Phil Auger Named School Superintendent, Pending a Contract

At last night's meeting, all members of the North Kingstown School Committee made a point of saying that interim School Superintendent Phil Auger will make a fine permanent school chief. They praised his accomplishments as assistant superintendent since 2009, and noted that he lives in North Kingstown and sends his children to public schools here.

But, it took a couple of false starts before Auger was formally appointed – without a contract that spells out salary, benefits or duration.

William Mudge made the motion to give Auger the job permanently, pending a contract agreement, and it was quickly seconded.

This bothered Richard Welch, who last week published a calling for a traditional, formal search for a new superintendent.

At Tuesday’s meeting he asked, “How can you appoint someone without an agreement on terms and conditions?”

Lynda Avanzato agreed, saying “I have a concern about doing this in the proper order.”

Larry Ceresi, who called Auger “a first-class educator and a first-class gentleman,” said he’d prefer Auger spend a little more time as interim superintendent. “What’s the rush?”

After school attorney Mary Ann Carroll said the motion was legal, Ceresi’s proposal to amend it was defeated by, among others, Chair Kimberly Page, a veteran of previous superintendent searches. “We want someone who knows the district and knows the schools,” she said. “We have found that.”

Melvoid Benson said, “I am 100 percent in favor if we can work out a contract. The man knows education. I have seen the product of his work.”

Joe Thompson reported that contract discussions, which took place in executive session, are well under way.

In the end, all members of the committee voted in favor of Mudge’s motion except Welch, who abstained. Welch was among the first to congratulate Auger when the motion passed.

For his part, Auger – taking on a $60-million school system without even knowing his paycheck – said, “I love this district and I love this job.”

One other proposal received overwhelming board support; after individually pledging not to spend scarce funds on a new sport, all committee members voted to allow North Kingstown high school girls to participate in a with female students from Narragansett and South Kingstown. Donations will fund the new team.

Other actions at the meeting, which started late at 7:30 p.m. and ended at 10 p.m. without finishing the agenda, reflected typical board splits.

When Page introduced the consent agenda of items considered routine, Mudge asked that several be removed for separate discussion, a procedure the board has traditionally allowed.

But, Ceresi made a motion ignoring Mudge’s request and asking to approve the entire consent agenda without discussion. “This is a democracy,” he commented, “but that does not allow one or two members to bog down the entire agenda.”

After Carroll said there is no legal requirement to allow exemptions, the motion passed, with Ceresi, Avanzato, Welch and Page supporting it, and Mudge, Thompson and Benson opposing.

A discussion of the 2012-13 budget, which anticipates a $2-million to $4-million deficit, sparked one more action. Mudge suggested that school staff draft a letter on the board’s behalf asking the town’s state legislative delegation to introduce a waiver that would allow North Kingstown to stop funding charter school tuition for local children. ”Charter schools are fine for towns with failing schools, but our schools are achieving,” he said.

Page and Benson said they supported parents’ right to choose charter schools, but the other five committee members voted in favor of the letter.