Former Supervisor Sets Record
Straight, Reflects on Future

Merger Revote Petition Filed

By DARLA M. YOUNGS
SCHENEVUS – Schenevus Central School District Superintendent Theresa Carlin resigned during a special Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, December 27, effective December 31. Carlin stepped down just over a year after Schenevus taxpayers voted against a proposed merger with Worcester Central School. The merger had been approved in a straw vote held by both districts in September 2021, but Schenevus residents ultimately opposed the merger on December 1, 2021 amid much contention.

“I was not fired, I wasn’t going to be fired. This was my decision,” Carlin said during a telephone interview last Friday.
Nor did the failed merger have any bearing on Carlin’s resignation.

“I would have resigned anyway,” Carlin explained. “Part of my decision to leave is because I want to be in a different place, doing different things.”

Carlin’s term at Schenevus was riddled with problems. Stepping into the role in 2018, she inherited a financial crisis—the district was facing a deficit of $750,000.00, with no money in savings or reserves. This ultimately prompted a grant-funded study completed in December 2020 by Castallo & Silky Education Consultants LLC, which recommended that Schenevus and Worcester should merge.

“My first year, I didn’t know if we were going to financially be able to open the doors for the next school year. We had to borrow money just to make payroll,” Carlin recalled.

Thus began a series of difficult decisions, including cutting of staff and dropping the elementary school from two sections to one.

According to Carlin, the Board of Education that hired her 4-1/2 years ago was an incredibly progressive, open-minded board.

“We survived by making cuts and by realizing some savings during COVID because we were not fully operational. I also negotiated a good insurance change with staff, which created the majority of the fund balance and reserves,” Carlin said.

“Every effort to save money that can been done, has been done,” she added.

Both the staff and the community were incredibly divided regarding the merger, Carlin said.

“Mergers are very emotional. People get wrapped up in emotion. They don’t want to lose their school or their school’s identity. Their minds get clouded and they don’t always see the facts,” she explained.

“I was seen as pro merger, but I simply promoted what the data showed me to be a good idea,” Carlin said.

Carlin went on to say she lost her first teaching position because of a merger between New Berlin and South New Berlin. Going on 30 years, that merger is still divisive, she reflected.

When asked how changes in the Board of Education in 2021 may have influenced her decision to leave Schenevus, Carlin made no specific references but admitted the board makeup has changed significantly.

“There is a relationship between the superintendent and the board, and when the board changes sometimes that relationship changes,” she added.

Regarding allegations leading up to the merger vote that she was pro-merger because it would mean a substantial buyout of her contract, should the merger pass, Carlin was firm.

“A superintendent’s con-tract is legally a property right,” she said. “There is no tenure, no protection other than the contract, for a maximum of five years. If the school decides to sever ties with the superintendent for any reason, it would have to negotiate some form of buyout—it’s the law,” Carlin said.

“As a result of any merger, one superintendent doesn’t go on. Sometimes both are let go. The school is obligated to abide by some form of the original contract,” she added.

Thanks in large part to her efforts, Carlin leaves the district with a reserve fund in excess of $2 million, of which she is particularly proud. However, the reserves will not rescue the school, in Carlin’s opinion.

“It just extends the life,” she said. “We have no taxpayer wealth base.”

The district’s annual operating budget is $9 million. Carlin confirmed that the $2 million in reserves would not make a difference if the school were to find itself in financial trouble again.

Whether or not the Schenevus Central School District survives is largely dependent upon four things, according to Carlin. Inflation, new state mandates, state aid—upon which the district is very dependent—and whether or not increases in money from the state match the basic increases in expenses will all dictate how the district fares moving forward.

Carlin said the things she will miss most in the Schenevus school system are the students and the staff.

“People don’t recognize that we have very good kids and very few behavior problems,” she continued, “and the staff goes above and beyond. There were many staff members who would come to me and say ‘how can I help you?’”
Carlin is particularly thankful for what she refers to as “the cabinet,” which she considers the “heart and soul of the school,” and spoke highly as well of Tom Hunt, who she said is head of transportation but also in charge of buildings and grounds, a bus driver, and works on the buses when needed.

“The school board that hired me was incredibly supportive of my efforts. I would do it again,” she said.

As Carlin considers her next move, she has cautionary words for the New York State Education Department regarding future school mergers.

“New York State has to change the process regarding mergers,” Carlin said. “The community makes the choice but, when faced with the possibility of their school no longer existing, it becomes too overwhelming.”

Advice for the incoming superintendent?

“Small, rural schools are an entity all their own, with lots of great things to recommend them. The new super should enjoy the small, rural community and school, but should be prepared for the challenges that go hand in hand with being a small, rural school,” she said.

Although frustrated with the state educational system, particularly with regard to mergers, Carlin said she believes she will gravitate toward a small school again.

“It was 4-1/2 years of a lot of 24-7, fast-paced work,” Carlin said. “Right now, my mind needs time to rest.”

According to the district website, the Schenevus Central School Board of Education has appointed Ed Shultis as interim superintendent while the board works to find a permanent replacement.

Schenevus School Board President Thomas Snyder could not be reached for comment by press time.