Lipton Appointed President for Second Term, New Members Sworn In

The Katonah Lewisboro board of education re-elected Mark Lipton as its president for the second year in a row and elected Charles Day as vice president at the group's annual re-organizational meeting held on Friday, where new board members Marjorie Schiff and Stephanie Tobin were sworn in for their first terms.

Samuel Gordon was also sworn in as the new student board member. Gordon is the son of Rebecca Gordon and Michael Gordon, who retired from the school board this year.

The board also approved a 1.78 percent raise for Superintendent of Schools Paul Kreutzer and OK'd an array of other appointments for the coming year. The 2012-13 Code of Conduct and district policy book were also approved. Both can be reviewed on the district's website.

In accepting his role as president for a second year, Lipton thanked his colleagues for showing confidence in his abilities and thanked Janet Harckham for her service as the board's vice president last year.

He also pledged to his fellow trustees his "full understanding" that he was part of a board of seven equals. "The president is only your spokesman. I'll act as your spokesman and speak your will whenever you will have me do that," he said.

The majority of the board approved Kreutzer's raise in a 5-1-1 vote (board member Peter Treyz opposed, Schiff abstained), bringing to $249,361 next year.

Before voting against against it, Treyz asked about the potential ramifications of granting a raise.

"It has nothing to with Dr. Kreuzter of course, it's just the economic situation and I'm opposed to any increases," he said, expressing concern that the raise could pose problems when negotiating a new contract with teachers. 

Board member Peter Breslin, who supported the superintendent's raise, said the figure was reached because it was the same as the budget-to-budget increase and it was being spent to "get our expenses under control."

"The existing teacher's contract—if it expires June 30—gives them an increase that is in that neighborhood with no action on our part; their raise is baked into the contract because of the Triboro law. We feel these are fair raises," said Breslin.

Breslin also said that several raises were granted at the board's meeting on June 14 to administrators who had voluntarily taken a zero increase the last few years.

At that meeting, several central administration employees including Michael Jumper, assistant superintendent for business, received a 1.78 salary increase. In addition, a new base salary of $202,445 was approved for Alice Cronin, assistant superintendent for curriculum. It reflects a higher increase because she would have earned less than two of the building principals she manages, Lipton explained in an email to Patch.

"While we are mindful of getting our expenses in line or lower than our ability to raise under the cap, we still want to be as fair as possible, and we didn't think is was appropriate for Alice—whom we hold in high regard—to earn less than the people she manages."

Lipton also said that the board gathered for a weekend retreat following Friday's board meeting during which time they had preliminary conversations around board goals for the coming year.