Community questions and answers:

Below are some highlighted questions and answers from the first "town hall" style meeting on November 7 at the Coeymans Fire House. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for  Jan. 10 at the Selkirk Fire House. The responses were written by Superintendent Vicki Wright.

Additional questions and answers from the November meeting will be posted to the district website in the near future.

>   Why does a small district need a Human Resources Administrator?  Why does that position pay over $100,000?  Was the HR position posted?

      In the past, districts were able to function in a more informal manner, having several different staff members doing bits and pieces of the human resources functions. 

      Districts have found that although the State Comptroller’s Office wants more separation of duties, there needs to be a tighter oversight and control of all those personnel functions.  Districts need to have tighter policies in place and they need to have someone who knows all the negotiated and individual contract terms and conditions of employment.

       Did you know that we have four union contracts and nearly a dozen individual contracts with different pay rates, steps and provisions, vacation rights and accruals, fringe benefits, payout clauses, sick time accrual, payments for extracurricular activities, retirement benefits, personal time, family time, pay schedules, payments for earning credits, etc.?

      The district has the obligation to taxpayers and mandate from the state to make sure these contracts are monitored in a fiscally appropriate manner to minimize the risk of mistakes, overpayments/underpayments, the opportunities for fraud, misuse and malfeasance. It takes at least one full-time administrator to coordinate, to monitor, to check all that information, and to insure that those who accomplish the tasks inherent in personnel functions, do them correctly and completely.  That kind of high level position is worth that kind of money. 

      In addition, the person who now acts in that capacity is a long time veteran employee of RCS whose salary for the ’07-’08 school year would have been $90,000 if he were still in the position of a high school guidance counselor.  Our decision to appoint Mr. Chase to the Human Resources Administrator is beneficial to the District, and he is doing an excellent job assisting in the implementation of the Corrective Action Plan I presented to the BOE to address the findings of the Comptroller’s Audit. 

      One last point- the district does post all positions available within the district except under very rare circumstances.  The position for the Human Resources Administrator was posted, and we did conduct interviews. Mr. Chase emerged as the top candidate.

>    Why did the district have this meeting tonight? 

      As superintendent, I am always concerned about the thoughts, concerns, questions and perception of our community which covers a wide geographical area.  It is important that our residents have several avenues to explain their opinions and have their questions answered.  I strongly believe that there are many rumors in the community that needed to be addressed, and I wanted to provide a safe, off -school property place for our residents to ask some important questions. I wanted to answer those questions in an open forum to clarify issues and present factual answers and data whenever possible. 

>    What is the superintendent’s primary role and responsibility? 

      According to State Education Law section 1711(2), the superintendent of schools has the following powers and duties, unless otherwise specified by the bylaws of the board of education:

•      “To be the chief executive officer of the school district and the educational system, and to have the right to speak on all matters before the board, but not to vote.

•       “To enforce all provisions of law and all rules and regulations relating to the management of the schools and other educational social and recreational activities under the direction of the board of education.

•      “To prepare the content of each course of study authorized by the board … and when thus approved shall cause such courses to be used in the grades, classes and schools for which they have been authorized.

•       “To recommend suitable textbooks to be used in the schools.

•       “To have supervision and direction of  all …persons employed in the management of the schools or other educational activities of the district authorized by (the Education Law) and under the direction and management of the board of education; to transfer teachers from one school to another, or from one grade …to another grade … and to report immediately such transfers to such board for its consideration and actions; to report to such board violations of regulations and cases of insubordination, and to suspend an… employee until the next meeting of such board, when all facts relating to the case shall be submitted to such board for its consideration and action.

•      “To have supervision and direction over the enforcement and observance of the courses of study, the examination and promotion of pupils, and over all other matters pertaining to … all other educational activities under the management, direction, and control of the board of education.”