Friday, February 17, 2012

School board to consider superintendent contract

District still wants public comment on school calendar

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By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Lonnie Barber

The Blaine County School District board of trustees will consider renewing the contracts of Superintendent Lonnie Barber and 14 other top district officials at its next regular board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Renewal of Barber's contract is listed as an action item for the meeting. Barber was awarded a three-year contract when he was appointed superintendent in June 2009, following the retirement of former Superintendent Jim Lewis.

The contract became effective on July 1, 2009. Barber served as assistant superintendent for two years prior to his appointment as superintendent.

Also up for renewal are the contracts of eight school principals, three assistant principals and three high-ranking administrators, including Assistant Superintendent John Blackman, Director of Student Services Debi Gutknecht and Director of Curriculum Patricia McLean.

Principals up for contract renewal are Hailey Elementary School Principal Tom Bailey, Hemingway Elementary School Principal Don Haisley, Woodside Elementary School Principal Brad Henson, Wood River High School Principal Pete Jurovich, Bellevue Elementary School Principal Angie Martinez, Carey School Principal John Peck, Wood River Middle School Principal Fritz Peters and Silver Creek High School Principal Lynn Seifert.

Assistant principals up for contract renewal, all employed at Wood River High School, are Rob Ditch, Lynn Fuger and Keith Nelson.

According to the meeting agenda, public comment will be accepted prior to any vote on contract renewals.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the district office at 118 W. Bullion St. in Hailey.

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School calendar

The issue is not set for a vote at the Tuesday meeting, but Barber is scheduled to discuss options being considered for development of a new school calendar for the 2012-13 school year.

The main variable is whether school will start before or after Labor Day in September. Starting after Labor Day, as has been done for the past two years, pushes the end of a school year into the first week of June.

The district has been accepting public comments on the new calendar for the past month, and Director of Communications Heather Crocker said the district wants more public input before a recommendation is submitted to the board for approval.

She said the public seems interested in the subject.

"Absolutely, the public cares about this because the school calendar affects many different stakeholders in the county, from parents and teachers to businesses," Crocker said.

"For the past two years, the board has approved a calendar for one year. Before that, they approved calendars for three years at a time, and it's possible that this year they might approve a calendar that will extend through the next two or three years so that people can plan accordingly."

The district is inviting further comment on the issue at Tuesday's meeting.

In other business, the board is scheduled to vote on a proposal from Curriculum Director McLean on "community involvement in textbook adoptions," to hear an update from Barber on a plan to expand world languages studies in the district and to hear a plan from District Business Manager Mike Chatterton on an early retirement incentive package.

A complete agenda is available at the district website at www.blaineschools.org.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com

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