AMHERST — A provision for possible full-time remote work for the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools’ finance director, part of a proposed three-year employment contract that includes a $137,700 base salary beginning July 1, is among concerns elected members of the committees are raising with the deal.

At a joint meeting Tuesday, committee members provided feedback to Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman on the proposed contract with Shannon Bernacchia, who was appointed as interim finance director last fall and was named to the permanent position in April.

Amherst representative Irv Rhodes said his main concern is the possibility of allowing Bernacchia to do exclusively telework, even though the position is incredibly important for the school districts.

“(You’re) asking us to look at a remote worker in a position like this, without fair warning and also without us knowing,” Rhodes said. “This is a really senior position, and I’m surprised this request has come forward.”

But Herman said Bernacchia has been working hybrid since her appointment and, whenever there is a need for her to be in the office or present in-person at a meeting, such as the four-towns meetings that bring together Amherst, Shutesbury, Leverett and Pelham officials, she has done so.

“She has worked her tail off for all three districts, whether it’s 2 in the morning, or 1 in the morning,” Herman said, describing Bernacchia’s “procedural fortitude.” “She has worked critically for this district and has not failed.”

Rhodes added that without a school committee policy on remote work, there is a significant vacuum.

Herman said telework is a procedure she developed with legal counsel. The contract states that there would be a 120-day transition to full in-person work, a necessary timeline since this would give time for Bernacchia to uproot her family.

Amherst School Committee Chairwoman Jennifer Shiao said the previous finance director, Douglas Slaughter, was paid $109,000 beginning in 2022, meaning that even with 3% per year cost of living adjustments, the salary in the contract would go beyond that, though may be too high.

“I value Shannon and I want to pay her what she’s worth,” Shiao said.

Herman said the salary is comparable with similar districts, including Northampton, and Bernacchia manages three budgets.

Committee members also flagged a part of the contract where Bernacchia will serve as an executive director of finance and operations, part of Herman’s concept for streamlining the administration in the central office.

The contract states that the finance director “shall receive a separate pensionable stipend for her work as the executive director overseeing finance and operations. The amount of said stipend shall be negotiated between the superintendent and director of finance upon the committees’ approval of the executive director job descriptions.”

These additional duties could lead to pay on top of the salary. “It’s a lot of extra work,” Herman said.

Herman, though, said she doesn’t anticipate this being a large sum.

Another concern came from Shutesbury representative Anna Heard, who worries about the 60 accrueable vacation days, and that employees should be encouraged to take them and not roll them over, which becomes an expense when the schools have to buy them back.

It’s not that employees don’t want to take the time off to which they are entitled, Herman said, but the breadth and depth of the jobs prevents them from doing so, and if they leave during the summer, that impacts the functioning of the district.

Herman said the choice is either raise salaries at the front end or pay at the back end. “Either has a financial implication,” Herman said.

Pelham representative Sarahbess Kenney, who chairs the Regional School Committee, praised Bernacchia as a “phenomenal asset” and looked forward to approving the contract, with revisions, at a meeting later in June.

“I think she has been phenomenal at the job she has done,” Kenney said. “I am really happy that Shannon wants to continue to serve the districts in the role she has.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.