School Board divided on superintendent’s office purchase
BY DARRELL HALEN
The purchase of an executive desk chair by School Superintendent Frank Bass that cost Pelham and Windham taxpayers $995 has drawn criticism from several School Board members.
But Bass defends the purchase as a reasonable one and is being supported by a pair of Windham School Board members.
The black leather chair was purchased from the budget of School Administrative Unit 28, which is made up of the Pelham and Windham school districts.
Several board members said they were caught by surprise when the purchase came up during an early October meeting of the SAU School Board, which consists of the members from the two towns.
“I think there are more important places to put our money,” said Pelham’s Eleanor Burton. “I just think it might be the courteous thing to do – to consult (us) on a purchase of that nature. I think it’s extravagant.”
Bass said he purchased the chair in late August. The chair he inherited when he became superintendent on July 1, he said, was very uncomfortable and adjustments he made to improve it didn’t work.
“It’s very standard looking,” Bass said. “It should last me a good many years. I don’t want to purchase a chair every two or three years.”
Bass said the price of the chair is reasonable, given that prices of executive desk chairs can run as high as around $3,000.
“If you look at figures, $500 to $600 to thousands, I don’t think $900 is out of range,” Bass said. “I don’t think it’s an outlandish purchase. It’s a very typical chair you find in offices. I think it falls into an acceptable range that chairs go for.”
Al Letizio Jr., the chairman of the Windham School Board, said he’s not bothered by the purchase. The $995 price, he said, is actually on the low end.
“For a superintendent, $900 (for a chair) is not out of the ordinary,” Letizio said.
“I was embarrassed to be sitting with a group of people who criticized the superintendent for what he spent,” Letizio said, referring to the SAU meeting.
Letizio, who refers to Bass as the chief executive officer of the school district, said the purchase was appropriate for Bass’ position.
“You want to see a professional (office) setting,” he said. “I have to say I have full confidence in Dr. Bass, in the professional skills he has and the ethics we’ve seen him employ so far,” said Windham School Board member Beth Valentine. “I have full confidence he makes responsible, fiscal decisions.” Yet others think the purchase was excessive.
“It’s outrageous to spend that amount of money on a chair,” said Barbara Coish, a member of the Windham School Board. “You can be the CEO of a company and sit in a Wal-Mart chair.”
Another Windham board member, Beverly Donovan, said the price of the chair seems extravagant given that the school district faces other expenses, such as school repairs.
“There’s a lot going on, and to me, it’s a lot of money,” she said. “We need to be careful what we’re spending money on.”
Pelham School Board member Cindy Kyzer said she, too, thinks the amount spent was too much. And she’s concerned about the message it sends to taxpayers.
Kyzer said that Pelham School Board members scrutinize their own budgets and make cuts to them before they are sent to the Budget Committee in their town.
“I think some in town think we spend money just to spend money, but the reality is we are careful about what we spend,” Kyzer said.
Bass said that he has never been characterized as a spendthrift in his career, and that the chair and his office in the SAU building are not ostentatious.
“I have to take it as a valid concern,” Bass said of School Board members who raised eyebrows over the purchase. “I understand that. I appreciate that. They have a right to say it’s too expensive. They have to respond to their constituents. But there’s nothing outlandish about it.”