AMHERST — They’ll need to have a do-over.
Tuesday’s vote by the Amherst-Pelham Regional and Union 26 school committees to pay departing superintendent Maria Geryk $309,238 in severance was deemed unofficial Wednesday because there wasn’t a quorum of Union 26 members.
Laura Kent, Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee chairwoman, said the oversight was “an honest mistake.” Tuesday night’s joint meeting was held after some two hours of deliberation in executive session over the terms of Geryk’s departure.
The Union 26 School Committee is made up of Pelham and Amherst school committee members. The six members are Chairman Darius Modestow, Tara Luce and Trevor Baptiste, all of Pelham, and Kent, Katherine Appy and Phoebe Hazzard of Amherst.
At least four members must be present for a vote by the Union 26 School Committee to count, Kent said. Baptiste, Kent, and Modestow were the only members physically present at the meeting, so there was not a quorum.
Appy participated remotely via a video call, which meant she could vote on the matter, but her participation did not count toward the quorum. Hazzard was absent and Luce recused herself from the matter in early July, Kent said.
Kent explained that because Luce recused herself from the matter, she thought the voting body would sit at five. Three present members would meet the quorum for a body of five, (a simple majority of members, according to the Open Meeting Law), so the committee went forward with the vote Tuesday night.
But the voting body still stood at six regardless of Luce’s recusal, Kent explained. She said she confirmed that the vote was invalid with the attorney general’s office Wednesday afternoon.
“That was my hiccup,” Kent said.
Modestow, Appy and Kent voted to approve the separation agreement, while Baptiste voted against it.
According to Kent, the Union 26 School Committee will meet at the Amherst Regional Middle School Professional Development Center Monday at 9 a.m. to vote on the separation agreement. Kent said she expects the meeting to last 15 minutes for the “procedural vote.”
The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee voted Tuesday night 5-3 to approve the separation agreement that will allow Geryk to leave her position two years before her contract is up. The nine-member committee has a quorum of five, and exceeded that requirement with seven members present and Appy participating remotely.
Kent, Appy, Anastasia Ordonez, Sarah Dolven and Modestow voted to approve the agreement. Baptiste, Stephen Sullivan and Vira Douangmany Cage voted against the separation agreement.
Douangmany Cage said Wednesday she has concerns about the way the committee handled Geryk’s separation agreement. She does not support paying Geryk severance, and said she feels the committee has leaned toward Geryk when making decisions during her tenure.
“I think the committee has been playing it pretty loose with the rules,” Douangmany Cage said.
Kent said the next Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee meeting will be Wednesday. At the meeting, there will be a presentation detailing the source of the money for Geryk’s $309,238 payout. The money will come from the school budget, not from insurance, Kent has said.
Minutes from the 14 hours of closed-door meetings the committees held July 13 and 20 and Aug. 1 and 9 to discuss the separation agreement will be released at that meeting.
“We will be able to connect the dots on why this happened the way it did and what we were doing in the executive sessions, on Wednesday,” Kent said.
Additionally, Kent will address the complaint filed by Shutesbury resident Michael Hootstein, who believes the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee and its members violated the state’s Open Meeting Law.
Hootstein, whose grandson attends Amherst Regional High School, made the complaint against the committee, its chairwoman, Laura Kent, and Katherine Appy, chairwoman of the Amherst School Committee, on Aug. 1.