Published: May 26, 2006 01:41 am      

Lockport superintendent finalist turns down contract offer

The Lockport school board will be heading back into its superintendent search after Terry Carbone rejected terms of a contract offer this week.

Carbone, the finalist in the board’s first-round search process, signaled she’s not interested in pursuing the job any further after having had a look at the deal being offered to the next superintendent. She received a copy for review May 18 and sent her written response to the board Tuesday, board president Keith McNall said.

The offer raises the superintendent’s baseline salary but peels back some of the benefits that had been granted to retiring Superintendent Bruce Fraser in his contract.

Carbone, the district’s director of elementary education/director of research and development, indicated to the board that “the (new) contract is not acceptable to her due to elimination of some of the (benefits) we took out,” McNall said.

Where Fraser’s baseline salary is $122,000, the new deal offers a starting salary of $135,000. Reduced benefits include 10 fewer vacation days, elimination of a $5,000 “flex” plan tapped for multiple uses and elimination of a $1,000 career credit, McNall said. Assistant superintendents are receiving the flex benefit now.

Carbone’s letter said nothing about the health premium but indicated “she was disappointed ... and did not want to lose those three things,” McNall said.

Carbone could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

The contract was shown to Carbone as a finalist and is the same contract that will be shown to any and all finalists in the future, McNall said. It was not a job offer, he added; a board vote on offering the job is held only after a finalist accepts contract terms.

The new contract, which will be good for three years, offers annual benefits including: 25 paid vacation days and retirement cashout of up to 10 unused days per year; 18 paid sick days, good for use when the superintendent or a family member is ill and with a retirement cashout clause allowing application to health insurance costs; three paid personal and five paid bereavement days; district payment of up to $2,000 in fees for membership in state professional associations; and 90 percent district-paid health insurance or, if the insurance is not taken, up to $2,000 cash compensation. The last benefit is reduced from fully paid coverage offered now.

McNall said he hasn’t yet considered whether Carbone’s rejection of terms suggests the new deal won’t be palatable to other candidates either. Statewide, the superintendents candidate pool is considered fairly shallow because of the demands of the high-profile job.

“When we drafted this new contract, we took (search consultant Clark) Godshall’s advice about things we should be eliminating,” McNall said. “He advised us of (benefit cuts) that are taking place around the state and he knows best. I believe he’s hired about 150 superintendents across the state.”

The board launched a superintendent search last fall after Fraser announced he intended to retire Dec. 31, 2005. Two finalists, Carbone and Lockport native/Seneca Falls schools Superintendent Gerald Macaluso, were selected for a series of interviews with the board and the public. Macaluso dropped out after the public interview and Fraser offered to stay on through Aug. 21 of this year, the expiration date of his contract.

When he announced his retirement initially, Fraser had said he’d be willing to stay in the job on a monthly basis until the board hired a new superintendent. He couldn’t say Thursday whether that offer is still good.

“I am not involved (in the search) and there has been no discussion on how the board intends to proceed,” he said. “Not knowing the board’s wishes, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say.”

McNall is calling a special meeting of the board June 5 to review next steps. Options include identifying an interim superintendent from within the district, returning to Godshall and seeking more applicants or starting a new search with Vincent Coppola, a SUNY-based search consultant, he said.

Contact Joyce Miles at 439-9222, Ext. 6245.