Board member Michele Pargeon, who chairs the personnel committee, confirmed the recommendation Monday evening.
She said she and the committee's two other members, Julia Wilson and Amy Bathurst-Francis, unanimously agreed on the recommendation.
If approved by the board, it would extend the contracts of Superintendent David Krem, Assistant Superintendent Reed Lindley, Director of Education Jeff Sparagana and Business Manager Linda Adams.
The contracts of all four administrators expire in 2010.
The personnel committee voted on the recommendation to extend those contracts at its May 12 meeting, Pargeon said.
The matter was not discussed during the school board meeting which followed, on June 4.
However, the board did meet in a closed door executive session following the June 4 meeting, to discuss personnel matters.
Pargeon declined to say if it was recommendation to extend the contracts of the administrators, known as the executive team, that was discussed in the June 4 executive session.
However, she did confirm that the three-year contract extension will be on school board's Thursday meeting agenda, which should be posted on the district Web site — www.pottstown
schools.com — by today.
Pargeon said the committee made the recommendation because "we feel its in the best interests of the school district to extend those contracts with new people coming on to the board who have an entirely different personal agenda in our opinion."
She added, "the three of us feel any action that might be taken following the new members being installed in December would be really detrimental for the forward progress of the district."
"We don't want to see the district set backwards," Pargeon said. "We think this would stabilize the situation, which is in the best interests of the district.
The new board members are likely to be Valerie Harris, Thomas Hylton and, possibly, Polly Weand.
In the spring primary election, Harris and Hylton won both Republican and Democratic lines on the ballot while Weand won the Democratic line and incumbent School Board President Judyth Zahora won the Republican line.
Bathurst-Francis and fellow incumbent Edwin Edwards, were ousted by voters. Both had supported the proposal to close all five of the borough's elementary schools and consolidate them into a single "mega-campus" — a position Hylton has been vocal in opposing.
Two years ago, the five incumbents who also supported that idea was ousted by voters as well and four candidates who vowed to protect neighborhood schools — including Wilson and Pargeon — were elected.
Since then, Pargeon has reversed this position, arguing that the district's economic situation convinced her of the wisdom of reducing the number of elementary schools in the district.
Pargeon said the committee's recommendation would extend the contracts "as is."
"The same conditions apply," she said of the contract extensions and no new provisions or raises are included in the recommendation from the personnel committee.
The administrators whose contracts are up for extension Thursday are the same who voluntarily reduced their own raises last month in recognition to the difficult economy and the burden it is placing on taxpayers.
Although Krem, Lindley, Sparagana and Adams still received their automatic "step raises," they did forgo their "merit raises," which they had earned based on goals and benchmarks set in their agreements.
Their decision saved taxpayers $24,408 collectively.
Krem earned $158,250 this year. He gave up a $6,330 merit raise and accepted a $2,374 step increase, putting his salary next year at $160,624.
Lindley was paid $151,943 this year. He gave up a $6,078 merit raise and received a $2,279 step increase, putting his new salary at $154,222.
Sparagana was paid $139,770 this year. He gave up a $5,592 merit raise this year and received a $2,096 step increase. As a result, his new salary is $141,866.
At $583,069, the salaries for those four administrators will cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars in the coming budget year. That does not include the cost of their health benefits or their retirement costs.
Given the absence of any public discussion on the matter to date, Thursday's meeting seems likely to provide the only opportunity for public comment prior to the vote.
The meeting begins at