OXFORD – Many of those who attended Oxford’s last board of education meeting were under the impression they’d tabled two hot button topics: The matter of the high school principal’s tenure and the superintendent’s contract extension. According to draft minutes of the June 8 meeting, that was not the case.
Some community members were stunned to learn nearly a week after the June 8 meeting that, while Christine Pierce’s position in the high school was tabled, the extension of Superintendent Randall Squier’s contract through Sept. 1, 2011 had in fact been approved.
“Secretive” and “deceptive” were the words district resident Fred Bateman used to describe the board’s actions. Bateman had sent a letter to the board asking them to table the renewal of Squier’s contract until a petition he and other concerned members of the community were circulating could be presented to the board.
The letter was signed by not only Bateman, but six others, “on behalf of the hundreds of Oxford School District taxpayers who had already signed a petition” asking that the board reconsider before extending Squier’s contract.
When Board President Robin DeBrita told Bateman that the district would need to consult its attorney regarding the letter he had presented and that no action would be taken at this time, he said he believed that meant the item had been tabled. He did not learn until several days later that only items relating to Pierce had been tabled, while the superintendent’s contract had in fact been approved with the remainder of the personnel memorandum later in the meeting.
“It’s a troubling situation for a representative board not to even listen,” Bateman said, expressing his disappointment at the board’s action. “I think it shows a great deal of disrespect not to at least listen to the concerns first.”
Jonathan Rogers, president of the Oxford Teacher’s Association, was also in attendance at the June 8 meeting. He said he and other faculty members who were at the meeting were under a similar impression that Squier’s contract had been tabled.
“It definitely was a sneaky move,” Rogers said.
David Emerson, a signatory of letter presented by Bateman and a former board member himself, said he and others will continue to lobby for Squier’s departure.
“We’re not going to stop,” he said. “If the board thought they could circumvent our concerns ... they were mistaken. This reinforces the need for more action.”
DeBrita said she was concerned at the meeting that there would be confusion over the issue, but when community members left before the board reached that portion of the agenda, she “assumed they understood.”
She said a written response had been sent out addressing the concerns raised by Emerson, Bateman and the other individuals who had signed the letter.
When asked why no one was told that the superintendent’s contract had been renewed during the meeting, she replied: “We renew all of our employee contracts in June.”
DeBrita said she is glad people are coming to the board with questions and to start a dialog about their concerns, acknowledging that “there are many items of confusion out there.”
A special board of education meeting is planned for this evening at 6 p.m. in the Oxford Academy Performing Arts Auditorium in the High School.