As originally planned, Kevin Brown will stay in his superintendent position through the rest of the semester and a three-person interim leadership team will take his place in the spring— but not for lack of opposition by one school board member.

Flagstaff Unified School District governing board member Paul Kulpinski attempted Tuesday to shorten Brown's contract by one month and cut the proposed, temporary "Director of Curriculum and Secondary Instruction" position in light of an increasingly shrinking budget in the wake of the recent override failure and a string of state aid cuts.

Kulpinski first moved to terminate Brown's contract effective Nov. 30 — Brown is on a unique month-to-month contract — and failed to receive a second. He said the $10,000 in saved salary could be applied toward the replacement search process. Athough the board has agreed to pay the Arizona School Boards Association $7,000 for its search assistance services, other expenses could arise, such as travel to a finalist's current district to interview the potential replacement's employees.

The proposal died with no discussion. Board president Deb Harris asked for a second twice but did not receive one. Brown, seated at the elevated table with the board, was also silent.

Kulpinski then moved to cut back the planned triumvirate leadership model, which would be in place from January through July, to just the two assistant superintendents. Dave Dirksen, a veteran teacher and administrator, a former assistant director in FUSD's educational enrichment office and the head football coach at Sinagua High School, had been tapped for the third role.

The board agreed to go into executive session to further discuss the idea, then defeated the plan to eliminate the position.

The $48,500 stipend set aside for the spring and summer position could have been partially used to hire a part-time financial consultant to guide the district through challenging budgetary decisions, Kulpinski said— even if it did mean investing some limited funds to do so.

"It's important not to be penny-wise and pound-foolish in this process and I think that attitude of just trying to nickel and dime savings at the expense of foresight and planning is just that," he said.

Kulpinski said administrators and his fellow board members were aware of the details of his suggestions before the meeting. But he said he was expecting their opposition, as he has been in the minority in fiscally oriented votes in the past.

In other board news:

— Assistant superintendent Barbara Hickman updated the board on library purchases made with money raised from a previous capital override.

Libraries were given about $255,000 this year for new books, based on a per-student allotment of $23.62. Flagstaff High School, with about 1,400 students, will get the most updates— $30,851 worth. The small New Start alternative program will get $1,583 in new items.

The libraries have also updated their circulation and inventory software.

— All French, Spanish and Navajo language students will take common final exams in December. In other words, the finals will be the same, regardless of school or teacher.

The district implemented common finals for pre-algebra and algebra last year. Common social studies exams will be created next.

Hillary Davis can be reached at hdavis@azdailysun.com or 556-2261.