Contract extension pulled after community concern

On Tuesday, May 2, Sayville superintendent Dr. Marc Ferris voluntarily withdrew an agenda item during the board of education meeting that would have had board members vote on an amendment of his employment contract.

Community members filled the public seating area, with nearly a dozen standing in the doorway and hallway.

Ferris’s current contract expires on June 30, 2026, and the proposed amendment would have extended through June 30, 2029.

In addition, five additional vacation days would have been added for the 2023-2024 school year at 1/240 of Ferris’s annual salary (i.e., approximately $1,000 each day), and sick and personal leave would have been raised to $16,679.

In an interview, Ferris said the amendment document was erroneous, as it listed the initial $5,000 in his first contract and not the current $14,000 he estimated his current contract to be.

Board of Education president Thomas Cooley said that this extension was in part of the district’s vision of a five-year plan, of which Ferris was integral to in realization.

Community members largely did not take part in the public hearing sessions at the beginning and end of the meeting, but a few asked questions from the public seating area.

The district’s attorney advised the board that all discussion of personnel contract negotiations were not permissible, as community members repeatedly asked about the 1 percent raise specified in the public document.