Outgoing GOP board gives Central Bucks superintendent $700k severance as public cries foul

https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/local/2023/11/14/central-bucks-school-board-oks-superintendent-abram-lucabaugh-severance-resignation-bucks-county/71578977007/

The bullet points:

• Democrats swept the school board election
• Abe Lucabaugh just signed a 5-year extension on his contract a few months ago
• The outgoing, Republican-majority board accepted his resignation days after the Democrats win and pay him nearly $700,000 plus another $10K to be a consultant for a month

The only justification the outgoing Board is giving is that doing this is cheaper than letting the Democrats fire the Superintendent and appoint their own.

Even assuming that this is true (and the incoming Board members haven't said it is), isn't it the responsibility of the incoming Board to make the decision about how to handle the Superintendent? I'm also surprised he can sign a contract and then resign a few months later and not be pursued financially for breaking that contract.

As it is, the district is going to pay a million dollars in legal fees to investigate discrimination under its watch:
(https://whyy.org/articles/central-bucks-school-district-superintendent-abe-lucabaugh-salary-raise/)

The Superintendent claims a BSEd from Millersville University of Pennsylvania earned in 1995, an MS in Educational Leadership and Administration from Gwynedd Mercy University earned in 2002 and an EdD from Delaware Valley University, no date given. It looks like it was earned in 2017: https://www.proquest.com/docview/1972575711/E86B4DDC59604823PQ/1?accountid=10378

The EdD is synchronous but online, $810/credit ($48,600 for the 60-credit program.) and offers 6 tracks of specialization:

• K-12 Leadership
• Higher Education Leadership.
• Curriculum and Instruction Leadership
• Instructional Technology Leadership
• School Operations Leadership
• Special Education Leadership

Abe Lucabaugh was appointed in 2021 with a salary of $229,500 and received a bump to $315,000. 2 years severance, for someone who had only been in the role for 2 years seems excessive to me.

He has worked in the district for nearly 17 years, though most severance formulas are based on a number of weeks of pay for years of service. 104 weeks pay for 17 years service would mean more than 6 weeks pay for each year of service which is far outside any formula I can find.

 

It all depends. You can't judge until you see the contract. Severance packages as part of the negotiated compensation are enforceable. Those that are not might be illegal.