Dallemand Contract Renewal Approved 5-3; Request to Include Newly Elected Board Members in Discussion Ignored

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Bibb Schools Superintendent Dr. Dallemand’s contract has been renewed for another 3 years. The school board voted Monday 5-3 to extend his contract at an annual salary of $198,000.

BOE President Tommy Barnes read the proposal to board members after they convened for nearly an hour in executive session. Board members Gary Bechtel, Lynn Farmer and Susan Sipe opposed the decision.

The vote to renew comes with some controversy, as just last Friday, newly elected board members Lester Miller and Jason Downey asked to be included in the discussion of extending Dallemand’s contract. Board members Susan Sipe and Gary Bechtel were both in favor of that, but Bechtel tells us that the rest of the board completely ignored that request.

“I think that with three Board members being elected in November that a lame duck board should not determine a contract that goes for three years into virtually all of the four-year term for the three board members that were elected in November,” says Bechtel. “It doesn’t make any sense to me, the majority of this board chose to interpret it as if the election didn’t exist.”

Bechtel says he believes this was an attempt to lock dallemand in and ensure a 5 to 3 vote for his reinstatement. If they had let Downey and Miller in on the discussion, the decision may have been met with more opposition.

Dallemand was not present at tonight’s meeting. His contract renewal begins in January and runs through December 2015.