In his final two months with the Coeur d’Alene School District, outgoing Superintendent Matt Handelman will get what amounts to a $20,000 bonus, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.
The Press’ Keith Cousins reported this week on Handelman’s amended contract — and the paper’s protracted battle with district officials to get the paperwork.
Trustees agreed to the amended contract on April 21. The district finally released the amended contract Monday night, Cousins reported, and only after Handelman gave his written permission to the district.
A few key points from the amended contract, as reported by Cousins:
- Handelman will work as a consultant, but “will not be required to maintain a desk or office present at the district office, or be present at district meetings and events.”
- Handelman will be paid more than $44,000 total for May and June, or $20,000 more than he would have received under his previous contract.
- Handelman and district officials agreed to a form of public truce, and promised not to “disparage” one another.
It is not unprecedented for a departing — or departed — superintendent to stay on in some consulting role.
When Caldwell trustees fired former Superintendent Tim Rosandick in 2015 — for reasons that were never publicly explained — he still received $137,000 for consulting work. More than a year later, the district could produce no paperwork to show any consulting work was done.
Handelman will leave the Coeur d’Alene district on June 30, for an administrative job with Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Wash.
