A Utica school consultant who had previously worked with Superintendent James Willis on Long Island has lost his $580-a-day contract with the district.

Citing concerns about paying too much for too little in return, Board of Education members voted 5-1 at Tuesday night’s meeting against renewing the contract with Dwayne Adsitt.

The school district contracted with Adsitt last June for him to help boost student performance. Funding for the consultant’s role – titled Districts In Need of Improvement coordinator — was coming from a $908,600 state grant, set to expire in August.

Utica schools have been striving to meet standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and at times some schools have fallen short.

Board member Christopher Salatino said the board was not seeing results quickly enough from Adsitt’s work.

“We were expecting him to get right into test scores and standards, but we were seeing a lot of moving staff and personnel around,” he said.

Willis was unhappy with the board’s decision.

“We need to have someone administering this program or we could be in danger of losing the grant money,” Willis said. “Finding a DINI coordinator is difficult. The person we had filling this position was recognized statewide for his work.”

Adsitt is a retired superintendent from Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free Schools and worked with Willis at the South Country Central School District…

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