The chairwoman of the Augusta Board of Education apologized Friday for directing the board to go into executive session earlier this week on a vote that was less than what’s required by state law.

On Wednesday, the board voted 5-4 to go behind closed doors to discuss an evaluation of Superintendent James Anastasio, but state law and the board’s own rules call for an affirmative vote of three-fifths of members present — at least six members — to go into executive session.

Kimberly Martin, the board chairwoman, said in a statement Friday that she miscalculated the numbers during the executive session vote.

“I then directed the Board to enter executive session,” she wrote. “This mistake was an oversight on my part, for which I apologize and take responsibility.”

In the statement, Martin said that the personnel committee met Monday to talk about Anastasio’s performance, a discussion that was continued at Wednesday’s meeting. She said no actions were taken on Wednesday.

A special board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday in the conference room at the superintendent’s office, which is located inside Capital Area Technical Center. The only agenda item is an executive session — if board members vote to enter it — for the purpose of evaluating the superintendent.

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School board policy states the board will evaluate the performance of the superintendent “as a regular and scheduled activity.” The primary purpose of the evaluation, the policy states, “will be to continually improve administrative leadership, to strengthen the working relationship of the board and superintendent governance team, and to assist the board in reviewing issues associated with the superintendent’s employment.” The policy does not specify a time frame, but it does make several time frame references that indicate it is performed annually.

Anastasio, a former Cony High School principal, was named interim superintendent in 2013. A year later, the school board extended his contract through June 2018.

Martin, in her statement, also referred to a state law that deems school employee evaluations confidential, which allows the board to enter into executive session for those talks.

“Although the subject matter of the June 8 discussion was proper for executive session, I should not have directed the Board to enter into executive session in the absence of a vote by 3/5 of the members present and voting,” she said in the statement.

Martin was elected chairwoman of the school board in 2014, after serving four years on the board as an at-large member. According to her biography on the school department’s website, she works part time as the Augusta First Church of the Nazarene office administrator. She holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and held a teaching certificate in Pennsylvania. She also worked part time previously for Sylvan Learning Center as a reading, mathematics and study skills tutor.

On Wednesday, the board initially voted 4-4 to go into executive session, so Martin cast her vote to bring the total to 5-4. She said Thursday that she had to make a decision “in the moment” based on her knowledge of the law.

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The violation was pointed out at the meeting after the vote and before board members went into their closed-door session by Tom Connors, an at-large board member, who said a three-fifths vote was required and the 5-4 vote did not meet that threshold.

Also Wednesday night after the vote, but before board members left the room to go into executive session, Martin asked Kathy Casparius, business manager and a former mathematics department chairwoman, to do the arithmetic on whether a 5-4 vote constituted a three-fifths vote. Casparius responded that it was slightly less than a three-fifths vote.

The state’s Freedom of Access law states, “An executive session may be called only by a public, recorded vote of 3/5 of the members, present and voting, of such bodies or agencies.”

The Augusta Board of Education’s policy on executive sessions, adopted in 2011, mirrors that requirement, stating that to enter executive session, the board must “have a public recorded vote of 3/5 of members present and voting.”

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @kedwardskj


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