Reprimand of School Superintendent Rejected

The Attleboro School Committee voted 5-3 on Monday to reject a proposal from Chairman Michael Tyler to reprimand Superintendent Pia Durkin for what he said was a violation of school district policy on contract negotiations.

Durkin had recently rejected a proposal by the committee's executive board to eliminate a $10,000 payment toward her benefits package for the 2012-13 fiscal year. She made the rejection through letters sent to all nine committee members, rather than just the three executive board members.

"She was trying to bargain her position with the full committee, which is against our current policy," Tyler said.

The chairman said negotiations take place between the executive board and the superintendent. The full committee gets involved once an official contract proposal is up for a vote.

Durkin said by writing to all committee members, she was following regular procedure that she communicate with the full committee on district issues. She and her attorney Mike Long also noted that earlier this year Tyler had sent emails to Durkin regarding her contract that were carbon copied to all committee members. The chairman responded that those communications were requests for information and not part of the negotiation.

"I think you're being very selective about the application of the policy," Long told Tyler.

Only fellow executive board members Brenda Furtado and Barbara Craw agreed with Tyler that Durkin's action was worthy of a formal letter of reprimand for her file. Committee member Dave Murphy said the superintendent made "an act that could have been more consistent with the policy," but did not reach the level of a violation.

"The fact that reasonable people can disagree as to when the commencement of negotiation took place, and I think even more so what constitutes a negotiation, tells me I would want to tread very carefully before making accusations as to a violation," Murphy said.

Committee members William Larson, Christopher O'Neil, Kenneth Parent and Frances Zito voted with Murphy. Teri Enegren did not attend the meeting.

The hearing could have taken place behind closed doors, but Durkin requested that it happen in public. The discussion at times became heated, although it never reached the point of voices being raised. The passion could be seen in an exchange between Tyler and Long.

Tyler: "This is not a game to me, Mr. Long. I can tell you that right now. This is not a game to me. When you reject an offer, you are negotiating."

Long: "It's not a game to my client either, sir. You are trying to cut her pay."

Although the contract proposal itself was not part of the hearing, Durkin addressed it.

"I am quite surprised that the [executive board], after six years of work and the achievement that I have been able to bring to this district as the CEO … felt it was appropriate to reduce my compensation. I simply could not accept that."