Certain provisions of Ingram’s 2008 contract – including a $30,000 signing bonus given in a little-known “side letter” that provided for a down payment on a house – have triggered controversy and calls by School Committee members that he repay that money.
SPRINGFIELD - Schools Superintendent Alan J. Ingram refinanced his home in Oklahoma a year after he said his family would move here, deeds records show.
Certain provisions of Ingram’s 2008 contract – including a $30,000 signing bonus given in a little-known “side letter” that provided for a down payment on a house – have triggered controversy and calls by School Committee members that he repay that money.
Ingram has argued that the amendment to his contract allowed for wider discretion than solely to use the money for down payment on a mortgage, and that he has used the money for “residential living expenses.”
He has rented an apartment in the city’s South End since taking the post here. The year he was hired, Ingram told The Republican in a March 2008 interview, “My family and I are very thrilled to have the opportunity to serve in Springfield.”
He said at the time that his wife, Lisa, an elementary school teacher, would seek work in Western Massachusetts. In February 2009, the superintendent told The Republican they were still working to sell their home in Oklahoma.
Public records show they refinanced a 10-year mortgage on their house on Windsong Drive in Midwest City, OK., in November 2009.
During an interview after the debate erupted over his contract, however, he said his family elected not to move to Springfield for personal reasons. When asked whether he was still entertaining purchasing a home, Ingram responded: “I’m in the last year of a four-year contract.”
June 30, 2008 Side Letter From Springfield Finance Control Board to Alan Ingram
Ingram has subsequently referred all questions to a lawyer for the School Committee, and did not respond for comment following a Thursday meeting of certain members of the committee, during which they made a motion to recommend Ingram give the money back.
That will be taken up by a vote of the full committee next month.