Waterford — Superintendent Jerome Belair announced during the Board of Education meeting Thursday that he would leave the district in June, reversing recent plans to stay on through the 2015-16 school year. 

His announcement followed criticism of his contract from the American Federation of Teachers Connecticut union and the Board of Finance. Members of the Board of Finance called Belair’s compensation excessive, and AFT Connecticut questioned the legality of the contract. 

The Attorney General’s office has said it will examine a “gray area” in state law pertaining to compensation of retired public educators who continue to receive public money for education work, AFT Connecticut President Melodie Peters said during the public comment period following Belair’s announcement. 

A salary of $220,000 was slated for Belair for the 2014-15 school year. In September, he announced he would retire and said he would end his tenure at the district in June 2015. The contract enacted at the time of his announced retirement split the $220,000 in compensation between a salary of $99,000 and retirement benefits of $121,000. The deal allowed Belair to begin collecting $140,000 in pension benefits from the Connecticut Teachers Retirement Board, a state agency. 

In February, the Board of Education voted 7-2 to extend the contract on the same terms through 2015-16, with board chairwoman Jody Nazarchyk and member David Campo voting against. The board was slated to hold an executive session on the exact terms of the extended contract and potentially vote on those terms at the meeting Thursday. 

Peters said during a break in the meeting that the Teachers Retirement Board requested the attorney general look at the law regarding pensions of educators, and that she had learned Thursday of the attorney general’s decision to examine the statute. She said the TRB’s decision was in part a response to AFT raising the issue of Belair’s contract, but said TRB also was aware of other similar situations. 

Under state law, someone receiving Connecticut teacher retirement benefits cannot be paid with public money at a salary that exceeds 45 percent of the maximum salary level for an education job. While the $99,000 does not exceed the 45 percent limit, AFT spokesperson Matt O’Connor said earlier this week the fact Belair is receiving the rest of his salary in retirement benefits may violate the law. 

Connecticut Teachers’ Retirement Board Director Darlene Perez said in an October interview that Belair’s contract was in line with state law but was not in the spirit of the law. She said at that time she had heard of other similar situations in the past in other parts of the state. 

Belair preceded his announcement Thursday by saying he wanted to “set the record straight,” explaining that his package had not cost the district additional money and that he had contributed to his pension fund for more than 37 years. He also emphasized good performance in Waterford Public Schools during his tenure. 

“Some of you in this room think I earn too much money,” he told roughly 250 attendees who filled the Clark Lane Middle School cafetorium, where the meeting had been moved from Town Hall in anticipation of high turnout. 

Attendees who spoke during public comment period after the announcement mostly expressed disagreement with the previous plans to extend the contract. 

Waterford resident Rick Beaney, who said he had one child who was a senior at Waterford High School and another who had graduated from the district, criticized the board for not searching for a new superintendent when Belair in September said he intended to retire in June 2015. 

Board members speaking after the announcement mostly defended the package, emphasizing that Belair’s pension was not funded by Board of Education money. 

Board member Kevin Brunelle praised Belair’s performance and praised him for keeping large increases out of the Board of Education budget. 

“I commend Mr. Belair for the job he has done to save the taxpayers and the Town of Waterford the money that he has,” Brunelle said. 

Board member Gregory Benoit said the conditions under which Belair was leaving might deter candidates for his position. He said that the Board of Education was in a difficult position after the Board of Finance on Wednesday slashed $220,000 from the proposed 2015-16 district budget — equal to Belair’s compensation package from the district. 

Benoit said that not only would the board be vetting candidates for superintendents, but candidates would be vetting the board, town and community. Editor's note: This corrects an earlier version of this paragraph.

He said the candidates will be thinking about whether the Board of Education and community will support a superintendent in his or her work. 

Nazarchyk said she had voted against extending the contract, not because of the cost, but because of concerns she had heard from teachers and parents. 

“If the teachers aren’t happy, then the students aren’t happy,” she said. 

Waterford Federation of Classroom Teachers President Martha Shoemaker said after the meeting that many districts in the state faced issues of low morale due to the difficulty of adhering to new state mandates. 

The local union’s vice president, Linda Brailey, said that elementary-level teachers in Waterford felt they had received inadequate professional development to adapt to new initiatives. She specifically mentioned a reading and writing program recently instated. 

As for Belair’s contract, Shoemaker said the union was most concerned with what she called the 55 percent — the portion going to retirement benefits for Belair. 

“All of us when we retire, we’ll never get someone to put 55 percent of our salary into one of these accounts,” said Shoemaker, who teaches fourth grade at Quaker Hill Elementary School. 

She said she hoped to see teachers included on the search committee in charge of vetting candidates for the superintendent position.

t.townsend@theday.com

Twitter: @ConnecticuTess