New policy says Dracut committee members must wait 5 years before applying for school jobs

By Dennis Shaughnessey, Lowell Sun

DRACUT — May Paquette can do it. Dennis “D.J.” Deeb can do it. Joe Campbell, Karen Frederick and Donna Brody can also do it if they wanted to.

However, current members of the School Committee, as well as all future members, will have to wait five years after leaving office before applying for a position in the Dracut School Department.

The committee unanimously enacted the new policy this week after newly elected board member Matthew Sheehan offered an original motion that would require all current and former members to wait five years before applying for and accepting a job with the town schools.

An amendment was offered, restricting the policy to current and future board members only.

Committee member Nancy Gagnon said the original motion was unfair to former members who may not have run for office had they known the policy would come into play.

“I don’t see how you tell a former member who chose to give up their time, and a lot of it, that, ‘Sorry, now you’re going to be penalized,’ ” Gagnon said.

Committee member Mike Miles reluctantly agreed to the amendment but said, “I want to make it crystal clear that I am more concerned with past School Committee members seeking employment through this administration. (The committee) should be a position that you’re doing for the community. To apply for a job after holding this position is not something that the public wants.”

Sheehan initially brought up the subject in May. The matter was reviewed by Kevin Murphy, the committee’s legal counsel, who said the restriction was permissible. The amended version of Sheehan’s motion passed unanimously.

“The motion was not intended to ruffle any feathers,” Sheehan said. “It was simply an attempt to take the politics out of this.”

The names of several former School Committee members have been mentioned in connection with a full-time job in the department — most notably, Paquette, who served on the committee for nine years until her defeat in 2007, and Deeb, who lost to Sheehan on May 5 by 27 votes.

Paquette is rumored to be at the top of the list for the business manager’s job, currently held by Terry Wiggin, a resident of Manchester, N.H.

“I don’t know why people are even talking about this,” Paquette previously told The Sun. “Is there a job opening? If there’s a job opening, and there is not, I should be able to apply if I want to. I am, after all, a private citizen. I’m no longer an elected official.”

Paquette holds a master’s degree in business administration and is certified as a school business administrator. She served on the committee’s finance subcommittee and knows her way around a school budget.

Deeb, a teacher at Reading High School, has not expressed an interest in a Dracut job. While on the committee, he was a strong supporter of newly hired School Superintendent W. Spencer Mullin and would certainly come under fire if he were to land a job in the department.

Former committee member Andrew Graham was hired as supervisor of buildings and grounds by the late Christos Daoulas, and Michael Maguire was hired as the food-service director by former Superintendent Elaine Espindle. Espindle also hired Athletic Director Timothy Woods shortly after he left the School Committee. Woods was on the committee that hired Espindle to replace Daoulas in 1998.