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PVUSD Seeks to Extend Interim Superintendent McHenry’s Contract
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PVUSD Seeks to Extend Interim Superintendent McHenry’s Contract
State Retirement System Requires Special Waiver, While Newly Elected Trustees Urge Caution
By Michael Thomas
Soon after Pajaro Valley Superintendent Mary Anne Mays resigned last February, veteran Associate Superintendent of Business Terry McHenry announced his retirement. While his name was already being jostled around as the Interim Superintendent, McHenry lassoed an early retirement incentive offered by the District, officially ending his career in June �" the same month in which he also began serving as the District’s Interim Superintendent.
The arrangement allowed him to receive his retirement and early retirement incentive, along with his prior salary of $128,955 per year and $5,000 in monthly extra stipends for also managing construction and serving as Interim Superintendent. McHenry often describes the arrangement as saving the District some $17,000 per month, assuming each of the jobs was filled by a full-time administrator. McHenry’s math doesn’t include what the state pays for his retirement benefits.
However, by mid-December, McHenry will have worked some 960 hours under contract and exhausted the time the California Public Employees’ Retirement System allows members to work after retirement. That meant Pajaro trustees had to get a waiver from the Santa Cruz County Board of Education to allow McHenry to continue until June. Following County Board approval, the State PERS Board will also have to approve.
In October, County Board trustees rejected the waiver. However, on a split vote, County trustees approved the waiver on Nov. 9, despite the protests of newly elected PVUSD trustees who asked that the decision be postponed.
Current Pajaro Board president Sharon Gray spoke supporting McHenry at the County Board meeting on Nov. 9. Gray had lost her seat in the election two days before, but remains on the Board until Kim Turley is sworn in. Pajaro trustee Rhea DeHart, who was also not reelected, spoke for McHenry’s waiver as well.
County Board Approves Waiver
For an extension to be approved, the District needed to make a strong case that McHenry would provide essential skills or that the situation constituted an emergency. Further, the District needed to show that trustees had taken steps to fill the three positions McHenry current holds.
County Board President Kathy Mann said that the District has finally taken the first steps towards filling the Associate Superintendent position.
“They assured us that that position will probably be filled in January,” Mann said. “With the explanation that was given to me, it seemed that it would be better for the District to move forward.”
Board member Sandra Nichols said McHenry’s value to the District is undeniable for the moment.
“His special skills are obvious. He knows the District well,” Nichols said. “We’ve come to rely on him greatly.”
However, the Pajaro board was not unanimous in asking for the waiver. Pajaro trustee Evelyn Volpa voted against extending McHenry’s contract and said that she didn’t think the other trustees had really analyzed the decision.
“I’m not sure our board has full understanding of what this all means and its future implications,” Volpa added.
She echoed testimony at the County Board meeting from Pajaro trustee-elect Libby Wilson asking County trustees to wait until the new Pajaro Board is seated.
The minority voting against the extension included county trustees Mary Bryant, Shirley Flack and Jeanne MacLaren. Flack said the District failed to make a specific case for extending McHenry’s tenure.
“We asked them to come back and explain the ‘why’ behind it,” Flack said. “They didn’t have that in writing this time.”
Flack added that County trustees were only looking at the state PERS’ criteria. McHenry could have also put his retirement on hold and not asked for a waiver.
McHenry did not return calls for comment.
McHenry Receives Numerous Forms of Pay
In addition to his base salary of $128,955, McHenry now gets an additional $3,000 per month for serving as Interim Superintendent and another $2,000 per month for serving as the Director of Facilities.
According to Pajaro’s Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Dorma Baker, the latter is for the continuing work he does on the Pajaro Valley High and Landmark Elementary construction projects. Much of the administrative work related to those projects is winding down, so the District will soon have to decide whether to maintain a Director of Facilities position.
By retiring last year, McHenry also took advantage of a retirement incentive that the District offered for the first time in about four years. Baker said the intention of the incentive was to help manage staff reductions and teachers transferring from the shrinking Aptos High to Pajaro Valley High.
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