By Dave Dahl
Suburban correspondent
Two teachers received tenure after a School Board member voiced displeasure about their absence from the meeting Tuesday night in the Springville-Griffith Institute Central School District.
The board voted, 4-1, to approve tenure for Sarah Landers, a French teacher, and Sara Coughlin, a health teacher, with Joan Kelly casting the opposing vote.
Kelly, the board’s vice president, declared her disappointment in the teachers for not attending the meeting.
“I find it disconcerting that neither candidate is here,” she said in the high school’s library.
Decrying what she considers some teachers’ attitude of taking tenure for granted, she voiced frustration with the tenure process.
While she acknowledged the need for tenure to prevent firings over trivial matters, she added tenure can eliminate a teacher’s incentive to try.
“Sometimes I think tenure promotes complacency,” she said.
After another board member, Kara Kane, agreed with her, Delia Bonenberger, the board’s president, cautioned that they might have missed the meeting for a reason.
“Sometimes things happen that are unavoidable,” she said.
In another matter, the board unanimously ratified a contract with Service Employees International Union Local 200 United for 2012 to 2017. Details of the contract were not disclosed.
The union represents teaching assistants, teacher’s aides, nurses, monitors and certified occupational therapy assistants.
A negotiating team member, Diane Brady, a microcomputer technical support specialist, attended. She estimated the union has 55 members.
The board voted after a brief executive session.
Board members also approved candidates for summer program instruction positions, summer professional development, coaching positions and student organization advising positions.