Plum Superintendent, Five Other Administrators to Retire With Early Retirement Incentive

Plum School District Superintendent Lillian Naccarati and five other administrators will be retiring by the end of the first semester of the 2011-12 school year.

On Tuesday, the school board approved early retirements for Naccarati; Paul Houde, assistant principal at Oblock Junior High School; services Manager Kathy George; technology Director Ed Hela; Judith Mahoney, principal at Center Elementary; and transportation Supervisor Tom Zeminski. 

Naccarati, Houde, George and Zeminski will retire at the end of December. Hela and Mahoney will retire in January 2012 at the end of the first semester of the 2011-12 school year. 

The administrators will receive an extra $1,000 per month to their benefits package for 36 months.

Earlier this year, district officials offered the same incentive program to teachers—13 took it.

School board President Kevin Dowdell said administrators approached the board about implementing the same program for administrators.

"We tried to follow suit," he said.

Dowdell said he's not sure how much the district would save in the long run, but officials are looking to find replacements for some—not all—of the positions as soon as possible.

Sal Colella didn't approve the incentive program for administrators. He said at the end of the day, the district would be paying more money for something that wouldn't benefit the education of school children.

School board member Andrew Drake said the district is losing about 153 years of experience with the retiring administrators. He said he doesn't anticipate a lot of savings because the district is going to want to find replacements with experience.

Naccarati has been superintendent since 2009—she's worked at the district since 1992 as an elementary school principal, director of pupil personnel services and assistant superintendent. She said she'd save her retirement speech for her last board meeting in December.

After the meeting, she said it's been an honor and a privilege to serve the district, and she plans to enjoy time with her family once she retires.