver’s work.

“This is quibbling over small stuff, particularly when everything she is being granted here is granted in other employee contracts,” he said.

Catala said he was not opposed to Carver, but the conditions in the contract. He said he had a right to question the contract as a board member, and suggested that Fischer did not like the queries he was bringing up. The remark caused President Al Kinsall to rebuke Catala.

“I’m not going to allow this agenda to be a venue to further your political agenda,” he said.

The vote to extend Carver’s contract was 5-2, with Catala and Major opposed.

Fischer’s contract includes a $151,470 annual salary, 25 vacation days, payment of 84 percent of health and dental premiums by the Board of Education, a $6,000 expense account for travel and other business expenses, and a $500 automobile stipend. Included in Carver’s contract is a $140,776 annual salary, 22 vacation days, coverage of 84 percent of health and dental premiums by the Board of Education, and a $250 automobile stipend.