The law with respect to a governing board’s approval of a district superintendent’s employment agreement and salary is set forth in several separate provisions of the Government Code.

Any closed session consideration of the superintendent’s employment or continued employment should be denoted as follows:

2. Government Code Section 54957.1 of the Brown Act (copy enclosed) requires certain public disclosures after closed sessions. As applicable here, 54957.1(a)(5) provides that following a closed session on employment or appointment the board "shall publicly report any action taken in closed session, and the vote or abstention of every member present … to appoint [or] employ … a public employee …"

Following any closed session at which the board might vote to extend the superintendent’s contract, the board president must announce the action taken and the vote. In addition, and as noted below, it is also necessary to "ratify" the action to extend the contract during the open session of a board meeting.

3. Government Code Sections 53260-53264 (copies of which are enclosed) apply to contracts of employment with the chief executive officers of various local agencies including school and community college districts. As pertinent here, Section 53262 provides that the contract of employment of a district superintendent "shall be ratified in an open session of the governing body which shall be reflected in the governing body’s minutes." This requirement is above and beyond the Brown Act requirement, which allows the board to make the employment decision in closed session.

Ratification of [Extension of] Superintendent’s Employment Agreement.

This may be included on the "consent" part of the public session agenda.

5. Government Code Section 54957.6 of the Brown Act (copy enclosed) authorizes the board to meet in closed session with its "designated representatives regarding the salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits of its represented and unrepresented employees …"

Note: The Superintendent is not allowed to be present in the closed session during this discussion. The analogy is made to closed sessions on collective bargaining strategy to which employee organizations are not allowed to attend.

If the closed session is to include a discussion of the superintendent’s salary or compensation package the agenda should contain the following notation: