Carson City School Board rejects 'messy' proposed superintendent contract, heads back to drawing board
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Wed, 03/23/2022 - 6:55am
Following an over three-hour-long meeting, the Carson City School Board voted to deny the proposed contract with Dr. John Goldhardt who successfully interviewed to become Carson City’s new superintendent.
Trustees were asked to vote on whether or not to approve a proposed contract to be sent to Dr. Goldhardt relating to his employment with the Carson City School District.
Throughout the complex agenda item, many discussions revolved around the confusion of the proposed contract after Dr. Goldhardt had sent a counteroffer response including several changes that the board did not approve of, as well as proposed counter-counteroffers from the board.
Included in these counteroffer amendments, Dr. Goldhardt requested:
— The school district to support and pay for Dr. Goldhardt’s professional learning with permission from the board.
— Relocation expenses, of which Dr. Goldhardt will obtain three bids for relocation expenses from Carson City area moving companies, and will choose “the most reasonable bid.”
— The initial term of employment within the contract to be extended from a term of one year to two years, from July 2022 to June 2024.
— The school district to pay for a travel, housing and per diem for Dr. Goldhardt to spend “one full week in Carson City before June 2022” to meet one-on-one with each trustee, “key central office leaders,” the current superintendent, the sheriff, the fire chief, and principals of the schools as part of leadership transition and initial work of the entry plan.
— The format of superintendent evaluations by the school district to be mutually agreed upon by both Dr. Goldhardt and the school district by Aug. 8, 2022.
— Notice of at least six months prior to the end of the contract if the school district do not plan to renew the contract with Dr. Goldhardt as superintendent.
— Dr. Goldhardt asked for a base annual salary of $175,000, not including benefits.
After several amendments to the proposal, the document was covered in various red text, red text with portions struck through, and highlighted yellow portions.
“I don’t think we can approve something this messy,” said Vice President Laurel Crossman.
Crossman also later asked for a future agenda item to reevaluate the decision to offer Dr. Goldhardt the position.
"I have concerns about the process, I have concerns about what was not discovered by our search," said Crossman.
She stated that she had two reliable sources report that they were not called as reference sources, which led her to believe other references were not looked into as well.
"There's quite a lot of information that could have been easily found that was not presented to us and I think we should reevaluate that and reconsider," said Crossman.
After 10 p.m., the board finally agreed to a motion to deny the contract as submitted and direct the president to go back to the candidate with the original proposal as the board’s offer, without any counteroffer additions by Dr. Goldhardt.
Several public commenters stated they were very concerned with Dr. Goldhardt's requests for relocation fees and an extended severance package.
To read the proposed contract in its entirety, you can view it here beginning on page 39.
