Superintendent’s Contract: Resident ‘Promises’ To Sue Board Members
By: Alex Scofield
Published: 10/08/10
Richard W. Augustine promised Wednesday night to sue four school committee members if the Town of Sandwich lands on the hook for damages from a potential lawsuit filed by Schools Superintendent Mary Ellen Johnson.
“Four of you ... wantonly disregarded our requests and your responsibility to protect our financial interests,” Mr. Augustine said in brief but pointed comments aimed at committee members Nancy A. Crossman, Marie A. Kangas, Chairman Sharron L. Marshall, and Vice Charman Jessica A. Linehan. The members made up the 4-3 majority that voted in June not to extend Dr. Johnson’s contract through 2012-13 school year.
That vote came two months after the committee’s original vote to extend the contract. Assistant District Attorney Thomas G. Shack, however, stated the first vote was null and void since the meeting had not been property posted.
By the time the issue could be revisited, a town election had occured, bringing two new members to the board. When it came time to revote the contract, those two members, Ms. Crossman and Ms. Kangas, opposed the extension.
Dr. Johnson’s status after the current school year has been in dispute ever since.
School committee members met in private with their attorney Joseph A. Emerson Jr. last week to discuss a letter from Dr. Johnson’s attorney Paul L. Nevins.
“There isn’t anything I can say,” said Ms. Marshall on Wednesday night, regarding the private meeting.
The letter urged committee members to honor Dr. Johnson’s initial contract extension by October 10, or prepare to face litigation.
Mr. Augustine raised the stakes this week.
He said the town’s insurance company could decide the committee acted “outside the scope, responsibilities and requirements of their positions,” and decline to cover the costs of the lawsuit.
Should Dr. Johnson prevail in the lawsuit, and the town’s insurer decline to cover the damages, Mr. Augustine pledged to seek compensation for the town’s expenses—from the committee members’ own pockets.
“Please be advised that it is my/our intention to sue the four of you, both individually and severally, on behalf of all taxpayers and the Town, for damages plus the cost of litigation, which may exceed $300,000,” Mr. Augustine said. “We hope you all can afford the approximate, average $75,000 plus judgment that could be assessed against each of you. You gambled with town funds and, ironically, it may well be that you gambled with your own money.”
“Please do not regard the foregoing as a threat. It is not. It’s a promise!” Mr. Augustine concluded.
With his comments made, Mr. Augustine was gone, leaving the committee and Dr. Johnson to discuss ways to achieve $2.6 million in budget reductions for Fiscal Year 2012.
“We’re not going to have a lot of flexibility here,” Dr. Johnson said. “One of the major areas that we have to focus in on, unfortunately, is personnel.” She likened the budget-cutting process to removing items from a cup every year—eventually, you get to the bottom of the cup, she said.
As the dispute continues over Dr. Johnson’s contract, the committee has taken preliminary steps to find a successor. The committee sought consultants to assist with the search, and several consulting candidates have applied. “We’ve had responses from companies,” Ms. Marshall said. “It looks like the next thing for us is to set up interviews with these companies.”
6 Responses to "Superintendent’s Contract: Resident ‘Promises’ To Sue Board Members"
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Please be advised that Mr. Augustine does not speak for everyone in Sandwich. I feel the School Committee did exactly as requested and I support their actions in this regard. Perhaps Mr. Augustine should consider donating to the town coffers whatever amount he might end up spending on such a frivolous suit.
The recent article regarding Mr. Augustine's "promise" to the school committe to take legal action against them personally if the town incurrs expenses in the on going dispute with the superintendent is absurd. The members of the school committe that voted at a legitimate meeting of the school committee to not extend the contract did so at the behest of the majority of the residents of the Town of Sandwich. The Superintendent's departure at the end of her contract in June of 2011 is what the people of the town declared when they voted in the spring election. One must remember that it is the School Committee that sets policy for the district schools and it is the superintendent's duty to carry out that policy. This has not been the case with previous school committe members, hence the changes of the committee. Sherry Marshall, Jessica Linehan, Nancy Crossman and Marie Kangas are carrying out the directive of the majority of the residents of Sandwich.
Mr. Augustine needs to realize that he is a minority as far as the "vote" went. These members did what the people who voted them in wanted them to do. What I don't understand is why Mr. Augustine and his minority group didn't want to sue the previous committee for ending a perfectly legal contract(Minkoff) because of supposed lack of funds. There is a lawsuit pending for that disaster. Especially when the "lack of funds" seemed to resolve itself during the year when Dr. Johnson bought back vacation time ($10,000 +) and then escrowed $25,000 for herself for contractual obligations!? So we lose money on that because Dr. Johnson couldn't move funds around like she always does to prevent a lawsuit? Mr. Augustine needs to look at the big picture, get in touch with reality and look to where the real problem lies!!
Mr. Augustine is correct in citing the School Committee for their blunderous decision to terminate the employment of the Superintendent. If she had failed to meet a significant number of stated criteria, she should have been terminated. As far as I can tell, the Sandwich students meet or exceed their peers when looking at test scores. My sense is the School Committee terminated the contract because they did not like the personality of the Superintendent. She should have been judged on specific criteria instead of hysteria. The School Committee will ultimately cost the town extra money when this case is settled. This will happen because some members stubornly appeased their egos at the expense of the tax payers..
The voters spoke and asked the school committe to get rid of Johnson. The search committee did not pick her for good reason. This entire mess is because a few school committee members thought they knew more than the search committee and hired her at a meeting when it was not even on the agenda. These are the people who should be sued! Wasn't this Simmons and Guerin? This all has nothing to do with unions. Anyone involved with the schools can see that Johnson does not have the people skills needed to be superintendent. She has shown us this over and over again. The Minkoff lawsuit is 100% Johnson's fault. How can anyone blame this on new school committe members? Augustine's friends who are all pitching in $100 better be ready to pitch in a lot more than that when they are counter-sued.
Speaking as someone who was born and raised in Sandwich and went throught the Sandwich school system from grade one through graduation it was clear that Ms. Johnson was not a good fit for our Superintendent. The school committee, representing the town, terminated her contract. It is unfortunate that Ms. Johnson will not behave professionally and step down gracefully when her contract expires in 2011, but it is not surprising. Mr. Augustine should be ashamed of himself for threatening individual members of the School Committee and should get a hobby.