Decision to extend contract of Placer Hills Union superintendent doesn't sit well with some

The Placer Hills Union School District Board approved extending the contract of Superintendent Julie Kehoe on Wednesday evening, a decision some parents, a board member and board candidates disagreed with. According to board member Joyce Bradshaw, the decision was four months late and the extension should have been completed in June. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the board had to push back the development of a better process for superintendent evaluations and the evaluation itself. During the meeting, Bradshaw said, "Although we are four months late in completing the 2019/2020 evaluation, Superintendent Kehoe's evaluation is done and is satisfactory. Superintendent Kehoe has been working closely with county health experts to … plan to safely open schools. She has worked effectively with (American Bear Education Association) to hammer out details needed to implement hybrid reopen. We are in a pandemic storm and the children of our district need their ship captain on deck and at the helm." According to the contract, if the board determines the superintendent's performance as satisfactory beginning with the 2019-20 school year, the board may consider advancing the superintendent by one step on the salary schedule and extending the contract up to one year. The contract, which was linked to the meeting agenda online, notes the superintendent was previously placed on Step 5 of the salary schedule to receive an annual base pay of $134,288. Board member and Clerk Katie Schiavone voiced disapproval for voting and asked if the board could continue the extension to the November meeting. "I feel like we should've had some time to discuss this as a group," Schiavone said. "I don't think it's serving our constituents well. I think we are hearing pleas from people in the community who are begging us to give them a plan. We don't have a plan to get back to school. "... I think that we should give it time to do this the right way instead of being rushed last minute into a meeting. I don't agree with what is being done. I don't think it should be on the agenda. I think it's just disrespectful to the community and I think it's disregarding the comments we've heard." Board President Glenn Pierce said it would not be fair to put the decision on new board members, who will be sworn in in December, and they will have six months to work on the next evaluation for June 2021. The board passed the motion in a 4-1 vote following a lengthy discussion. Public comment was then read to the board. Comments expressed disapproval of the contract extension, the raise in salary and the timing, requesting the decision be postponed until February when the new board could vote. Some comments criticized Kehoe's performance. One comment supported the extension. "What's the rush?" David Allen, a grandparent, submitted for comment. "The deadline is four months away and we are still in crisis situation concerning the students. I hope you remember that students are supposed to be the focus. I have not seen anything to warrant a contract extension at this time. By the way, raises are not automatic. They have to be earned. In any business situation, the problems quite often are related to management. Good management makes it work. Poor management makes it chaos." "The board is acting as if the extension of Ms. Kehoe's contract is mandatory when she receives a satisfactory review," parent, community member and board candidate Allison Harvey submitted. "It is not. It is an option open to the board if they want to extend another year. It says the board may, it does not say the board must, extend the contract with satisfactory evaluation. I urge the board to listen to the voices of the community. The community has spoken. They do not want this contract extended at this time." "In the corporate world that I work in, performance evaluations are done by your direct manager," Laurel Klein, a board candidate, submitted. "They write up your review and advocate for you, and then another person who is not your direct manager actually decides your salary rate and is in charge of your succession planning. This is standard protocol. It is not unheard of that the outgoing board would make a recommendation, that the new board would make a decision after, as it affects them now." The board noted some comments were submitted before the decision and others after and acknowledged the concerns of parents and the community. In a secondary vote, the board approved the extension in a 4-1 vote. The contract is now extended through the 2021-22 year with a two-step salary increase. According to the salary schedule, Step 6 is an annual base pay of $137,407 and Step 7 is an annual amount of $140,599.