Former Valparaiso Community Schools Superintendent Jim McCall is on a $3,000-a-month contract to advise new Superintendent Brian Smith.
The School Board approved the contract Thursday but expects to amend it at next month’s meeting amid concerns about the cost.
Board Vice President Ashley Kruse said McCall is expected to be available to answer Smith’s questions about contractual matters, legal issues and external relationships where the outgoing superintendent has information no one else does, she said.
“It’s about recognizing there’s value in the historical context behind many of these issues,” Kruse said.
“We’ve got the intent that it’s not going to be yearlong; it’s not going to be going on forever,” she said.
Board member Kaye Frataccia-Seibert questioned the cost of McCall’s advice and how to account for how much advice is needed.
“I would like to make every opportunity for their transition to be a smooth one,” she said, but wants that $3,000 to be a maximum amount.
“We are just getting into the transition period. We want to make sure that is available,” member John Peluso said.
Even though the board hadn’t approved the contract before Thursday, Smith and McCall had already been in conversation, so Peluso and others on the board wanted the first month of the agreement to be honored.
Peluso suggested revising the contract or even drawing up a new one to be on the agenda for next month. The board agreed.
Member Karl Cender pointed out that McCall will have to agree with the terms of any changes to the contract.
The contract can be canceled at any time, Peluso said. After a few months, he said, McCall’s advice might no longer be needed.
“Maybe we need it for a month. Maybe we don’t need it at all after a month. Maybe we need it six months. I don’t know,” Peluso said.
A similar agreement was reached with former Superintendent Mike Berta when McCall replaced him, Kruse said.
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In determining how much of McCall’s time is involved in advising Smith, Kruse wasn’t sure how that would work. Maybe listing his billable hours in 15-minute increments? “I don’t know how realistic an expectation it is to manage time like that when it’s not a true consulting contract,” she said.
Perhaps if McCall’s advice isn’t needed, the board could either cancel the contract or just not pay him for that month, Kruse said.
“McCall had never been a superintendent and probably did need more consultation,” Frataccia-Smith said, so the contract might be able to end sooner than the full one-year term.
As for how much of McCall’s advice is needed, that should be left up to Smith, she said.
Valparaiso City Councilman Robert Cotton thanked the board for its frank discussion of the consulting contract with McCall.
He agreed with Frataccia-Smith’s point that the contract with Berta “had very much to do with him (McCall) being brand spanking new.”
The $3,000 per month, however, has raised eyebrows. “People have characterized it as a sweetheart deal,” he said.
“Transparency and accountability have been a big theme that we have talked about,” Cotton said.
Unlike almost all other school districts in Indiana, Valparaiso’s board is appointed, not elected. Four of the Valparaiso School Board members are appointed by the City Council. The Center Township Board appoints the other.
“I’m here because people have asked questions,” Cotton said.
“Prior to today, I received one phone call on the contract,” Kruse said. She asked Cotton if he had her number.
“One of our responsibilities as a board is to make decisions in an open, public process,” she said, with the public able to hear discussion before any action is taken.
“We welcome questions about board decisions and public contracts,” but don’t reach conclusions ahead of time, she said.
Board President Erika Watkins said the board is committed to listening to the community.
“Our room, I’d love for it to be filled every month” for board meetings, she said.
“This is definitely not a good ol’ boys club because we’re majority women on this board,” Kruse said.
Smith has been in his new position just a few weeks but already has posted a job opening for a communications director, saying it should be revenue-neutral because of outside services that will no longer be needed.
Resident Brian Williams urged the board and Smith to make sure the new communications director addresses problems in the district as well as telling good news about student successes.
Peluso said the new communications director will be expected to address all kinds of issues, not just feel-good stories.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.