Kanawha County school board members voted Wednesday to extend their superintendent's contract one year, with an additional week of paid vacation.
Ron Duerring's annual salary will stay the same, at $160,650, next school year. He'll get five weeks of vacation instead of four. It will be his 20th year as Kanawha's public schools superintendent.
Duerring's last annual raise was $3,150, an increase that took effect at the start of last school year.
State law requires county school boards to at least annually evaluate their superintendents and mandates that these evaluations occur in closed sessions. Alongside his contract, Duerring's evaluation was also listed on Wednesday's agenda.
Board members immediately went into closed session after starting their meeting at noon Wednesday. Before entering closed session, President Jim Crawford said the contract wouldn't be part of the closed session discussion.
The closed session ended after about 45 minutes. Crawford then said fellow board member Becky Jordon wanted to amend the proposed contract extension.
"Since, you know, we cannot give him a raise with our financial situation, what about we add an extra week to his vacation?" Jordon asked.
Board member Ryan White asked if the board could do that, and Jordon said it had been done in the past.
With no further discussion, board members voted 4-0 to approve Jordon's amendment, and then voted 4-0 to approve the contract extension as amended. Board member Pete Thaw was absent Wednesday.
Duerring didn't request the vacation extension, didn't request a pay increase and only requested a one-year extension, according to White and Duerring himself.
After having consecutive four-year contracts, Duerring has requested only one-year extensions in recent years. When he was asked, around the last time his contract was extended, why he keeps only requesting one-year extensions, he said there was "no particular reason" and said he was not planning to retire or take another job after this school year.
When asked why again Wednesday, he said "I just do it," and said he couldn't provide further information. Boards are allowed to extend their superintendents' contracts for up to four years at a time.
Crawford deferred comment to Briana Warner, the public school system's communications director, after the meeting adjourned.
"The board is pleased with the performance of Dr. Duerring over the past year," Crawford said in a statement that Warner distributed to the media. "With the flood and the deteriorating revenue that the district is facing due to a loss in population and the reduction in state funds, Kanawha County Schools faced many challenges in the past year. Dr. Duerring has handled these situations very well and put the district in a position where it can continue to provide excellent education to the students in the system."
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.
