DAGSBORO — Indian River School District’s board of education this week approved salary scales for principal, director and supervisor positions.
Following executive session at its Sept. 24 …
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DAGSBORO — Indian River School District’s board of education this week approved salary scales for principal, director and supervisor positions.
Following executive session at its Sept. 24 meeting, the school board by two-thirds majority supported an administrative salary scale effective for fiscal year 2019.
Seven of 11 position categories have salaries of $100,000 or higher with zero to four years completed.
Board members James Fritz, W. Scott Collins, Dr. Donald Hattier, Leolga Wright, Dr. Heather Statler and James Hudson voted for that option package. Dissenting votes were cast by Charles Bireley, Rodney Layfield and Gerald Peden.
Board member Derek Cathell did not attend the meeting.
The administrative scale, based on zero to four years completed, includes:
•Assistant superintendent, $135,000;
•Director, $125,000;
•High school principal, $115,000;
•Middle school principal, $110,000;
•Elementary principal, $107,500;
•High school assistant principal, $100,000;
•Middle school assistant principal, $95,000;
•Elementary assistant principal, $92,500;
•Administrative assistant/supervisor with master’s degree, $100,000;
•Administrative assistant/supervisor with bachelor’s degree, $95,000;
•Administrative assistant/supervisor with associate degree, $90,000.
The administrative scale includes incremental increases for 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24 and 25 or more years completed.
At its August meeting, the school board approved the superintendent’s salary ($165,000) for FY19. This was to be retroactive to July 1, 2018. A footnote on the administrative scale matrix indicates the salary of superintendent will be negotiated.
At that August meeting, the IRSD board of education also voted to offer teachers a five-percent pay raise for FY19 with a zero-percent raise for FY20.
Administrative salaries were a focus of Indian River Education Association President J.R. Emanuele’s Sept. 24 address to the school board prior to the board’s adjournment into executive session.
“Let me start by saying I support the administrators. I hope they receive a great salary and an increase on top of that. But there are a lot of rumors going around and a lot of misinformation circulating amongst the staff and community. And it’s getting full circle. It’s getting back to the administrators. It’s getting back to people in district office. And ultimately, it’s getting back to me,” Mr. Emanuele said. “We’ve worked together in the past to help people get information that’s accurate and helped circulate accurate information. We’ve talked about transparency in the district. That has been one of Mr. Steele’s (IRSD Superintendent Mark Steele) main things. Apparently, this matrix has been circulated amongst the administrators but there is still an air of secrecy about it.”
“We tackled the impossible task of asking the teachers to postpone and stretch out their salary increase, and there wasn’t really hesitation to come to me as a person or as someone that is in the position I am, to help with that. I went to all the schools and I stood in front of everybody and helped them understand all of the facts,” said Mr. Emanuele. “But it is hard for me to help and to distribute accurate information when nothing is being shared. I have asked before and I am asking again, ‘Can I see the copy of the matrix?’ If you guys or the district or the administrators want me to help squash out rumors I need some information. I realize IREA has no say-so whatsoever in the ‘admin’ salaries. But when we are talking about transparency, and we’re talking about spreading accurate information and there are rumors getting spread around these schools, if you want it stop I need some help.”