HAVERHILL — Whittier Regional High Principal Deborah DePaolo's contract does not provide for a paid leave, as her boss had claimed earlier this month.
A review of the contract obtained last week by The Eagle-Tribune shows that no such clause exists. Whittier released the contract after the newspaper requested it under state public records laws.
The lack of a paid-leave provision has city officials planning a closer review of the situation.
Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini is questioning whether DePaolo is getting paid while not working because Whittier has a separate settlement with her. Both he and The Eagle-Tribune have requested information about any such settlement.
Whittier Superintendent William DeRosa and other Whittier officials have refused to answer the newspaper's questions since it obtained the contract on Thursday.
When asked on March 3 why DePaolo was getting paid for not working, DeRosa said it is called for in her contract with the school.
DePaolo has been collecting her $120,869 annual salary since December, when she went on leave, DeRosa said at that time. She will continue to be paid through the end of the school year even though she has resigned, he said, since the resignation is effective at the end of the school year.
DeRosa initially refused The Eagle-Tribune's request for DePaolo's contract, saying the school's lawyer advised him it is not a public document because it is part of the principal's personnel file. But Whittier officials later agreed to release the contracts of DePaolo and other Whittier administrators requested by The Eagle-Tribune.
DePaolo's contract covers the period from Sept. 13, 2006 to June 30, 2009. A review of the document shows it contains no provision for a paid leave. DeRosa said in a Dec. 23, 2009 memo to Whittier employees that DePaolo was "on a professional leave of absence and is pursuing graduate study to complete a master's degree."
The Eagle-Tribune contacted DeRosa on Thursday to ask questions about the contract. He referred all questions to Whittier's lawyer, Stephen Finnegan of Boston.
When contacted less than a half-hour after the call to DeRosa, Finnegan said, "No comment," before a reporter could even state the purpose of the call.
Fiorentini and several other Haverhill officials have expressed outrage that a principal or any employee would be paid while not working.
"I want to see the contract," Fiorentini said Thursday.
An attorney who practiced law for more than 30 years before being elected mayor in 2003, Fiorentini speculated that DeRosa might have been referring to a settlement rather than DePaolo's employment contract when he spoke on March 3.
In a letter last week to DeRosa and Whittier School Committee Chairman Charles LaBella, the mayor wrote, "As the largest taxpayer in the Whittier district, I believe that Haverhill is entitled to the details of why a school principal is being paid but not attending to her duties or attending school. Allowing this to occur makes our job in these tough economic times even more difficult. The public, incorrectly, believes that abuses of the system are widespread. When a school principal is allowed to be paid for what is, in effect, a no-show job, it disheartens our employees and makes it more difficult for us to obtain concessions from the unions."
Fiorentini also filed a Public Record Act request with DeRosa asking for a copy of any settlement that may have been reached between DePaolo and the Regional School Committee.
Haverhill City Council President Michael Hart said it was difficult for him to comment on the situation without seeing DePaolo's contract. Hart, a lawyer, called DeRosa's initial assertion that the document is a personnel record and therefore not public "absurd."
"Why don't they just come out and say what it is?" Hart said. "They owe everyone a more candid explanation of what happened."
Haverhill School Committee President Shaun Toohey said paying a no-show principal is "an injustice to the taxpayers." He added that those who pay for the vocational school are "owed an explanation."
School Committee member Joseph Bevilacqua said the two men who represent Haverhill on the Whittier Regional School Committee, Richard Early and Christopher Kelley, as well as the other members of that board, have some explaining to do.
"There's a great deal of concern," Bevilacqua said. "No one should be paid for not doing his or her job."
Whittier is a regional vocational school that serves Haverhill, Newburyport and nine other communities in the region. Haverhill, Newburyport and Amesbury each have two representatives to the Whittier board. Every other community has one representative. The school committee in each community appoints its representatives to Whittier.
LaBella, the Whittier School Committee chairman, referred questions to DeRosa and Finnegan. When told that DePaolo's contract does not have any language about paid leave, he said, "It doesn't? I would call Mr. Finnegan."
The Eagle-Tribune has called most of the Whittier Regional School Committee members. Declining to comment or failing to respond to phone messages were Kelley, Dan Nihan of Groveland, David Irving of Rowley, David Mansfield of West Newbury and Brett Murphy and Nelson Burns of Newburyport. Russell Osborn of Newbury said back in December that DePaolo's status is a personnel matter and not public.
DePaolo has also failed to answer phone messages left at her home in Easton.
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