School Board President McGarrigle announced on April 1 that Superintendent Rita Jones told the School Board that she was retiring some time in August 2009.

No further details were provided despite the fact that Jones has 3 more years on her contract.

It is significant to note that Jones' contract states the following:

………….the Superintendent shall give the District not less than 365 days written notice, absent extenuating circumstances, to allow for a well considered transition at the end of her term as Superintendent.  Absent extraordinary circumstances, such retirement would become effective only on June 30 of any year of the term thereof. 

Since it is apparent that the above contract language is not being followed, an email was sent to President McGarrigle on April 18 requesting an explanation as to what the extenuating circumstances were which caused the School Board to accept Jones' abrupt retirement. 

President McGarrigle responded on April 23 with the following short statement:

"As with all personnel issues, the details remain confidential.  However, the board is in complete agreement with and support of Dr. Jones' decision regarding her retirement." 

Personnel issues may be confidential, however, the School Board entered into a contract with Jones and as such the Board can not just ignore it and let Jones do what she wants.  If the Board wants to change the terms of the contract, then the Board must address this issue in a public meeting with discussion and a vote.

It is also important to note that, according to her contract, the Superintendent gets a pay increase on July 1, 2009.  We assume that this means she will therefore have a higher salary for purposes of computing her retirement by staying an extra month beyond what the contract stipulates.  We have not confirmed this, however.