The Board of Education Tuesday said a new district superintendent could be
appointed as early as Sept. 1.
While the timeline set by
Oneida-Herkimer-BOCES Superintendent Howard Mettelman set Dec. 1 as a possible
date for the appointment, board members Tuesday asked Mettelman to move up the
date in order to make for a smoother transition.
Current School
Superintendent Daniel Gilligan has indicated he would like to retire before the
end of this year. His three-year contract with the Board of Education will
expire in June, but he agreed to serve for a few extra months at the board's
request until a candidate was found.
It 'means move it along faster,'
Gilligan said.
Having a new superintendent at the start of the school
year will ensure Gilligan can help that person learn the culture of the school
district, board members said.
The board Tuesday also appointed Mettelman
as a consultant to help them in the search. Mettelman will meet the board
members again Tuesday, April 8, to discuss advertisement and a revised timeline
for the search.
Mettelman is also helping other districts in their
search.
Board adopts budget
In other business, the
school board also adopted the 2008-09 budget, which will go to vote May 20. A
public hearing on the budget that proposes a tax increase of about 2.9 percent
is scheduled for May 6 at the Oxford Road Auditorium.
The $43 million
budget, up by 4.3 percent from last year's, reflects some cost-cutting efforts
through staff reductions. These reductions will be through retirements and not
layoffs, Gilligan said.
Some school districts in the area have not been
able to predict the tax hike because of a pending state budget. But New Hartford
does not depend heavily on the state budget figures for the district, Gilligan
said.
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