Superintendent of Schools Deborah Wheeler will get the extra year in Litchfield that she'd been asking for.

The Board of Education on Wednesday voted 5-4 to keep Wheeler under contract through 2012-13. She is in the second year of a three-year contract that ends June 30, 2012.

As a matter of practice, the school board has added another year to its superintendent's status after the first year expired in order to keep the school boss working under a three-year contract. Three years is the maximum allowed under state law.

Voting in support of another year for Wheeler were Chairman James Katzin, Frank Gorman, John Noone, Gayle Carr and Amy Rosser, all Democrats. Voting no were Frank Simone, Donald Falcetti, Wayne Shuhi and Betsy Fabbri, all Republicans.

Simone, Shuhi and Fabbri said they'd prefer to wait until next April to consider adding a year, even though Wheeler has received a positive performance review from the board. Simone, citing the board's lengthening of the terms of its previous two superintendents before the end of the second year of their contracts, said he wouldn't budge from his stance.

"I'm not saying she's not doing a good job, but when we've done this in the past we took a beating," Simone said.

Wheeler wasn't pleased with the tone of the board's discussion and wanted action. She has said she enjoys her job and remains committed to it for the future.

"I'm struggling with dragging this out; it's painful," she said. "From where I sit, despite a good evaluation of my performance, the board is choosing to approach this in a manner that is stressful."

Katzin expressed support for Wheeler and encouraged the board to extend her employment status.

"This superintendent has done an admirable job under difficult circumstances," Katzin said. "She has risen to the occasion. Why is this even an issue?"

Wheeler is earning $144,200 this year and will make $154,294 next year. Her salary for 2012-13 will be determined in 2012.

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