District Releases Settlement Agreement, Will Pay Superintendent $185K

School District officials on Thursday released the terms of a settlement agreement with Superintendent Helen McCracken—a document that calls for her to receive $185,000 and fringe benefits.

In exchange, McCracken agreed not to seek further legal relief for allegations of “unlawful conduct” against the district and members of the board of directors. She also agreed not to file for unemployment or seek civil action.

, was released as a result of a Right to Know Request filed that night by Canon-McMillan Patch.

The agreement had language specific to her retirement, which becomes effective Oct. 9, and stipulated how it would be announced.

“The parties agree that Dr. McCracken’s retirement shall be communicated by the district through the means in which it has announced the retirement of prior superintendents and shall be announced as follows: ‘We accept the retirement of our Superintendent, Dr. Helen McCracken, effective October 9, 2012. We thank Dr. McCracken for the over three decades that she has spent as a district employee. Specifically, we appreciate the work she has done as our superintendent and the value she has added to our educational programming. We wish her well with her retirement.”

In addition to the $185,000, the settlement agreement also calls for the district to continue McCracken’s insurance benefits at a family level until she is Medicare eligible. It specifically indicated that her daughter was to stay on the policy until she was either 26 or became eligible for health insurance coverage by an employer—whichever comes first.

The district will pay 75 percent of the insurance premium, while McCracken will pay the remaining 25 percent.

In addition, the agreement gives McCracken the option of either utilizing unused sick days from July 1 through her retirement or requesting an unpaid leave of absence, which will be granted.

Either way, she will not return actively to her post as superintendent. Instead, Michael Daniels, assistant to the superintendent, will act as the substitute superintendent until a replacement is hired.

Daniels has been acting as substitute

The settlement agreement also indicates that, upon her retirement, McCracken will be paid the per diem rate for 190 days of accumulated sick, vacation and personal time.

The amount of the per diem was not immediately clear Thursday afternoon.

Editor’s Note: To read the entire settlement agreement, please click on the attached PDF file.