The Denver Public Schools board of education today approved a motion to welcome a request by superintendent Tom Boasberg to extend his contract through 2015.
The previous contract enlisted Boasberg through 2014, and included a clause intended to automatically extend the contract for one year, every year, to create a sense of stability for the district. Boasberg is required to notify the board in writing that he intends to stay another year.
But, this fall — the first year that the clause was to activate and extend the contract — Boasberg was late in sending his formal notice to the board.
In order to ensure that the tardiness of the notice did not invalidate the clause in the contract, the board decided to take action to formally kick it into play.
During three long executive sessions last month before an approval of Boasberg’s annual evaluation, board members said they did not have time to discuss the contract extension, and asked for more time to understand the clause.
The vote to approve the extension was divided 5 to 2, with board members Andrea Merida and Jeannie Kaplan voting against it.
Merida said during the meeting, that she didn’t feel comfortable supporting the extension knowing that not all of the district’s goals had been met.
She also said the contract extension also extended the district’s obligation to pay Boasberg $100,000 if his contract is terminated early.
Kaplan said the automatic extension was a concern because it was a “luxury,” not afforded to other DPS employees.
“I think it’s time we look at a new contract,” Kaplan said.
Before the voting on the contract extension, board members began a discussion on how to improve the evaluation process for next year.
Details of how that process will be changed will not be made public until board members reach a consensus and are prepared to vote on the changes.
In another motion, board members also had a second vote to approve Boasberg’s annual evaluation after having amended the report to include statistics that show among other things, the improved graduation rates and enrollment, and decreased dropout rates.
Kaplan was the only board member to vote against the amended evaluation because she wanted to discuss the numbers first, but raised her objection too late — interrupting a vote in process.
Board president Nate Easley did not allow her to bring up the discussion at that point, and did not restart the vote.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com
