Leverett’s representative to the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee has resigned less than two weeks after its members reached a financial agreement allowing Superintendent Maria Geryk to leave her position.
Sarah Dolven, who at the June 14 regional committee meeting was made vice chairwoman, said in an email Tuesday that she has given up the position, but will remain a member of the Leverett School Committee.
“The Leverett School Committee will discuss the appointment of a new representative (to the regional board) at our September meeting,” said Dolven, who did not elaborate on her decision to depart from the regional board.
Dolven, who served previously as Leverett’s representative to the regional committee during the 2014-15 school year, took on the responsibility again in the spring after Kip Fonsh left the Leverett School Committee.
Meanwhile, a Shutesbury resident concerned with how the decision was reached on the $309,238 agreement with Geryk, and its potential financial burden, is asking members of the Select Board and School Committee to provide legal counsel to Shutesbury’s representative to the regional committee to determine the legality of the severance.
Michael Hootstein, who previously filed an Open Meeting Law complaint against the regional school committee and members Laura Kent and Katherine Appy, on Tuesday sent a letter to town officials about the agreement approved by a joint vote of the regional and Union 26 committees.
“Only in this manner can can the town of Shutesbury competently and diligently protect the legal and financial interests of our town and schools,” Hootstein wrote. “Time is of the essence.”
He contends in his letter that the agreement is unfair for Shutesbury, because it has only one representative to the regional school committee, Stephen Sullivan, who voted against the agreement with Geryk.Leverett also has one representative, Pelham has two and Amherst has five.
The official minutes from 14 hours of executive sessions that led to the agreement with Geryk, the specific terms of the agreement and a demand letter that Geryk’s attorney submitted on her behalf have not yet been publicly released by Kent.
Kent, who is chairwoman of the regional committee, has pledged to release the minutes publicly, but is worried about possible Open Meeting Law violations.
In an email last week, Kent said she was “checking on that issue about the amended minutes and their potential in violating the OML if I release them amended.”
The Gazette obtained unofficial draft minutes from the sessions that show two members did not want to pursue the agreement. Three members, Sullivan, Trevor Baptiste and Vira Douangmany Cage, voted against the agreement.
Douangmany Cage has filed a consumer complaint with the state attorney general’s office seeking to halt the payout of the money, most of which is scheduled to be paid to Geryk Sept. 7.
With Geryk no longer leading the schools, Assistant Superintendent Michael Morris is serving as acting superintendent, a role he is expected to have for about a month.
The regional and Union 26 committees will name a subcommittee to begin the process of hiring an interim superintendent, which is not expected to be Morris.
Morris, a 16-year-employee of the district, told the school committee if he were appointed interim superintendent for the remainder of the school year, that would reduce the pool of applicants interested in the permanent post.
Morris said an interim superintendent would handle school committee matters and contract negotiations with teacher unions.
The new subcommittee will work with Human Resources Director Kathyrn Mazur to plan for the hiring of an interim superintendent. At some point, the regional and Union 26 committees would have to create a different subcommittee to begin the search for a permanent superintendent.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
