MARYSVILLE — Community reaction on Tuesday to the news of a $340,000 buyout of school Superintendent Linda Whitehead’s contract closely mirrored the division on Marysville School Board.
Some Marysville residents felt it was a move the school board needed to make regardless of cost; others said it was too expensive with no guarantees that whoever takes over will get high marks from the board.
"I think it’s unfortunate about the buyout itself but I don’t think there was much choice," said Frank Taylor, a Marysville resident who spent Tuesday morning at Jennings Memorial Park with his 1-year-old grandson. "I believe there were serious problems even before the (teachers’) strike."
Jerry Traveris, 61, is helping raise his grandchildren who attend Allen Creek Elementary School. He’s new to the community and can’t understand the revolving door for superintendents since the early 1990s. Nor, he said, can he understand how the previous school board could give Whitehead a strong job performance evaluation last year and a newly elected board would want to force her out.
"Seven superintendents in 12 years, there is something wrong with that," he said. "I think the buyout is outrageous with the district’s financial situation."
In a 3-2 vote Monday night, the school board approved the buyout, which will pay Whitehead $170,000 next week and another $170,000 in January 2005 to leave her job with two years and four months remaining on her contract.
The vote followed months of acrimony in the district of 10,600 students. Teachers staged a 49-day strike — the longest in state history — last fall and still don’t have a contract.
Controlling majority of the school board was wrested away in November when three incumbents lost their elections. With strong backing from the 650-member Marysville Education Association, new board members Vicki Gates, Carol Jason and Michael Kundu won easily. All were critical of Whitehead and the school board during their election campaigns.
On Monday, they voted in favor of Whitehead’s buyout while incumbents Helen Mount and Ron Young remained steadfastly behind Whitehead and voted against the settlement.
On Tuesday, Paul Sjunnesen, the interim superintendent named by the board Monday, moved into the superintendent’s office. Sjunnesen, 69, a former Everett superintendent, will retire July 1 and is willing to step down earlier if the district hires a permanent replacement before then, according to a copy of his contract.
The district has already begun its search for a new superintendent.
Whoever takes over will inherit a district with declining enrollment and financial troubles. The district has asked its principals and administrators to recommend $1.5 million in budget cuts for next year. Strike costs and declining enrollment have hit the district hard, leaving a $2.3 million shortfall in its $82.25 million budget.
"I think with their budget shortfalls it’s tough for them to make a buyout on a contract like that — even for someone they think has been doing a poor job," said Greg Lindmark, 52.
Lindmark served as a substitute teacher in the district in the 1970s when maintenance and operation levies routinely failed. He doesn’t want to see the district return to the days of severely overcrowded classrooms and outdated textbooks he once saw.
Lindmark also hopes the district is willing to look within its ranks for a new superintendent.
Heather Garrison, 27, was picking up her two children at Liberty Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon. She said she doesn’t know enough about why Whitehead and the new school board decided to part ways. However, she wishes the district could have spent the money differently.
"It’s not good for the kids," she said. "I know that they need every penny they can get so that’s kind of a waste."
Amber Jury, 20, attended Marysville schools for many years. She said she understands why the school board voted the way it did.
"I think it was the right thing to do," she said. "In general, the teachers were unhappy, which is making the parents unhappy, which is making the students unhappy."
"Actually, my personal reaction is it’s about time," said Robert Boothby, 36, a parent with three students in Marysville schools. "It took long enough. But it is a pretty high figure and we are not one of the most ritzy districts. That’s a lot of money to buy anybody out."
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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