MIDDLEBURY — The Addison Central Supervisory Union has hired a new business manager, a move officials hope will stabilize a position that has seen a lot of turnover during the past year and a half.
Gail Conley, ACSU interim superintendent, confirmed the hiring of Laura Nassau, who most recently served as business manager of the Chittenden East Supervisory Union (CESU) in Richmond. She has served in that capacity since 2002.
Like the ACSU, the CESU contains seven school districts. The CESU is a $40 million operation. Nassau began her career with CESU in 1985 as a secretary/computer technician. She was elevated to the post of assistant to business manager/curriculum secretary in 2000, then was promoted to business manager in 2002.
She holds an accounting degree from the University of Vermont and a bachelor of arts in economics from Mount Holyoke College.
She lists her interests as knitting, singing, hiking, traveling, music composition, and choral and hand bell conducting.
Conley was pleased to welcome Nassau on board.
“Laura Nassau has accepted our contract offer to be our business manager for the remainder of this year and the next school year,” Conley wrote in a recent e-mail informing ACSU board members of the hire. “After three interviews last week, the committee was unanimous in its recommendation to offer Laura this position.”
Nassau’s hiring comes after a great deal of turmoil and turnover in the business manager’s office. Nassau’s most immediate predecessor, Paula VanMinos, resigned last month after not reporting to work for several weeks while dealing with a family illness at her home in central New York state during what was a key school budget preparation period. Sharon Stearns, VanMinos’s predecessor, resigned last May after having been placed on administrative leave.
Stearns last Sept. 13 filed a lawsuit in Rutland County Superior Court against the ACSU, claiming — among other things — that she was bullied by former ACSU Superintendent Sease and then placed on administrative leave after she complained about his behavior. That lawsuit is still pending.
A series of consultants — one of whom tragically passed away — helped the ACSU in its budgeting backlog while the position was in limbo.