Process at heart of issue
OCEAN CITY — In a split vote, the Ocean City Board of Education approved a contract for an interim superintendent of schools Thursday evening after a board member questioned the process, wondering why an in-house candidate was not considered for the position.
The contract for Dr. Scott McCartney will pay him $700 a day from July 1 through Dec. 31 as the board continues its search for a full-time superintendent to replace Dr. Matthew Friedman, who is leaving the district at the end of the month after serving for one year. Friedman, hired last spring, announced in March he was taking a similar position in Quakertown, Pa.
Board member Robin Shaffer brought the matter up at the start of public comment, saying his concern was not about McCartney, but about how he was chosen and the practice of using “double-dipping” retired administrators.
He called his objections an issue of “fundamental fairness,” saying the board should not be promoting the practice of hiring a retired administrator who gets paid full time while drawing on his pension. He noted the practice is allowed in New Jersey, but not in 48 other states.
“We are ignoring in-house talent; we have an in-house candidate who was not considered for the position,” he said, referencing Lauren Gunther, the district’s curriculum and student services director.
He also said there was no public roll call vote before Interim County Executive Superintendent of Schools Dr. Judith Stefano-Anen approved the contract, although he was later informed that approval was part of the process that had to take place before the local board voted on the contract.
“There are reasons why certain decisions must be made during a public roll call vote,” Shaffer said. “Holding even a secret vote, even by email, is a violation ….”
Shaffer questioned whether McCartney’s “previous working relationship” with the Comegno law firm was part of why he was chosen. The Comegno firm does work for the Ocean City School District.
He also asked why there was $17,000 in the contract for professional development and travel for a contract that lasts only six months and why McCartney would get $1,500 for a personal computer for his house.
Board Vice President Joseph Clark told Shaffer discussion of hiring McCartney was a matter for closed session and that the board had a lengthy executive session Saturday during which he would have learned more about what took place if Shaffer had attended.
Victor Staniec, a member of the group Fairness In Taxes, said he took exception to a few terms in the contract. He asked the board to clear up what it meant by “generally” working five days a week.
Staniec said that meant he could take a few days off a week or take a three-day weekend and he also wondered if the $700 per day would include holidays and half-days of school.
“Before you vote,” Staniec said, “can we clear this up so everyone knows what’s expect of Dr. McCartney?”
Shaffer later asked that the resolution on the contract for McCartney be pulled from the broader consent agenda so board members could discuss it and vote on it separately.
During discussion, he said the district would pay a few hundred dollars a day less if it hired an in-house candidate as acting superintendent.
After Business Administrator Tim Kelley explained the contract had to be approved by the county superintendent before the school board voted on it, Shaffer asked if any other contracts were sent for review, referring to one for an in-house candidate.
After some discussion over what could be said in public since personnel matters are generally allowed only in executive session, Kelley said only one contract was forwarded to the county for review.
“I believe we owe it to our staff, people who have been loyal to this district and have provided exceptional service … to do our due diligence,” Shaffer said. “We had months to get this figured out,” he added, noting they were voting up against the June 30 deadline when Friedman was leaving.
Board President Chris Halliday said there was nothing controversial about hiring an interim superintendent who was willing to help the district while it searched for a permanent replacement. He also said Gunther has a lot of work to do in the summertime to prepare for the new school year and hiring her would be asking her to do two jobs, a point reinforced by board member Fran Newman.
“An acting superintendent would be doing two jobs,” Newman said, “so which job did you not want her to do?”
When Shaffer suggested McCartney was referred to the district by the Comegno law firm, Halliday said that was “false.”
“We discussed it and discussed it and discussed it,” Clark said about the board’s Saturday session. “This is not the forum. You should have been there,” he told Shaffer. “This was a meeting, we all had to change our schedules and we got there.”
As the discussion began to get more heated, student representative Lauren Knopp, who graduated with the Class of 2023 last week, interjected.
Knopp said the Open Public Meetings Act exists for a reason, in part to let the public access as much information as possible but also to protect matters relating to personnel and students.
“By discussing a personnel manner in front like this,” she said, “I feel like this is a disrespect to the teachers and administrators who work in this district” because their jobs or contracts could be talked about in public.
“If you do want to talk about this and you do want to have the best conversation possible about this, I suggest you have a closed session to talk about this and then return later,” Knopp said.
“I know it’s hard to go through stuff like this, but long story short, we need an interim superintendent,” she added, just as the district needed an interim principal and superintendent after the retirements of those positions after the 2020-21 school year. “If someone is willing to do that job, let them do that job.”
Knopp said she hated to see the board “so divided.”
After that, the board voted on the interim superintendent’s contract. Bill Holmes abstained because he said he wasn’t present for the Saturday meeting. Shaffer and Catherine Panico voted no. The remaining board members voted to approve the contract.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff