Newport
The court scheduled a hearing on the “petition for an injunction” against the Newport School District at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday in Sullivan County Superior Court.
In his four-page filing, Bert Spaulding Sr., through attorney Mike Shklar, of Newport, alleges that the contract for the teachers of $223,455 and support staff of $216,396, were not presented with “cost items” at the annual meeting as required under RSA 32:5-a.
“The use of this language clearly anticipates that the components of the negotiated agreement will be presented,” the filing states.
Spaulding four years ago went to court and forced a second Newport school meeting after a judge agreed that the school district failed to provide voters with the amended warrant in a timely fashion after the 2013 school deliberative session.
In the filing on Monday, Spaulding said neither he nor the public were ever presented with “a full and accurate breakdown of the cost items encompassed in the negotiated contracts with the Newport Teachers Association and Newport Support Staff.
“In fact, the only information presented was somewhat inaccurate and incomplete,” the filing alleges.
Spaulding says he sought the cost items of the contract in a right-to-know request on Jan. 9, and they should have been available at public hearings on the budget on Jan. 12 and Feb. 6 and the Feb. 7 deliberative session.
The contracts are included in the proposed budget.
“Cost items must be disclosed at the deliberative session,” the petition states, referring to state law. The gross amount was all the public received.
“Thus, the defendant’s conduct in not only omitting the required information it provided to the public, but in failing to disclose it, the Defendant demonstrated a clear pattern of failure to disclose necessary data,” the petition states.
On Feb. 24, the district posted on its web site, a breakdown of the teachers’ contract with salaries at $116,449, longevity payments valued at $4,700 and benefits totaling $102,297 for a total of $223,446.
On Tuesday, Superintendent Cindy Gallagher sent a news release that provided the cost items similar to the Feb. 24 posting on the school district’s web site.
“The cost items were disclosed and discussed in January and February 2017, at the budget hearings and deliberative session,” Gallagher wrote, contradicting Spaulding’s claim that his right-to-know request in January was ignored.
“The Newport support staff contract has an approved cost item increase of $216,396,” Gallagher’s news release states. “This includes approximately $168,480 in increased salaries, and an approximate increase of $62,149 in associated benefits and projected health insurance opt-outs.”
Spaulding said the school district’s Feb. 24 posting proves the information was available and could have been provided to the public. He concludes by stating the only remedy “is to require a new deliberative session, so that the expenditures proposed for the coming year may be fully discussed and voted on.”
Allowing the March 14 to go forward “will result in irreparable harm as it will have confirmed actions taken as a result of a tainted process.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
