Casey Salary Negotiations Postponed Until After Evaluation

Editor's note: This article was updated at 2:50 p.m. with additional information about Casey's salary.

The Melrose School Committee, with the consent of Superintendent Joe Casey, voted on Tuesday night to postpone any negotiations regarding Casey's salary for the upcoming school year until after the committee conducts its annual evaluation of the superintendent's performance.

A clause in Casey's contract requires the School Committee to review his salary each year at the committee's first full meeting in June, which was this past Tuesday.

However, Committee Chairwoman Margaret Driscoll noted that the committee has not yet conducted its , which would seem to bear on any decision on adjusting the superintendent's salary.

With Casey's consent, Driscoll entertained a motion that unanimously passed to hold off on the negotiations until after the evaluation, which is scheduled to be conducted at the committee's June 28 meeting, is completed.

Driscoll also said at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting that Melrose Schools counsel and Jonathan Sclarsic, assistant Attorney General in the Division of Open Government, both said that because the negotiations are in the context of salary— versus salary discussion unrelated to Casey's employment contract—it is "legal and appropriate" to hold those negotiations in executive session.

Like all Melrose city and school employees, Casey did not receive a raise this past school year due to the citywide wage freeze. In the 2009, the School Committee approved a three-year contract extension for Casey and a 2 percent raise in the 2009-2010 school year, which brought his salary to $146,800. He received a 2 percent raise for the 2008-2009 school year and a 3 percent raise the year before that.