By Mike Russo
, Baldwin School District officials are defending their decision to hire Dr. Thomas J. Caramore as interim superintendent last year, claiming that Caramore was the best choice at a time when the district needed a qualified and proven leader.
Caramore has been mentioned in published reports as one of many interim superintendents on Long Island who earn both a salary and a pension, having been rehired on an interim basis in one district after retiring as superintendent in another - which some critics have described as "double-dipping." The 61-year-old Caramore retired from the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District in 2005. He came to Baldwin in December 2006 as interim assistant superintendent for human resources, and was appointed interim superintendent of schools last July after Dr. Robert Britto, then the district's superintendent, stepped down.
Caramore is authorized to serve in the position under a statutory waiver issued by the State Education Department, which allows retired school officials to return to work and also to receive a salary in cases in which a school district lacks other qualified candidates.
According to Baldwin Board of Education President James Scannell, the board felt that it needed an experienced superintendent to replace Britto and that the timing was not right to begin interviewing candidates. Scannell explained that the board preferred to hold interviews early in the year, and that Caramore was the best choice to serve temporarily. According to district officials, there was always a clear understanding among board trustees and Caramore that he would serve as an interim superintendent for one year while the board continued its search for a permanent replacement.
"We have been very pleased with the job that Caramore has done," said Scannell. "He has been very responsible to the community and has really helped move us along." Scannell added that the board has interviewed several candidates for the position and hopes to hire a new superintendent in the near future.
If a qualified candidate is not found and Caramore continues serving as interim superintendent after June 30, he will need another waiver from the State Education Department - which is now impossible, considering that the department's commissioner, Richard Mills, recently announced a 60-day suspension of new applications for the waiver. According to district officials, the board will have to modify its original plan for Caramore to stay until a new superintendent is hired, since he cannot serve after his waiver expires at the end of the month.
In an education department press release, Mills stated that while there are exceptions in which a retired superintendent is often the best option for a school district, he is willing to work with districts to address concerns such as compensation and the terms of waiver provisions. Some of the actions he suggests include requiring stronger evidence that schools districts have exhausted all reasonable possibilities to recruit other candidates; requiring school districts to inform taxpayers when retired administrators are employed and the duration of that appointment; more tightly restricting the time period for which the waiver is allowed and the requirements for renewal; and further restricting the situations in which the practice is allowed.
"I am responsible for the administration of this waiver process with respect to retired school educators," Mills said in the press release. "Where I need to improve the administration of this law, I will do so."
Baldwin school board Vice President Mary Jo O'Hagan took issue with the way in which the State Education Department handled the situation. "To move so quickly with such a draconian rule, it will cause more harm than good," O'Hagan of the suspension of waivers. "It should have been expressed in a different way."
According to district officials, Caramore has continued the implementation of the balanced literacy program and math investigations program in the elementary schools, increased the special education inclusion program at the elementary and secondary levels, provided support for two new principals and five new district administrators, modified the process of evaluating probationary teachers to include midyear meetings, negotiated contracts with a number of employee groups and overseen the smallest budget increase in many years as interim superintendent. Scannell added that Caramore was not simply "keeping the seat warm," but was actively involved in the education and business of the schools on a daily basis.
District officials say that the board is still in the process of searching for a new superintendent, and will make a statement in the next few weeks detailing how the district will proceed until one is hired.
Comments about this story? MRusso@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
