See You In Court! CABE Monthly Column
“See You In Court!” is written by Thomas Mooney and appears in the CABE Journal, a publication of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.
Last May, the members of the Nutmeg Board of Education voted to extend Mr. Superintendent’s contract for one year, with the result that his contract now extends from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2027. However, over the last six months, some members of the Board have decided that the performance of long-suffering Mr. Superintendent has been OK, but just OK. Accordingly, as they have discussed privately among themselves, these Board members are now thinking that the Board should consider alternatives.
Veteran Board member Bob Bombast is one of the Board members wondering if the Board could do better, and he decided at the Board’s regular meeting this month to take action. When the Board reached New Business on the agenda, Bob asked to be recognized. “Mrs. Chairperson, I move that we add an item to our agenda: Creation of a Personnel Search Committee.”
Ms. Chairperson was surprised by Bob’s motion, and she asked him why the Board would create a search committee. In response, Bob explained that the Board may benefit from conducting a superintendent search.
“Wait, what?” interjected Mr. Superintendent. “What are you talking about?”
“No offense intended, Mr. Superintendent,” Bob responded. “You are doing a fine job. It is just a matter of prudence. Unless we conduct a search, the Board doesn’t know who else is out there. You are a solid B, but there may be an A player out there who would like to be our Superintendent.”
“Well,” said Mr. Superintendent, “the Board might want to save itself some time and drop this stupid idea. I’m not going anywhere.”
Board member Mal Content spoke up. “Just relax, Mr. Superintendent. We know that you have a contract. But no one can predict the future. We have been talking it over, and we have the votes to conduct the search. Depending on what we find through the search process, we may want to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
Ms. Chairperson didn’t like the way this public discussion was going, and she moved that the Board convene in executive session to discuss this matter further. Mal seconded the motion, and the Board promptly voted to convene in executive session. As the Board members got up to go to the conference room, Ms. Chairperson intercepted Mr. Superintendent. “We’ve got this,” she told him. “We will let you know if we need you.”
With that, the Board members met in executive session without Mr. Superintendent to discuss Bob’s motion. The other Board members chastised Bob for springing this surprise on them and on Mr. Superintendent. However, given that the cat was now out of the bag, the Board members decided to stay the course and create the search committee as Bob proposed.
Ms. Chairperson then reconvened the meeting in open session. “It has been moved and seconded that the Board create a personnel search committee, and to keep it simple, we Board members will make up the committee.” The Board members then voted unanimously to create the personnel search committee in accordance with Bob’s motion and to name themselves the members of the committee.
Did the Board violate Mr. Superintendent’s rights by excluding him from the executive session?
