Warsaw School Board Approves Superintendent Contract; Organizes For 2014
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw School Board voted 6 to 1 Thursday evening to approve Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz’s contract. Also at its annual organizational meeting, the board voted to continue with Jennifer Tandy as its president and Matt Dick as vice president for 2014. Randy Polston was named board secretary. Delores Hearn served as board secretary previously. Polston was the only board member who voted against approving Hintz’s contract. In a telephone interview this morning, Polston said he was born and raised in this community. He’s been a student, teacher, principal and now board member for Warsaw Schools, and felt that was God’s calling for him. While at WCS, Polston said he served under a lot of superintendents. “Craig and I have a good working relationship,” Polston stated. As the Harrison Elementary principal for two years under Hintz, Polston said he never connected to Hintz’s leadership style. When Polston retired and then made the decison to run for the school board, he said he kept many of the relationships he formed while working for WCS. The school corporation did a climate audit last year, and that sent him a further message on key areas Polston said he felt he needed to focus on. When Polston looked at and studied Hintz’s contract, “I could not support the contract we were offering him,” he said. The other board members were aware of Polston’s feelings before Thursday’s meeting. “He’s done some good things for Warsaw Community Schools. With my history, I felt we needed to move on and move forward. I knew going forward there was support for the contract,” Polston said. Many of those who spoke at the Dec. 16 board meeting in support of Hintz’s contract are friends of Polston’s, he said, and he’s OK with people have differing opinions. “With my passion and my committment to this community, I felt it was time we move forward. I knew I would be the lone vote,” Polston said. “Craig and I have a very good working relationship and he understands that different board members will have different opinions.” At the Dec. 16 board meeting, public comments were taken on the proposed contract for Hintz as part of the process required by state law for superintendents’ contracts. Only a handful of people spoke at last month’s meeting, and all were positive toward Hintz. Effective dates for Hintz’s proposed contract are Jan. 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015. The total monetary value of his base salary and benefits contract is $164,218.52. During public comments Thursday, retired WCS employee Linda Russell spoke about Hintz’s contract. She told the board she sent each one a letter and hoped that they received it. She then told the board, “I just feel that the amount is not fiscally where we should be with our superintendent. Warsaw Community Schools administrators, teachers, every parent, every employee, every taxpayer, our community is a valued part of that team. We all are asked a lot of. I feel we all are doing our part no matter what our fiscal reward may be.” Later in the meeting, before the board voted on Hintz’s contract, Hearn stated the board “did quite a bit of research” with school districts Warsaw’s size. It even looked at districts bigger and smaller than Warsaw to see where the school corporation was at in terms of superintendent pay and benefits. “We feel very comfortable with what we’re recommending. Dr. Hintz has done a lot of work in this corporation, pulling us together,” Hearn said. Before Hintz, she said Warsaw had 10 superintendents, including Dr. Lee Harman. “It’s nice to see the smiles on teachers’ faces. Look at everything students have done. Look at what’s all happened. I believe we all have a leader that’s got us there,” Hearn concluded. After the board approved his contract, Hintz thanked the members for the “generous” contract. He said Warsaw is a wonderful community and school community and he was thankful for being a part of it. In the end, he said, it’s really about the students and what WCS can provide to them. “I thank all the board members and I look forward to moving ahead,” Hintz said. Also during Thursday’s meeting, the board approved: • monthly meetings to be at 7 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month except for May and December because of holidays; • monthly work sessions will be at 4 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month; • treasurer of WCS is Erica Purvis; • deputy treasurer is Kara Leisure; • executive secretary to the board of school trustees is Nicole Wills; • copy fee for records obtained through the executive secretary for 2014 will be 10 cents per page; • officers and members of the Board of Finance shall be the same as the officers and members of the school board with the ability for an alternate member to be named; • school board compensation for 2014 shall not exceed $2,000 per year and a per diem of $3,000 per year for a total of $5,000 per year. The per diem rate for regular meetings is $112, and $62 for committee meetings; • the cash management provider for 2014 is Lake City Bank, Warsaw, which also will be the primary but not exclusive investment institution for WCS; • two firms as legal counsel – Reed & Earhart, Attorneys at Law, P.C.; and Warrick & Boyn, LLP; • Times-Union designated for 2014 for the advertisement of legal notices to the public; • and mileage rate reimbursement shall be the IRS rate effective Jan. 1, 2014.
