Ed Board OKs Negotiations to Extend Supt. Freund's Contract

The Board of Education has decided to open negotiations to extend the contract of Greenwich Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Sidney Freund.

"The board voted to begin discussions to extend the contract of Dr. Freund another two years," said board Chairman Steven Anderson. At a work session Thursday, the board held an executive session to discuss whether to pursue negotiations. Following the session, the board voted 6-2 to begin contract talks, with Republicans Mariana Ponns Cohen and Peter Sherr voting against the talks.

"By state statute, the most the contract can be is three years," Anderson said. "Two years ago we gave him a three-year contract with the provision that by the end of the second year that we would begin discussions on whether to extend the contract."

Anderson said the vote to extend Freund's contract would cover the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2014.

"In my view, he's got the vitality for the job. The community wants stability and he has been very constructive in moving us in the right direction," Anderson added.

While salary was not discussed at the Thursday session, Freund earns a base salary of $230,000.

Freund has proved popular with many in town including the PTA Council which  nominated him for the inaugural Connecticut PTA Council's Superintendent of the Year Award which he won earlier this year. Critics have questioned Freund's intentions of the proposed expansion of the International Baccalaureate program into Western Middle School, saying that he ultimately wants to expand the European-based learning program into the high school.

Before coming to Greenwich in 2009, Freund spent more than six years as the Dobbs Ferry (NY) public schools superintendent; nine years as superintendent of of the Herricks school district in New Hyde Park, NY; as well as similar posts in Oyster Bay-East Norwich Schools in Oyster Bay, NY, and Valley Stream, NY. He began his education career as a teacher in New York City public schools before moving to the suburbs in Rye and Harrison, NY.