Region One contracts discussed again by BOE

FALLS VILLAGE — Contract extensions for regional school district administrators were discussed again at the April 4 meeting of the Region One Board of Education. During the first public comment portion of the meeting, First Selectman Pat Mechare of Falls Village read a letter from that town’s attorney, Judith Dixon, that was critical of the board’s practice of extending three-year contracts for top regional administrators before the contracts are up.Dixon’s letter points out that by extending multi-year contracts “on an apparently annual basis,” the Region One board commits the board and future boards to the contracts through two biannual elections of regional board members.“If nothing else, this appears to be a very poor business practice and certainly places the superintendent in a much superior bargaining position.”At a special meeting March 24, the board approved contract extensions for Region One Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain, Assistant Superintendent Diane Goncalves, Region One Business Manager Sam Herrick, Pupil Services Director Carl Gross, and Special Education Supervisor Martha Schwaikert. Board Chairman Judge Manning (representing Sharon) explained at that meeting that not offering contract extensions sends a signal to the employee that they should start looking for work elsewhere.On a related topic, Phil Hart of Cornwall spoke about how the All-Boards Committee (comprised of the chairs of the six town boards of education and the regional board) makes recommendations about administrative contracts. Hart asked if the committee should be making specific salary and health insurance recommendations, and if the current process, in which the Region One board is presented with a yes-or-no vote on the All-Boards Committee’s recommendations, is adequate.“We’re asked to approve [the contracts] without discussion. I don’t think we’re fulfilling our obligations.”Chamberlain said there is no reason the regional board couldn’t go into executive session with the committee.“The process could use a look,” she said. The board also had another try at establishing a policy regarding emails between board members during the regular monthly meeting Monday, April 4, at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.Manning started off by asking, “Do we want to pursue this?” The board did. Members were provided with a sample policy from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education that included this language, under the heading “Guidelines for Board Email Usage”:“Board members shall not use email as a substitute for deliberations at public board meetings, and/or shall not discuss policy matters or vote informally on any issues.”Hart noted the clause approvingly and added that he thought any policy “should include something about what we intend to do about it” if a board member violates the policy.Manning asked if anyone had a suggestion, and Hart replied, “Not now, but we’ve faced it before.”The board decided to have Chamberlain have the board attorney, Gary Brochu, review the sample policy and comment on the possibility of adding a “consequence clause.”