By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
VASSAR — Board of Education members traded verbal jabs here Monday night before extending Superintendent Thomas T. Palmer’s contract in a vote that was a split decision.
Board member Randal Middlin’s motion to not extend Palmer’s contract — which would have expired in June of 2016 — failed by a 4-3 margin.
The board then voted 6 to 1 to extend or “roll over” the contract and keep it a three-year deal through June of 2017. Middlin — a retired school superintendent who once led the Vassar Public Schools — was the lone opponent.
Before board members voted, Middlin said he would extend Palmer’s contract next year if Palmer makes “improvements” as superintendent by then. At Middlin’s urging on Monday, the board conducted separate public votes on whether to approve rollovers of each of five administrators’ contracts.
That idea prompted a response by board Treasurer Kirk VanWormer.
“You know what, Randy? I’m gonna tell you something,” VanWormer said. “You were the superintendent here for a long time. Now all of a sudden you’re the hard-ass. I’m gonna say it: hard-ass.
“Two years ago we had 12 administrators here in this school (district). We’ve got five now and they’re all sitting right here. We’ve made a huge cut in administrative staff. These people have picked up the slack.”
Middlin responded that he is just “asking questions” and that he’s not “after anybody.”
“I don’t have any other alternative,” Middlin said. “We don’t do committee work anymore. We don’t look at finances anymore. We have to do it publicly.”
Board member Jill Baase then confronted VanWormer, the board’s treasurer.
“I don’t think that if (Middlin) has a question that he should be chastised for it,” Baase said. “You didn’t call anybody else out when they ask questions.”
Middlin said the school board has voted individually on each administrator’s contract in the past when he was Vassar’s superintendent.
“I don’t know if we ever did that,” VanWormer replied.
Baase told VanWormer that “There’s a lot of things that have happened in the 25 or 40 years that you’ve been on this board, that — times are different today. I’m sorry.”
“Jill, don’t give me that crap,” VanWormer said. “I know more about this stuff than you’ve ever known.”
Board members Mike Kennard, Jeff Fackler, Russ Hubbard and VanWormer opposed Middlin’s motion to not extend Palmer’s contract. Middlin, Baase and board Vice President Ben Guile supported the motion.
By a unanimous vote in each instance, the board extended by one year the multi-year contracts of four other administrators: Paul Wojno, Deborah Dewey, Philip Marcy and Jason Kiss. The school board has extended or “rolled over” administrators’ contracts since at least 1986, according to Vassar High School/Junior High Principal Wojno, who began working that year for Vassar Public Schools. Board members extended Wojno’s two-year contract through June of 2016 on Monday.
The annual rollover of an adminstrator’s contract so it continues as a multi-year agreement “was always a one-year safety net for us so we don’t financially collapse our families,” Wojno told the board.
Vassar board members are trying to trim about $800,000 from the district budget before the new fiscal year starts July 1. Palmer on Monday presented a “Shared Services Plan” with Millington Community Schools and the Tuscola Intermediate School District proposing to save Vassar Public Schools $296,809. Palmer is serving on an interim basis as superintendent of both school districts.
Vassar board members hope to schedule a joint meeting with the Millington Board of Education in early March in the Vassar High School auditorium.
Middlin asked Palmer to get an attorney’s opinion on whether the board can trim “fringe benefits” in administrators’ contracts — such as annuities, life insurance and pay boosts based on longevity with the district.
“If we’re looking ahead to a lot of major cuts and a lot of people being affected, then we need to look at everything,” Middlin said.