$132K contract wasn’t properly filed, officials say
The contract of former Gallup-McKinley County Schools Superintendent, the binding document between employee and employer, isn’t on file at district headquarters on Boardman Drive and school district officials are at a loss as to where it is.
As far as anybody at the district knows, including the top brass and at least one GMCS school board member, the Board of Education simply did not place a new contract in the personnel file of Chiapetti. A career school district employee and a former principal at Miyamura High School, Chiapetti earned an annual salary of $132,500.
“We believe it was an oversight,” interim superintendent Mike Hyatt said. “The contract was voted on to extend with same pay, but we never received the new contract.”
The sole entities that receive copies of such contracts are the employee and employer, Hyatt noted. The Gallup Sun has made attempts to contact Chiapetti via telephone, but to no avail. Chipetti was in the candidate pool for school superintendent jobs at Las Cruces, Flagstaff and Silver City.
Chiapetti, who worked at the Gallup district as superintendent for about three years, was placed on paid administrative leave by the Board of Education in December. His evaluative details have not been made public. The paid administrative leave ends June 30, 2017.
Hyatt, also a career school district employee, officially starts the Gallup superintendent job at the end of June and at an annual salary of $150,000.
The former school board president who oversaw Chiapetti’s contract extension was Joe Menini. Menini did not run again for a school board seat this year. Kevin Mitchell, vice president of the school board, said nobody really knows where the Chiappetti contract is.
“It’s not at the district,” Mitchell said. “That’s what we know about the matter right now.”
There was a pay raise given to school district employees at the beginning of April, but since Chiapetti is considered a management employee, the raise didn’t apply to him.
Asked if the fact that the Chiapetti contract not being readily available to the public bothers people in the community, Hyatt replied, “No comment.”
By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent
