June 2, 2015
Groton schools prepare for new superintendent
GROTON — The board of education has hired Margo Martin as the new superintendent of schools and voted at its Monday meeting to keep the current interim superintendent on for about two weeks as a mentor for Martin.
The board of education hired Martin at its May 11 meeting.
Martin, the current high school principal, chief information officer and director of technology for the Tioga Central School District in Tioga County, is set to begin July 1, according to the district.
The board is still finalizing a contract and pay agreement between the district and Martin, said Lisa Warmbrodt, district clerk. No figures were available this morning.
“I am honored that the Groton community and board of education has afforded me the opportunity to work with them in leading Groton forward in the 21st Century,” Martin said in a statement released by the district. “I am excited that I will be making a new home in a community that has shown itself to be so passionate about its school and all that goes on there.”
On Monday, the board voted, with one member opposed, to hire Interim Superintendent of Schools J. D. Pabis to help Martin as she takes leadership of the district on July 1.
Pabis will be paid at the rate of $650 per day. Incoming board member Matthew DeMatteo, who was sworn in to fill a vacant board seat earlier in the meeting, voted against the proposition.
On Jan. 5, the board hired Pabis as interim superintendent of schools at the same rate.
Pabis said he expected to stay on no more than 10 days after Martin begins, but added he would answer any phone calls sent his way after that.
The board on Monday also voted unanimously to hire an interim part-time business manager.
In a 6-0 vote, the board opted to hire Marianne O’Conner as the interim business manager starting today at a rate of $400 a day. Board member JeanWannall was absent.
O’Conner is set to work up to five days every two weeks through July 31. She will also spend an additional five days training the district’s new part-time business manager in August, according to the board resolution.
This is a position included in the district’s approved $19 million budget,Pabis said after the meeting.
The district abolished its business manager position three years ago, but now there is a need to reinstate the job part-time, Pabis said.
It is very uncommon for school districts not to have a business manager, he noted.
The school district was criticized early this year by the state Comptroller’s Office for its taxation and savings practices.
Groton was cited in January for taxing residents unnecessarily by a total of $509,000 over the last four years and improperly storing away more than $2.6 million since 2011.
The part-time business manager is expected to start in August, Pabis said. The person will be an employee of TST BOCES and split time with another school district, he said.
Groton will pay BOCES for its half of the cost of the business manager’s salary and benefits.
Pabis said he did not yet have an exact amount of the cost of the position as BOCES has not negotiated the terms.
Pabis declined to say which other school district the person will serve, noting that district’s board of education has not yet voted on the plan. He also declined to give the candidate’s name.
O’Conner, the interim business manager, is a retired business manager Pabis said he worked with for 10 years in the Auburn city school district. The pair also worked together when Pabis was the interim superintendent at Onondaga Central Schools from June 2013 toNovember 2013.
O’Conner will close out the district’s books and prepare for the yearly, local financial audit in July, Pabis said. She can then bring the new person up to speed on the books, audit and other items, he said.
The school district is set to host a reception June 11 for Martin so that residents can meet the new superintendent. The reception will run from 6 p.m. to8 p.m. at the Junior/Senior High School Cafeteria. Light refreshments will be provided by the Groton Parent Teacher Organization, Board President Sophia Darling said.
Also at the meeting, Pabis congratulated the school board for what he said was making the right decision to hire a new varsity football staff, pointing to an increase in football players signed up for the upcoming fall season.
The board did not rehire former varsity coach Jeff Lewis and assistant coach Bobby Brull after a September locker room incident that led to the conviction of two football players for first-degree harassment, a misdemeanor.
Petitions both for and against the reinstatement of Lewis and Brull were circulated in the district and at least one football player feared the team would lose players without the coaches.
The board opted to hire Tom Goddard, a retired Clarence Central School District teacher and coach, in April to lead the varsity team.
Pabis noted the football team has already gained 12 new members, bringing its total up to 36 in the upcoming season from 24 players this fall.
That is the largest group to participate on the team since 2007-08, Athletic Director Billie Downs said.
“Fifty percent more kids — that’s amazing,” said board member Monica Dykeman.
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