Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Controversial Deal Requires DO OVER

Laura Kent (right) first elected to Amherst School Committee 3/29/16

Union 26 will have to try once again to settle the controversial matter of Superintendent Maria Geryk wishing to break her contract and collect $309,000. 

Last night the combined Committees voted 5-3 in favor of the deleterious deal but Union 26 did not have a quorum and therefor should not even have been called into session.

Union 26 will try again on Monday, August 15th, probably in a secured bunker.

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On Aug 10, 2016, at 4:14 PM, Larry Kelley <amherstac@aol.com> wrote:

Hey Laura,

Are you going to call another joint meeting of the RSC and Union 26 to redo the vote on Maria Geryk's separation agreement? 

I'm about to file an Open Meeting Law complaint with you over last night's meeting not having a quorum of Union 26 members, but will hold off if you are in the process of "doing over."

Larry



From: Laura Kent
To: Larry Kelley
Sent: Wed, Aug 10, 2016 5:01 pm
Subject: Re: Last night's boo boo

Hey Larry,


Thanks for the email before doing that. I really appreciate it-  I talked to the Attorney Generals office this afternoon.  It is an honest mistake, I thought with Tara Luce recusing herself the body would sit at 5 and three of us present (4 voting).  The members of the Union are as follows: Tara Luce (Pelham Chair), Darius Modestow (Pelham Vice/ Union #26 Chair), Trevor Baptiste (Pelham Secretary), Katherine Appy (Amherst Chair), Phoebe Hazzard (Amherst Vice) and myself (Amherst Secretary)- 6 total.

There is a "rule of necessity" where Tara could have removed her recusal to meet quorum but I was unaware of that (from Ethics/Conflict of Interest law). I also have not heard or had any communication with her during this whole matter.

Darius is scheduling a meeting of the Union Monday morning and I will be having a Regional School Committee meeting on Wednesday at 6.  I am finalizing the RSC agenda right now and will get that off soon.  The votes of the RSC (quorum present) would be 4-3 from last night.

Thanks also for coming last night and staying post executive session, I know it was another long one.  If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Laura

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought " Education" was all about learning from mistakes, and becoming a "Better person".The blind faith mantra that the school teachers union booster cheerleaders espouse-seems pretty antthetical to an "Educated" approach...unless you want to call it highway robbery-of both the student, honest teachers, and the locally soaked taxpayer...Hmmmmm///!! This is a real " Red Flag" we got here...

Anonymous said...

Only in the Republic of Amherst would a fired employee receive $309,000 for not doing her job

Anonymous said...

It's worse anon 5:32 she quit. Can you imagine going to your employer and telling them you are quitting and want a year and half in wages to leave? The difference is these public servants don't consider themselves employees!

Dr. Ed said...

I would strongly encourage Aisha and everyone to continue their legal claims.

You can always donate the money back to the district, either as unencumbered funds [free cash] or for a specific purpose [e.g. "classroom teacher salaries"].

Yes, the district would have to vote to accept the funds, but....

Dr. Ed said...

Larry, this doesn't fix it -- they have to redo the joint exec session.


If that was even legal.

And 24 hours later, WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY VOTED ON.
That is unmitigated bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Ed thinks everyone should sue Amherst cause he don't live here! I doubt that sorry jackal has kids!

Anonymous said...

This is wicked educational. Seems like it pays to work for government.

Perhaps a staff-student ratio of 1:1 and then as a student graduates, a staff member can retire, leaving a job for the graduate and so on.

Then, perhaps move the school to an island and go on with real life.

Dr. Ed said...

She could spend it on beer for all I care -- my point is that there is anest of vipers needing to be cleaned out and collateral damage must be accepted.

Personally, I favor an 18=month state takeover.

Anonymous said...

Based on the emails posted here, Laura Kent cannot write a grammatically correct sentence. It's disappointing to see this from someone who makes important decisions about the education of our children.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know for sure?

If Geryk is awarded money by the School Committee, does the town (schools)pay?

If Geryk sues the town and wins, who pays? Who pays for what parts of litigation?

If Geryk is released from town and then sued by Hiza? Who pays defense for Geryk?

If Hiza sues town or Geryk (still employed by town), who pays?

Anonymous said...

More questions, will the details of her payout be confidential? Will her evaluation ever be public?

Rebecca Casa said...

Most of this would be paid by Insurance that's what we pay our insurance company for course there may be some Financial burdens for the town of Amherst the town of Amherst had to bail out the school system on the Carolyn Gardner situation and they had no notice

Rebecca Casa said...

The evaluations will not be discussed at the school committee meeting because she terminated her employment with us prior to them being released. However my understanding is they will be posted shortly online and I don't know what the link is but maybe someone else does and when they're posted online we will all have access to read them in my suggestion is anyone who gave her a positive rating this year probably needs to get voted out when their school committee term is up. But I know other people have different opinions than mine that's just my opinion 4 My Town. Maybe in Amherst she did a better job than she did in Pelham.