Talk about a bitter break up!
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- June
- 20
And a sweet deal! Bedford schools Superintendent Debra Jackson is getting a lump-sum payment of $650,000 and free lifetime health-care coverage for her and her family under a recent separation agreement with the district, my colleague Sean Gorman reports in today’s paper.
Jackson’s resignation became public last week, but both she and the school board refused to comment on it, citing a confidentiality clause in the agreement. The Journal News obtained a copy of the agreement yesterday through the Freedom of Information Law.
The document states that the superintendent and the school board had an unspecified dispute over her job performance and that board members wanted to terminate her. Jackson, according to the document, had countered that there wasn’t any reason to fire her and that she would have sued if that happened.
The superintendent and school board president declined to comment yesterday, citing the confidentiality clause — which states both sides are to refer to a three-paragraph news release saying Jackson was prepared to serve out her contract but she and the school district felt it was best for her to leave. If asked about her departure, they are to respond that they have “no further comments.”
Jackson’s resignation does not become effective until June 30, 2008, but that’s still three years before her contract was set to end in 2011. The $650,000 payment will be in addition to the $243,461 Jackson will be paid for the upcoming school year.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 11:43 am by Diana Costello.
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it must be nice not having to ever work again. I wish i could do that. :-\
And think of the cost to the District. This year was probably a nightmare in admin, the legal costs must be astonomical, next year a lame duck will be in place (one whom the board disliked so much they were willing to pay $650,000 to leave), then the cost of a new search, bad publicity – has got to be well over a $1,000,000. What could have been so bad that the taxpayers have to pony up $1 million to keep a super for an additional year?
Wow – just giving away district money. Think of the taxpayers who have to work hard to earn that money.
And another thought—if this money is to be given to the soon to be departed Super (and she gets it soon – the document online says she gets the $650,000 gift “on or before June 30 2007”), then this is money that is not available for the kids of the district. What a shame, what a scandal. I hope all of these school board members are disgraced and never run for re-election!
One thing left out of the article is that the board gave Jackson a new 5-year contract a year ago. Must have been pretty happy with her up until then. If she did something really bad this past year then they should have been able to fire her for cause. I mean, they obviously didn’t have a lot of ammunition against her—otherwise they wouldn’t have to give away the store to get her out early. are they nuts? Maybe they’re doing the union’s bidding? The union has been very unhappy—like with the treatment of staff involved in the Bedford Hills school scandal.
I wonder how many other golden parachutes are lurking out there in other school districts?
Yeh, like the pricipal jackson canned, I heard they to
sell their house, imagine an only child that had to give
up his own back yard to another family around christmas.
Boy,my Bedford neighbors must be at a fever pitch with this
Board, how does she sleep at nite, and
then make nice nice with the people she ransacked???
The board lives in “la-la land.” The payoff is just a rounding error in a $100 million + budget. But to the public this is the “turning point” of reckless spending. I can only read one thing into this: the board didn’t have “cause” to fire her. Pressure was felt from district employees to get rid of her. My message to the union and other principals: suck it up. Live with it until the end of the contract. To saddle the taxpayer with this kind of expense then tell us it’s a “confidential” matter is insulting. Why don’t board members speak out publicly? What are they afraid of?
Phil Christe
I AM AN ANGRY TAXPAYING RESIDENT OF MT. KISCO WITH A CHILD ENTERING FOX LANE HIGH SCHOOL AND I AM OUTRAGED TO LEARN OF DR. JACKSON’S DEAL WITH THE BEDFORD SCHOOL BOARD. NOT ONLY IS SHE GETTING $650 PLUS…..BUT MEDICAL AND DENTAL FOR HER ENTIRE FAMILY FOR LIFE.??? IS THIS NOT RECKLESS DECISION MAKING ON BEHALF OF OUR BOARD? WHERE IS THIS MONEY TO COME FROM?
THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS WE AS TAXPAYERS AND PARENTS NEED ANSWERED.
WHY IS THIS PAY OUT BEING OFFERED THIS SCHOOL YEAR AND NOT IN 2008?
WHY IS OUR BOARD NOT INFORMING US?
WHY ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND A CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSE?
WHY DID YOU NOT INFORM US PRIOR TO THE BUDGET VOTE?
WHY WOULD WE WANT THIS SAME BOARD IN THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS FOR OUR NEXT SUPERENDENT?
WHY WHY WHY?????????? CAN SOMEONE/ANYONE HELP US FIND THE TRUTH TO THIS MATTER?
SHAME ON DR JACKSON! SHAME ON OUR BOARD!