GUILDERLAND — For the first time in at least 20 years, the school board here has appointed a new superintendent with a split vote.

In a special meeting last Thursday morning, the board voted, 6 to 3, to appoint John McGuire, 60, superintendent of schools. He'll be paid $164,000. The retiring superintendent, Gregory Aidala, who is 56, earned $150,000 this year. Both men came to Guilderland after working as superintendents for schools in Washington County — McGuire at Greenwich and Aidala at Salem.

McGuire sounded unfazed by the split. He said that any politician would be pleased with a two-thirds majority vote.

"Certainly," he told The Enterprise on Sunday, "I want to earn the respect and confidence of every member of the board."

Janet Rothacker, a former board member, said she was concerned about the message the split vote would send to the community. "The board used to really try hard to reach consensus on such important matters," she said.

The field of over 20 applicants was narrowed to just two candidates, said school board President Richard Weisz. "We had two wonderful candidates," he said. "Six people thought the successful candidate was a better fit."

Weisz likened it to wedding guests having to choose between a menu of meat or fish. "There was a strong difference of opinion on whether it was meat or it was fish," he said. "The board has little unanimity on many issues. Some say it's a strength, others a weakness."

Of the three board members who voted against McGuire's appointment last Thursday morning, only Peter Golden gave an explanation.

"While I have no reason to believe that Mr. McGuire is not a good and decent man, I do not think his selection is consistent with a creative forward-thinking approach to education — the goal that this board set for itself," said Golden. "For the sake of our students, employees, and community, I hope that Mr. McGuire proves me wrong."

The Enterprise called the other two board members, Barbara Fraterrigo and Hy Dubowsky, to ask their reasons. "We were presented with a choice," Dubowsky responded in an e-mail. "I don't believe a school district of our caliber, in the dynamic information age we live in, can simply afford to be content with our relative success but rather needs to boldly forge ahead of the pack.

"Some argue that split votes hurt the district and our spirited debates during our public board meetings present a divisive and fractured body. This country was born out of dissent and to suppress our right of free speech, regardless of the reason, sends shivers down my spine.

"So, for me" Dubowsky concluded, "my vote was an affirmation of the faith the voters who placed their faith in me when they elected me and was guided only by the overriding principle that we serve all the children in this exceptional school district."

Fraterrigo said she cast her "no" vote "because I wanted to let the other candidate know how strongly some of us felt about her."

The trio was impressed with the other candidate's doctoral degree, youthful and progressive outlook, stellar recommendations, and record of pulling up scores at another district.

"I think John is an excellent choice," Weisz said of McGuire at the Thursday morning meeting, making the only comments about McGuire.

McGuire has had a wide range of experience in a number of different settings, Weisz said, and he was innovative, for example, introducing the study of Chinese into the curriculum at Greenwich. He will help Guilderland move forward, Weisz said, adding that he was "very excited for the opportunity to work with him."

Weisz expanded this week for The Enterprise on the selection process, which involved about 60 different people — administrators, parents, community members, teachers, and staff — who met in groups to interview the top candidates and then shared their observations with the school board members who conducted the final interviews.

After the 6-to-3 vote for McGuire, Weisz made a motion for "a unanimous ballot." This time, the vote was 8 to 1, with Golden as the sole dissenter.

Weisz told The Enterprise afterwards that he made the motion as "a sign of support," likening it to a political convention where, after delegates have disagreed, they come together behind the party's choice.

"I didn't believe in the necessity of the second vote," Golden said in an e-mail to The Enterprise. "No conscientious board member would work at cross purposes to a superintendent just because he didn't vote for him. That would be terrible for the district and the community.

Similarly, Fraterrigo told The Enterprise later, "Once a decision is made and a person hired, you make things work for the kids in the community."

Aidala told The Enterprise directly after the Thursday morning meeting that the 6-to-3 vote would come as no surprise to McGuire. "He's comfortable with that; he's a professional," said the outgoing superintendent.
Seven years ago, Aidala himself had been hired with a unanimous vote. Asked if it would have been difficult for him to come on board after a split vote, he said, "It's more challenging"We play the cards we're dealt."
Referring to board meetings in recent months, Aidala said, "I am more outspoken"I want to be sure we remain on course."

Special meeting

Last Thursday's vote was taken at an 8:15 a.m. meeting in the district office rather than at the regularly scheduled Tuesday evening meeting, which is televised.

Asked why, Aidala said the earlier appointment would allow Greenwich more time to find a replacement. Fraterrigo countered that four business days wouldn't make much of a difference.

"What is the difference," Fraterrigo asked The Enterprise, "that four days would make compared to having it done publicly with the cameras""

New York's Open Meetings Law requires public notice of the time and place of a meeting scheduled at least one week prior be given to the news media and be conspicuously posted. Even in an emergency, public notice is to be given "to the extent practicable, to the news media" and to be conspicuously posted.

Weisz told The Enterprise that the Thursday vote allowed McGuire to attend the workshop before Tuesday's school board meeting as the superintendent designee. The board met to discuss collective bargaining, as the teachers' contract will be negotiated in the upcoming year.
Neither reason rises to the level of an emergency, according to Camille Jobin-Davis, the assistant director of the state's Committee on Open Government. "I would term those a preference, not an emergency," she said.

The school board's clerk, Linda Livingston, said she was told of the Thursday meeting the day before, on Wednesday, Sept. 19, and e-mailed each of the district's schools to post a notice with the time, place, and purpose — to appoint a new superintendent. Such a notice was posted at the district office.

Livingston also told Amy Zurlo, communications director for the district, who said she posted notice of the meeting on the district's website. "I posted it on the home page on top of the news briefs as soon as I was told about it," said Zurlo.

While posting notices in the schools may fulfill the conspicuous posting requirement, Jobin-Davis said that neither that nor posting a notice on the website the day before fulfills the law's requirement to notify the media of a meeting.

Typically a governing body, even when holding an emergency meeting, will call, fax, or e-mail the press about a meeting.

Superintendent's contract

At the Thursday-morning meeting, Barbara Fraterrigo asked to see a copy of the contract with McGuire. She asked if he were to retire and go to work for another district, would Guilderland still have to cover his health insurance.

This prompted the board to go into an executive session to review the contract, which is allowed by law.

"I like to be an informed voter," Fraterrigo said later, alluding to problems that the Voorheesville School Board had run into because board members hadn't reviewed their superintendent's contracts.

The Enterprise obtained a copy of the contract on Tuesday after filing a Freedom of Information Law request.

The three-and-a-half-year contract runs from November of 2007 to June of 2011. Fraterrigo credited Weisz with advising the extra half-year be added, which she said wac a good idea because a couple of top candidates accepted jobs elsewhere before Guilderland completed its selection process. This will put the district in a better position the next time it goes through the hiring cycle, she said.

The 11-page document spells out McGuire's duties and professional obligations.

"It is intended that the Superintendent will maintain a residence within the Guilderland Central School District," it says.

The contract also says that, with board approval, he can "undertake consultation work, speaking engagements, and/or professionally related writing or lecturing" as long as it doesn't affect his job performance.

It sets his salary at $164,000 pro-rated, and states that the board expects the superintendent to "continue his professional development and further expects him to participate in relevant learning experiences."

He is given 25 days of paid vacation annually and is credited with 50 days of sick leave when he starts work; he is then credited with 10 additional days of paid sick leave each school year. He is also granted three personal business days each year and five bereavement days per occurrence.

The board can terminate the agreement if he becomes "permanently disabled." He has to have a medical exam each school year.

The district pays 78 percent of the premium cost of his health insurance; he pays the remaining 22 percent. If he retires anytime after June 30, 2010, the board provides health insurance coverage under either an individual or family health insurance plan for the superintendent and his spouse for the rest of their lives.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders said yesterday that McGuire has not yet chosen his health-care plan, but Sanders estimated that the district’s annual cost will range, depending on the plan, from $10,725 annually to $13,690.

The district also pays $3,000 per year for the cost of a life insurance policy for the superintendent, the contract says.

The board agrees to protect the superintendent from financial loss out of claims arising from his duties as superintendent, and it will provide legal counsel to defend him.

The district will reimburse him for mileage when he travels on school business and also pay for accommodations and meals. He is provided with a cell phone and laptop computer, which he must return when he stops working for the district.

He may resign as long as he gives 60 days' notice. But he can't be fired without "good and just cause" which includes "insubordination, immoral character, conduct unbecoming a superintendent" or "inefficiency, incapacity, incompetence, or neglect of duty," or "failure to maintain certification."

McGuire begins work on Nov. 12 and assumes full duties on Nov. 19.