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KEVIN GUTTING

Maria Geryk has a contract to be the Amherst superintendent of schools through June 30, 2013, at an annual salary of $140,000.

AMHERST - The new contract for Superintendent of Schools Maria Geryk represents a compromise on a compromise.

Geryk, who has been interim superintendent for the past 11 months, was chosen over two other finalists by two divided school committees on Feb. 6. Committee member Irv Rhodes ended an impasse when he proposed a compromise in which he would change his vote to Geryk, provided that she receive a one-year contract.

On Tuesday, Geryk signed a contract to be superintendent through June 30, 2013, with one-year extensions possible after that. She will receive $140,000 a year, just slightly more than she made as interim superintendent.

The contract marks the end of a five-month process that included public discussion of what Amherst wanted in a superintendent, three days of questioning of three finalists, and polarization between committee members from Amherst and those from the three other towns in the school district.

"I am very happy to have reached the end of the long and time-consuming search process, and am pleased to have created an agreement that's good for Maria and good for our schools," said Rick Hood, the committee chairman, who coordinated the process.

"Maria and the school committees understood the need for a contract that is responsible in these difficult fiscal times, and that provides reasonable compensation and protection for Maria as she takes on this difficult job," he said in a statement.

Hood was the only Amherst member of the Regional School Committee to vote for Geryk on the first three ballots on Feb. 6.

Geryk asked for a longer contract than the school committees approved that day, Rhodes said. The signed contract represents a "trade-off" because Geryk received only a small salary increase and there is language that allows for regular reviews, he said.

"In the end, no one got everything they wanted, but everyone got something they wanted," he said.

At Tuesday's meeting of the Amherst School Committee, Rhodes congratulated Geryk on becoming the permanent superintendent, and a small group of people observing the meeting broke out in applause.

"I am happy to have reached a mutually acceptable agreement with the school committees, and I appreciate their faith in me," Geryk said in a statement.. "We have a wonderful school system here in Amherst and I Iook forward to moving ahead with our process of continuous improvement to make our schools the best they can possibly be."

Geryk's salary is considerably less than the $167,800 made by her predecessor, Alberto Rodriguez. It is higher than the $132,000 that Isabelina Rodriguez, former Northampton superintendent, now makes in the top job in Granby. Nicholas Young, the Hadley superintendent, makes $126,649 a year.

The Massachusetts average for superintendent salaries is about $150,000, and they tend to be higher in the eastern part of the state. In Arlington, the salary for a new superintendent was posted last year at $155,000 to $175,000 and in Andover from $180,000 to $200,000.

"In this era, school committees don't want to lose good superintendents," said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, in a Gazette interview last March. "Districts want to lock up good, stable leadership."

Catherine Sanderson, the outgoing School Committee member who did not vote for Geryk, said it's time to pull together behind the superintendent.

"It's imperative that all members of the School Committee and the community support Ms. Geryk in her efforts to tackle the immense problems our community is facing," she said. "The success of our schools will be dependent on her efforts and work, and we all want her to succeed."

At the same time, Sanderson was critical of the "orchestrated campaign" by "a skilled group of politically involved people" to promote Geryk as permanent superintendent.

But Hood, who cast the swing vote on the Regional School Committee, said that there was nothing wrong with teachers voicing support for Geryk. He said the search was "completely fair."

"Plenty of people were voicing their support for her and for others," he said. "It didn't affect me. I just voted for who I thought was best."