News

Greenport: Did Oysterponds act illegally?

The Greenport Board of Education has asked the State Education Department for a ruling on whether the Oysterponds School District acted legally last month in rescinding one year of a three-year contract and two years of a contract extension.
Greenport Board of Education members and Superintendent Michael Comanda have refused to say were considering that step but Oysterponds Superintendent Stuart Rachlin confirmed in a telephone interview that he had been alerted of the move.
Greenport’s request is in line with former Greenport Board of Education president Gary Charters’ urging at the board’s Sept. 15 meeting that the district appeal Oysterponds’ rolling back of the contract.
The original three-year contract would have expired in 2012 and a two-year extension approved by a lame duck board in June carried the contract through to June 2014.
But three new Oysterponds board members, who took office in July, along with Kathy Syron, who was elected in 2008, supported the rollback in August. Only former board president Walter Strohmeyer voted against five resolutions that dealt with the issue. Two other board members