Contract approved for interim superintendent

Contracts were approved at Monday?s Rogers City Area Schools Board of Education meeting to hire Paul Mancine as interim superintendent and board consultant and Don Schaedig as district business manager. By board action the executive committee was authorized to negotiate a contract with Mancine, a retired superintendent from Alcona. He also has been serving as the district?s NEOLA board policy consultant. Mancine?s interim superintendent contract, which begins July 1, is for an undetermined length of time. He?ll be paid $343.30 per day for up to four days per week and $56.70 per day for travel and overnight accommodations. No other benefits will be paid. Mancine is being hired as a consultant to study the administrative needs of the district through the rest of the month.

?IT?S BEEN my experience that my role is to take a candid look from the outside at the system? and give an honest opinion as to what we should be doing long term for this district,? said Mancine. In the last seven days, Mancine has talked to 72 people from the Rogers City area as a part of his consulting role. ?I have asked a couple of candid questions, one being, what do they feel about the sharing situation with Posen,? he said. Mancine has discussed the issue with almost all of the teachers, members of the support staff, community members, business owners, and representatives of the Rogers City Chamber of Commerce. ?Part of my exploration was I talked to (Posen) superintendent (Dennis) Stratton and (Posen) board president Ken Wozniak, just to see how this all fits,? Mancine said. Schools officials from Posen and Rogers City have been discussing the possibility of sharing the services of one superintendent. Rogers City will not have a fulltime superintendent July 1, after the board decided to not renew the contract of Ed Schultz, who attended his final regular meeting Monday, and has served the district for four years. .

?I?M AN advocate of thinking out of the box,? Mancine said. Mancine, who served as interim superintendent during a turbulent time in the Atlanta Community Schools, attempted to get Atlanta and Hillman schools together to discuss a shared superintendent position, but the parties were not a

ble to come up with an agreement. ?Here you have a couple of parties that may be willing to share,? said Mancine. ?It is advantageous for Posen, but is it advantageous for Rogers City in the long run?? Mancine said that is one of the things he hopes to find out. The board also approved a new contract with Schaedig. The third party contract with ContractEd, for the continued services of Don Schaedig, expires June 30. Schaedig provided the board with several options on how to keep him on board as business manager. He officially retired in April 2004, but in a cost-cutting measure, signed the third party contract. .

The board planning and finance committee, at a meeting June 8, recommended employing Schaedig as business manager at an hourly rate of $30 or $240 per diem, as needed, up to a maximum of $16,800 for the period of July 1 to October 31. Mancine, providing input at the meeting, said, ?It?s well known in northeast Michigan that Don Schaedig is the reason you have a nickel to pinch. In my mind, Don is going to be a valuable partner for me to really make some long term suggestions.?