Bilbao in line for Mid'town schools chief Board and interim super in contract negotiations BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer Karen Bilbao may soon be able to take a word out of her position title, and that word is "interim." Karen Bilbao Bilbao, 55, has been the interim superintendent for theMiddletown School District since Feb. 16, 2006, and on Jan. 7 of this year was offered the position of superintendent by the Board of Education. If contract negotiations are finalized, she would succeed suspended Middletown schools chief David Witmer. "The board discussed this matter on Monday morning and decided to offer Ms. Bilbao the position," board attorney Christopher Parton said. "We are now in the process of negotiating a contract." The contract length, according to Parton, is for three years and five months, but a salary has yet to be finalized. Parton said the district was not required to perform a public search for a superintendent and that offering Bilbao the position was a decision that did not involve an extensive interview process. Bilbao is currently making $145,860, with a $121-per-day stipend, and if she works all 240 days of the academic calendar, she will be paid $174,900. Middletown Business Administrator and board SecretaryWilliam Doering said that Bilbao could not speak about the contract until negotiations are finalized. If Bilbao accepts a contract before the board's Jan. 23 voting meeting, the board will vote on whether to accept the contract conditions. Her first day as superintendent would be Feb. 1. "If a contract is not finalized by the Jan. 23 date, then it would move on to the next voting meeting," Parton said. "She would then start Feb. 27." Bilbao joined the Middletown School District six years ago as an assistant principal at Middletown High School South, then was appointed district director of pupil services, and then assistant superintendent in 2005. Before joining theMiddletown district, Bilbao had worked in the Union City School District since 1986 in various administrative posts. On Dec. 24, state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy ruled that Witmer should be suspended for the remainder of his contract without pay. Witmer, 70, was suspended after being charged by the Board of Education with misappropriating nearly $23,000 worth of vacation and personal time and with knowingly violating his contract while attempting to secure benefits to which he was not entitled, according to Parton. Witmer was originally suspended by the Board of Education at a Jan. 31, 2006, meeting. Soon thereafter, the board filed charges with the state Department of Education. Witmer maintained that he had compiled the vacation days from previous years and that he had given proper notification when he took the time off. The original suspension was to be imposed for the first four months of the suspension and for the final two months of Witmer's term, totaling six months. Following seven hearings over a sixmonth period, in July 2007Administrative Law Judge Joseph Martone ruled that Witmer was guilty of conduct unbecoming a teaching staff member and upheld three of the five charges filed against him in February 2006. Witmer originally was found guilty of three of the charges: misdirection of vacation time, misdirection of personal leave time, and intentional deception of the Board of Education. A decision on Witmer's future with the district was to be made Aug. 27 by Davy, but she took three 45-day extension periods. Davy's decision overturned Martone's original decision that Witmer should not be charged for improper use of office staff and abuse of authority. Witmer's attorney, Frank S. Gaudio, has said he will appeal Davy's decision.