Official: Supe can serve two districts

Bayport-Blue Point board of education president James March hopes he has laid to rest suspicions of double-dipping by the district's incoming interim superintendent.

Neil Lederer, who for the past two years has served as interim superintendent in Three Village Central School District, was tapped this spring for the interim job at Bayport-Blue Point. His contract at Three Village ends June 30, and his contract with Bayport-Blue Point, which will pay him $1,025 per diem with no benefits, starts July 1.

Some residents voiced concerns of a possible conflict of interest because Lederer had also agreed to consult with Three Village on a per diem basis for up to 30 days in the summer while the new superintendent adjusts. March said Lederer will only be paid for the days he works at Bayport-Blue Point, and will never work in both districts on the same day.

"He was upfront about an obligation he still had to help the incoming superintendent as a consultant at Three Village, so the board was very much aware that he had an obligation there," March said, adding "we feel very fortunate to have someone of his experience."

In July, Lederer will work at Bayport-Blue Point Mondays through Wednesdays and spend Thursdays and Fridays at Three Village, which will pay him $800 per day. In August, he will work at Bayport-Blue Point Mondays through Thursdays -- the district is closed on Fridays in the summer -- and at Three Village on Fridays.

But Bayport parent Rita Palma, who spoke against the arrangement at a Tuesday meeting, said Thursday that there is an inherent conflict, because districts are in constant competition for state money and grant funding. "I just think it would be very difficult to separate the two 100 percent," Palma said. "And if there are any situations that come up, where do his loyalties lie?"

Lederer, who was a superintendent at Lindenhurst before retiring in 2009, said he works because he enjoys it -- not to "rip off districts and make a maximum dollar."

"My two years in Three Village have been very rewarding, and I heard great things about Bayport," Lederer said, adding he declined a 3 percent raise on his $200,000 salary at Three Village in 2011. March said Lederer could work up to 214 days under the Bayport-Blue Point contract.

Robert Lowry, deputy director for the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said overlaps during transition periods are not unusual.

"It's perhaps a little more complicated than typical, but it's being done in a transparent fashion," Lowry said. "Again it's a time-limited period."