Question: Why Did School Officials Opt To Not Recoup Overpayments To Teachers?

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Question: Why Did School Officials Opt to Not Recoup a $30,000 Overpayment To Teachers? 

Answer: We put the question to Superintendent Lynne Celli and School Business Manager Ed Cronin. The administrators were on board with the School Committee, which voted last week not to seek the repayment.

The short answer is that seeking checks from 50 teachers for overpayments based on confusing and conflicting contractual language going back to 2004 would likely have eroded good will built up between the district administration and teachers.

The overpayment, paid out in small amounts over a seven-year period, resulted from contractual language related to longevity pay, the business manager said.

Longevity pay goes to teachers who have already reached the top-step on their pay scale.

The overpayment totaled $30,000.

By law, the district does not have authority to garnish the money from teachers' paychecks; rather, the district would have to request repayment by check from the teachers, Cronin said.

Chasing down teachers for small amounts of money did not make sense when factoring in the potential for ill will, he said.

The Superintendent said the district administration is continuing to build trust and good faith with teachers and didn't want to detract from those positives.

The district did agree to pay a total of $40,000 to 50who were underpaid during that same time period and related to the same conflicting and confusing language, the Superintendent and Business Manager said.

The district is required by law to pay the who were underpaid, the Superintendent said.