Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Itís been several months in the works, but a push for a delay in a contract extension for Superintendent Lynn Steenblock is coming.

The school board on Nov. 8 completed its first reading of a new three-year deal for the superintendent and is slated to consider the matter again at its next regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 1.

But last weekís board election could have a bearing on that decision.

Newcomers David Gay, Julie Corcoran and Eric M. Langness won election with the one incumbent on the ballot, Jody Krebs, defeated. Gay and Langness ran as anti-levy and anti-administration candidates.

Langness said this week he plans to formally request the board on Dec. 1 that it table action on the contract until the new board takes office in January. If teachers are asked to work six months without a new contract, there is no need to sign a new superintendentís contract six months in advance, Langness said.

ìItís an obvious thing that it should be tabled,î Langness said.

Gay said in an interview last week he would support a delay in the contract decision but added he didnít think the current school board would relinquish that decision.

Board President Bill Bresin said this week he favors moving ahead with the contract because the process has been put in place by the board. But if the board decides on Dec. 1 to delay action, he is fine with that decision, too.

And the latter is what member Keith Dunham said he will request.

ìThe process is severely flawed,î Dunham said of the negotiations process with the superintendent that has involved three board members serving on the staff welfare committee. ìYou donít do business like that.î

Dunham said the lack of full board involvement and input with this negotiation has been unsettling and not a good business practice.

With board members Karen Morehead and Dean Barr leaving the board at the end of the year, two of the three members who worked the new contract will be gone. Dunham said he hopes the current board will defer the decision to the new board.

Contract details

The new three-year pact involves salary schedule improvement but a rollback in the amount of pay-for-performance dollars.

Steenblockís current annual salary of $122,000 would jump to $131,675 in the 2006-2007 school year, increase to $138,259 in 2007-2008, and cap at $143,790 in the final year of the contract, 2008-2009.

After agreeing to freeze his salary and performance bonus for the current school year, Bresin said the new compensation levels are proper in light of Steenblockís performance. In particular, he said the board is pleased with Steenblockís emphasis on student achievement and the positive results that have been achieved.

Under his existing three-year contract, Steenblock was eligible to receive a maximum pay for performance bonus of $8500 this year, a bonus he declined.

Under the new contract, Steenblock would be eligible to receive up to $4000 a year in pay for performance in each year of the contract.

The superintendent would also be eligible for other benefits include 12 paid holidays a year, 25 paid vacation days a year, 20 days of paid sick leave which may be accumulated to a maximum of 150 days and 22 days of severance pay each year with the accrual not to exceed 115.5 days for early retirement, severance or resignation.

The superintendent will also receives a $585 monthly car allowance with the rate to increase 3 percent a year in years two and three. The current monthly allowance is $550.

Election mandate

Langness said he hopes the board will recognize that voters sent a message on Nov. 8 that they want change in how the district operates.

Langness said it should be clear that he and Gay ran against the current administrative policies and how Steenblock is running the district.

He pledged to remain vigilant in his pursuit of accountability over the next four years. ìI am not going any where,î he said.

Dunham, too, said it should be clear based on the 60-40 percent voter rejection of the levy that the public is not satisfied. Like it or not, 60 percent of voters in the election spoke against the district and how business is handled, he said.

A good place to start in rebuilding trust could be found in how the district handles the contract extension, he said. If the district does not change, another ballot box setback could be in store next November when the district must seek renewal of its existing operating levy or cut $6 million in spending.

ìDoing business as it has in the past wonít work,î Dunham said.

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