|
 Watkins
to Work Without Contract
MIRS, August 10, 2004
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State Board of
Education President Kathleen Straus today told MIRS that
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Watkins will work
without a contract until late January or early February because
of a conflict with the State School Code that places
restrictions on when the board can offer the superintendent a
contract.
A section in the state School Code prohibits the state board
from offering or extending a superintendent contract within six
months prior to or two months after a general election. Straus
said when the Board acted last year to extend Watkins' contract
until Sept. 30 this year, it didn't think about the provision in
the School Code limiting contract action in an election year.
“We thought it made sense to have his contract renewal
correspond with the fiscal year,” Straus said. The state's
fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
Straus told MIRS the whole issue is essentially moot because a
clause in Watkins' current contract states that in the event
Watkins continues his “employment and appointment with the State
Board of Education following the expiration or termination of
this Agreement and the parties do not enter into another written
agreement,” he agrees that his employment “shall continue on an
at-will basis for no definite period of time.”
Voters will elect two members to the Board in the upcoming
November general election. The terms of Marianne McGuire and
Herbert Moyer expire on Jan. 1, 2005.
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