O’Donnell’s Exit Agreement Will See Him Leave After School Year at Full Salary

The reached with the Manchester Board of Education will see him resign at the end of the current school year in exchange for a return to his former principal’s salary, retroactive to compensate him for a transfer earlier this year to a lower-paid administrative position, and in exchange for releasing the board and any Manchester Public Schools employees from any current or future legal action.

The agreement, which was signed by O’Donnell Sept. 30 but not released until Tuesday, states that O’Donnell “hereby resigns as an employee of the board, effective June 30, 2012, and he will no longer be deemed an employee of the board for any purpose after such date” in exchange for O’Donnell and the union releasing “the board, all of the board’s past, present and future members, officers, agents, attorneys, insurers, representatives, employees and any person acting on behalf of or in concert with any of them…from any and all claims, demands, obligations, liabilities, arising out of or in any way connected with Kevin O’Donnell’s employment or separation from employment, through the effective date of this agreement.”

The agreement also contains a provision that places O’Donnell on paid leave through June 20, 2012, the last date he will be paid by the district, and returns his salary to the $138,778 he would have made during the 2011-12 school year as principal of Manchester High School.

After placing O’Donnell on an unspecified paid leave Jan. 7, former Superintendent Kathleen Ouellette to the vacant position of supervisor of pupil personnel services April 26, which came with a drop in salary to $112,360 a year. O’Donnell filed a grievance through his union over the transfer.

The agreement also specifies that the district reimburse O’Donnell for the difference in salary between April 26 of this year and Sept. 30, when the agreement was signed and O’Donnell went on paid administrative leave. O’Donnell’s salary will also be retroactively readjusted to its former principal rate for the current and previous school years “for the purposes of calculating Kevin O’Donnell’s base salary under the Teacher’s Retirement Act.” O’Donnell became principal of Manchester High School in August of 2007.

The district will also continue health and dental insurance coverage for O’Donnell and his spouse through June 30, 2012, according to the agreement, and afterwards O’Donnell “shall have the right to continue his health and dental insurance coverage, at his own expense, in accordance with the provisions of applicable law.”

Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini could not be reached for comment about the agreement Tuesday, but told Patch Monday evening that the agreement would “speak for itself” and “was in the best interest of the district.”

The agreement also contains an appended statement by the school board absolving O’Donnell of any responsible for the and wishing him “well in all of his future endeavors.”

“With regard to the unfortunate incident of Dec. 16, 2010, the board and the administration acknowledge that Mr. O’Donnell was not in any way responsible for causing that incident to occur,” the board’s statement reads. “Mr. O’Donnell and the Manchester High School staff worked diligently to address that incident when it occurred.”

Although Ouellette, who now serves as superintendent of Waterbury public schools, never specified her reasons for removing O’Donnell from his position as principal and placing him on leave, it is widely believed that her actions stemmed from the brawl and several other that occurred at the high school under O'Donnell's tenure. 

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Manchester School Administrators Association released the agreement between O'Donnell and the Manchester Board of Education on Monday. The administrators' union only released the board's statement concerning O'Donnell.