OXFORD — The Oxford Hills School District Board of Directors voted unanimously Monday to extend Superintendent Rick Colpitts’ contract another year, to 2015.

“We feel we’re very lucky to have Rick as our superintendent,” Chairman Ron Kugell said after a 25-minute executive session to discuss the evaluation.

The board’s vote does not affect his current salary or benefits package.

Colpitts was appointed superintendent in 2010, succeeding Mark Eastman who retired after holding the post for 15 years.

Although the board unanimously voted in May 2010 to give Colpitts a three-year contract with an annual salary of $103,000, Monday night’s action was done to meet statutory law that requires all superintendents to be evaluated by December of each year. Last December, the contract was extended one year, to 2014, with no change in salary and benefits.

Kugell said the board members and superintendent each participate in the evaluation process, which is done in both ranking and essay form.

“This year there is a new format,” Kugell said after the meeting. The board decided to alter the evaluation process to delete questions that Kugell said many board members felt were not applicable. For example, he said, the board had previously been asked to evaluate how well the superintendent interacts with his office staff, but since the board members do not routinely see the superintendent in this role they felt it was unfair to evaluate him on that question.

The board does evaluate the superintendent on issues such as goals and how well they are met.

Colpitts, of Peru, came to the Oxford Hills School District in 2009 under a pilot program that employed him as a half-time assistant superintendent. He was serving as part-time superintendent of SAD 39 in Buckfield at the time. He was eventually made full-time assistant superintendent.

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