The School Committee voted "no confidence" in the Board of Selectmen at the Committee's meeting Wednesday, March 10.

The vote came after Committee members expressed disappointment with its relationship with the Board as well as Selectman Brenda Eckstrom's presentation of the school budget at the March 2 Board of Selectmen meeting. During that presentation, Eckstrom said she was frustrated that the district's top five highest-paid employees were receiving large raises in the midst of cuts to school programs and supplies.

In a presentation of the school budget Wednesday, Wareham Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch said that the salary increases of the district's five highest-paid employees from fiscal year 2009 to 2010 were the result of two of the employees being promoted to positions with higher salaries. The other three employees, one of whom was Rabinovitch, received raises of less-than-three-percent each.

Four members voted in favor of the motion; Committee member Geoff Swett abstained. "I think [the vote] further politicizes the situation, and I would much prefer us to just put our heads down and work on behalf of the parents and the children of this community," Swett said.

"I've been extremely frustrated the last couple of months, especially when I know all the work that's gone into this budget and everything we've done," School Committee Chairman Robert Brousseau said.

The School Committee invited the Board of Selectmen to Wednesday's meeting. Eckstrom announced during the Feb. 23 Board of Selectmen meeting that she would attend. She was not on the School Committee agenda. Eckstrom said she thought she would be given a chance to speak following Rabinovitch's presentation.

"You invited the Selectmen here, and I publicly said that I would be here, and you didn't put me on the agenda nor did you recognize me when I raised my hand," Eckstrom said to Brousseau after the meeting was adjourned.

"You did not inform me that you were coming tonight," Brousseau responded.

Eckstrom then requested to be put on the School Committee's March 24 agenda.

The School Committee was invited to the March 2 Selectmen meeting to discuss its budget, but Brousseau said it could not attend because it received the invitation too late to post the meeting 48 hours in advance as required by open meeting laws.