DM school district superintendent asks board to make promised changes to contract

By Karen Billing

The Del Mar Union School District Board of Trustees directed superintendent Sharon McClain to submit new language for a proposed amendment to her contract.
The board held a discussion at its Feb. 24 meeting regarding a dispute over McClain’s contract.
The discussion surrounded a change requested by McClain regarding retirement benefits, where the board provides an annual fixed retirement contribution.
The way McClain’s contract was written in September 2008, the board provides an annual fixed retirement contribution of $16,000. The superintendent can then use the payment to offset her contribution toward the State Teachers Retirement System or fund a tax-sheltered annuity.
A tax-sheltered annuity is very similar to a 401K, but it’s actually a 403B, where an employee sets aside their own pre-tax dollars into an investment account that reduces their taxable gross income by the amount they contribute.
It was McClain’s request that her contract language be changed from tax-sheltered annuity to compensation, where she would get the money as salary, not funding a retirement bucket.
The board voted unanimously on June 17, 2009 to approve the amendment, but McClain said seven months later the change has yet to be implemented. She said her attorney has sent nine letters since December to the board’s attorney asking why the change had not been made and why the board had not signed the amendment document.
“I ask you, I beg you, to be honorable and act on the changes,” McClain said. “The board made a commitment to me, voted on it and then refused to act on it.”
McClain said the board was “grandstanding” for the public, asking the same questions they have asked several times in closed session.
Trustee Katherine White said the only reason the change has not been implemented is because it was deemed not legal by the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS).
As STRS said no to the language of the amendment, White said McClain must come back to them with language that they would accept. McClain said she will provide them with another proposed language change at the March 10 board meeting.
“The board will see what language is acceptable by STRS as a way to make the change happen,” board president Comischell Rodriguez said.
Parent Melanie Carmosino chastised the board for discussing McClain’s contract publicly.
“I feel for you, Sharon, that you have to go through this in a public hearing,” Carmosino said.