Marblehead nixes biz manager contract

MARBLEHEAD-The School Committee had nothing bad to say about School Business Manager Brian Salzer Thursday night – but his controversial $125,000, two-year contract had to go.School Committee members unanimously rejected Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac?s recommended contract with Salzer, then ended their meeting in a 90-minute executive session to put together a new contract offer for him. He agreed to renegotiate in an e-mail to Acting Superintendent Robert Bellucci.Contacted about the executive session Friday, School Committee Chairman Patricia Blackmer declined to discuss contract specifics, but confirmed that the committee is “expecting a response” and has scheduled another executive session Wednesday morning for further contract discussion.If negotiations work out Salzer, the $124,000 Swampscott High principal and licensed business manager, is still scheduled to begin his new duties July 1.Dulac, who is on medical leave following a June bypass operation, wrote his two-page recommendation letter Thursday outlining the steps he took in the hiring. He said although the amount budgeted for the post was $103,000, he expected to pay $115,000-$125,000 and, due to Salzer?s Swampscott salary, he did not offer a lower amount, leaving the business manager salary $22,000 over budget.If Salzer were hired at $125,000, his duties as business manager would include finding surpluses in the $27.4 million Fiscal 2010 school budget to cover the $22,000 amount during the next school year.Similar overages frequently occur in a school budget. Thursday night School Committee members at the urging of Jonathan Lederman asked Bellucci to discuss hiring an additional part-time Marblehead High social studies teacher, at a cost of about $20,000. That was unusual, since School Committee members do not hire teachers and such requests generally go to the superintendent.In his recommendation letter, Dulac wrote that he realized that “this position (school business manager) has been thoroughly discussed and criticized.”He wrote, “I am sorry that I was not available to respond to these criticisms personally.”One critic, Gerald Road resident Tom Connolly, read a prepared statement accusing Dulac of “possible malfeasance” and “arrogant abuse of power,” demanding an investigation and asking the School Committee to earn the community?s trust. There was no public discussion of his statement.The Salzer appointment has raised legal questions which apparently point to a disagreement between two state organizations, the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS).Glenn Koocher, executive director of the MASC, said in published reports a week ago that state law is “clear: The law is that the business manager is hired by the School Committee, often with the recommendation of the superintendent.”Dulac said he negotiated Salzer?s contract with the help of a MASS lawyer “to reinforce the fact that it was indeed the superintendent?s responsibility and not that of the School Committee to hire the business manager.”When Lederman said Dulac broke the law, Blackmer told him Thursday night that different lawyers view that differently. Lederman did make a point, however, that School Committee policy was violated – and he called for more direct School Committee involvement in the hiring of salaried professional staff.Contacted Friday morning about the legal aspects, Koocher cited state law (Chapter 71, Section 41), indicating that “The School Committee may award a contract to ? a school business manager.”The law says “may,” not “shall,” making it somewhat discretionary.?It?s not totally clear whether the School Committee must hire or may hire the business manager,” Koocher admitted. “Most School Committees do delegate the responsibility.”In fact, Bellucci pointed out that past Marblehead School Committees have set parameters for a business manager position and allowed the superintendent to conduct