Sitting pretty - at what cost?
School chief takes heat for $995 chair
For the board that oversees Windham and Pelham, N.H., schools, there is a lot to keep track of these days: a new high school on the rise, growing student populations.
But the issue gripping the district's board members at the moment is a chair.
A $995 chair, black leather, with mahogany trim and a swivel, was purchased by the superintendent, Franklyn Bass, using school district money for use in his office.
Some in town are outraged by what they call an unnecessary extravagance.
"He used public money to buy this chair," said Barbara Coish, a school district board member. "He's a very busy person and a lot of time, he's not even in his office to sit in the chair."
She added, "And, he didn't even tell us he was going to do this, or we would have advised him to choose something less expensive."
But other board members are backing the superintendent, saying the chair is fitting for a man in his position.
"I have seen the chair and I would have approved the expenditure. It is a normal chair for an executive in a superintendent's position. I think it was a conservative purchase," said Al Letizio, a board member. "He has had the heads of companies and the deans of colleges in his office and I don't want our superintendent sitting on milk crates, and I don't want him sitting on a rag-tag chair from
He added: "It's a black leather chair with a wooden frame. It's very nondescript but it's of enduring quality. It's something that is going to last for 10 years."
An invoice, provided to the Globe by the school district, shows that the chair was purchased by the Pelham/Windham School District from W.B. Mason Co. Inc. on Aug. 29. The chair is part of the company's "executive" class, and is described on the company's website as a "High Back Swivel/Tilt Chair with Wood Arms, Black Leather/Mahogany."
Chairs in the same class range in price from $109.95 to $1,059.
Bass, who makes $115,000 a year, did not return phone calls seeking comment. But he told the Salem Observer that he purchased the chair in late August when he became superintendent because the chair he had inherited was uncomfortable and adjustments he had sought to make to the chair did not improve it.
Bass oversees School Administrative Unit 28, which is made up of the Pelham and Windham school districts. The SAU's operating budget for next year is $1.2 million; The Windham district's operating budget this year is $30.8 million, Pelham's is some $21.2 million, according to school district officials.
Bass has worked in education for nearly 30 years. He began his career teaching English at Memorial High School in Manchester, then served as dean of academic affairs at Westford Academy and principal of Hollis Brookline High School. Prior to becoming superintendent, Bass served as the assistant superintendent for middle and secondary schools in Manchester, according to published reports.
The chair issue came to light at a budget meeting of the SAU board earlier this month. A board member reported hearing about the chair from an employee in the SAU office.
Other members were quick to criticize the cost. The chair has been the subject of debate across the two towns, from the senior center to the supermarket.
Beth Valentine, an SAU board member, said in a district where millions are spent each year, the focus on the $995 chair is inappropriate.
"To have this level of discussion of a $900 issue is a clear indication to me that there is micromanaging going on," she said.
She said that the correct approach is to view the chair purchase in the larger context of Bass's performance.
"Dr. Bass has a sterling reputation. Everything that I have seen to date from his decision-making has been very appropriate," she said. "So I guess I feel like I am not one to judge the price. I would give him the benefit of the doubt."
But others said that the chair purchase has reinforced questions they had about Bass and raised new ones.
"We are being very vigilant about future expenses," said Coish. "Personally, I am watching his performance carefully. He just needs to prove that we chose the right person."
