Frustrated by the annual fight to get the schools more money, Superintendent Freeman Burr announced he will resign Jan. 1, 2016 after six years at the helm of Shelton’s public education system.
“Deep down, I loathe the notion of going through another budget season like this one,” Burr said.
In a roughly seven-minute statement at Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Education, Burr said he’s been contemplating the move for nearly two years, but put it off because of a number of personnel changes within the school system.
He said he is unsure whether he will retire or pursue other employment.
One thing he said he is sure of — the city isn’t giving the school district enough money.
“The major mitigating factor that has contributed to my decision at this time has been this year’s budget process,” Burr said. “It has been exceedingly more frustrating than in any of my previous budget years.”
Over the past five years, the school board has requested an average of about $2.5 million annually from the city in new school funding, he said.
In that time period, the school district has received slightly under $1 million in new funding annually — or about 40 percent of their requests.
At the same time, the city’s fund balance has increased more than $9 million.
“Clearly, the city has fared better than our students and our families with students,” Burr said.
Burr said he will not be involved in the search for his successor, but will help with the transition in any way, vowing not to be a “lame duck.”
“I am hopeful that my successor will fare much better in budget deliberations than I have with the city fathers, and in fact, I will pray for that,” he said.
Click the video above to see Burr’s full remarks.
Click here to see how readers reacted on the Valley Indy’s Facebook page.
A video of Burr’s remarks posted by the Valley Indy was shared on Facebook 34 times within an hour. Among those spreading the news was Win Oppel, a current school board member and former chairman, who said it marked “sad news for Shelton education.”
Shelton state Rep. Jason Perillo also weighed in, saying “Freeman is a great guy whose presence will be missed.”
Burr was hired by the school board in June 2009, and has officially been superintendent since August 2009, succeeding Robin Willink, who had served in the post for seven years.
After Burr’s announcement, Board of Education Chairman Mark Holden said he understands Burr’s frustration with the budget, criticizing Mayor Mark Lauretti and the Board of Aldermen, where Lauretti’s — and Holden’s — Republican party holds a 7 – 1 majority.
“He’s gone above and beyond to provide honest information to the mayor and aldermen, and they’ve always told me he’s doing a great job and they like him,” Holden said. “But unfortunately, the budget process we go through each year hasn’t conveyed the impression they respect him.”
Lauretti called Burr’s reason for leaving a “cop out” and said that education spending is out of control in the state, according to the Shelton Herald.
Article continues after video.
Holden said the entire Board of Education would serve as a search committee for a new superintendent.
“I’m concerned about making sure we can find a good qualified candidate in time to have them work with Freeman for a short while to ensure a smooth transition,” Holden said.
To that end, he recommended the board hire staff from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education to assist in the search, at a cost of $8,500.
Burr is earning a $168,795 salary this year and was due to earn $174,000 in 2015 – 2016. His contract was due to run through 2016 – 2017.
Burr’s resignation comes a day before Aldermen are due to approve a budget for 2015 – 2016 at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Aldermen allocated $67,845,000 to the school district for 2014 – 2015.
This year, the school board requested $72,050,033 for 2015 – 2016.
In March, Lauretti proposed $69,345,000, or $2,705,033 less than requested.
In remarks during an update from the chair of the school board’s finance committee, Arlene Liscinsky, Burr said meetings he’s had this week with Mayor Mark Lauretti haven’t been encouraging.
Liscinsky asked students and parents to attend the Aldermen’s meeting tomorrow night to support the school district’s funding request.
“Once that budget is set as of tomorrow, it will come back to this board, where we’ll have to make, if nothing changes, some extremely difficult decisions going forward,” Liscinsky said.
