For the contract extension to be approved, at least five school board members would have had to vote for it, Kenneth Levitzky, solicitor for the school district, said.
The school board members who voted against the contract - Virginia Miller and Molly Kinsey - said they had no problem with Gruber but felt the terms of the contract would be a burden to the taxpayers.
"I think she's doing a wonderful job," Kinsey said. "(But) there are some things being asked for by her that would be an added burden on the taxpayers. It comes to a point where you have to say, 'Enough is enough!'"
Gruber said the contract will be brought up for another vote at the Dec. 6 school board meeting, which more members of the nine-member school board are expected to attend.
School board members Gene Remoff and Kimberly Phillips, who had a death in her family, did not attend this week's school board meeting, where the contract extension was brought up for a vote.
Gruber's current contract began in Oct. 2002 and runs through June 30, 2006. The contract extension would begin July 1, 2006 and run until 2011.
Kinsey said she was concerned about a provision of the contract that would require the school district to buy out her contract in the event that the school district "released" her (terminated her employment) before the contract ended.
To buy out her contract, the school district would have to pay her all of the salary she would have earned had she served out the life of the contract, Kinsey said.
And if that happened, the school district could be paying the salaries of two superintendents at the same time: Gruber's and the superintendent's who would be hired to replace her, Kinsey said.
By contract, under the contract extension, Gruber would not have to pay any penalty if she chose to resign or retire, Kinsey said. "She should be required to pay a penalty, too" if she chooses to leave, Kinsey said.
Kinsey said another concern about the proposed contract is that "taxpayers should not be expected to pay health insurance (for Gruber) after her retirement."
Miller also said that she had concerns about the health insurance payments the district would have to make after the life of the contract was over.
Davis, who voted for the contract extension, said he thought Tuesday's vote "was a little embarrassing for her (Gruber) after all she's done for the school district."
Davis also said it is common for school districts to have to buy out a superintendent's contract at full salary, if they require the superintendent to leave under certain circumstances.
Cokos said he abstained from the vote because he didn't feel his questions about the contract were adequately addressed by other school officials during two closed-door meetings on the contract negotiations. At the Nov. 8 closed-door session, Solicitor Levitzky was not present to answer questions, Cokos said. Levitzky is also the county solicitor, and on Nov. 8 he was busy monitoring the election returns, Cokos said.
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