Spokane7
65°
October 14, 2010 in City
Teachers protest raises for administrators
Union targets top tier salaries
Hundreds of Spokane Public Schools employees sent a message to the school board Wednesday night: “We’re angry!”
Union members packed the board of directors meeting to express disappointment that school board members approved raises for 104 school principals and administrators while 1,700 of the union’s 3,000 members – those who work with students – saw a pay cut.
“The morale of hard-working employees in this school district is dismal,” said Jenny Rose, Spokane Education Association president. “People are feeling overworked with district mandates, overused, and not being recognized for the job they are doing. … It is disappointing that we must express our position of no confidence (in the board) at this time. … We believe the board is not being a responsible steward of public funds.”
A standing ovation, cheers and clapping followed Rose’s statement; the board president pounded her gavel for the standing-room-only crowd to settle down.
Bob Douthitt, board vice president, defended the board’s decision Wednesday by emphasizing it was a small percentage of the total budget and only represents about $230,000 annually. Director Rocky Treppiedi added that he “whole-heartedly disagrees with the statement that they (the board) are not good stewards of taxpayers’ money.”
Spokane Public Schools officials – from principals to top administrators – received pay increases of 3 percent or more this summer according to district records obtained by The Spokesman-Review that compare 2009-’10 salary schedules to 2010-’11. Superintendent Nancy Stowell’s total compensation was the exception, rising less than 2 percent.
Rose felt that the union’s showing at the board meeting will have an impact.
“They didn’t know what hit them,” she said.
A local businessman also spoke Wednesday.
“It’s not the percentage of pay increase. … This is about poor leadership,” said Steven Cree, adding it’s also about public perception. “This is a time when we need to be able to pass levies. … Because of this, we may not be able to.”
While the state pays an average of $59,929 toward administrative salaries, the rest comes from local levy dollars. In the Spokane district, 63 administrators have a base salary of $100,000 or higher.
“Be in touch with who your customers are,” Cree said.
Washington teachers receive a 3 percent pay increase in each of the first 16 years they are employed. But in the past three years, those pay bumps have been countered with pricier health care premiums and three fewer paid days. For teachers with more than 16 years, that has meant a pay cut in each of the past three years.
Rose used her own salary as an example. She’s been a teacher in Washington for 19 years; her pay check last month was $400 lighter than it was two years ago.
The pay hike for administrators stemmed from a bargaining agreement with the district’s principals union for an additional reward for years of service, district officials said. Because of a district philosophy that supervisors should be paid more than those they oversee, the pay bumps rippled up from principals to the district’s top leadership. After leaving Wednesday’s board meeting, Rose said, “We are not done.”
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Spokane_Citizen on October 14 at 6:42 a.m.
What an example of total hypocrisy and poor leadership. In a time of unprecedented budgetary crisis, administrators are awarded significant raises, all the while exhorting their subordinates to ‘do more with less’. None of the existing board members should survive re-election when their terms expire. It’s time these administrators ‘take one for the team’….like the workers they ‘manage’ already have.
This attitude exemplifies what is wrong in America, at the top corporate and public sector levels. Greed and selfishness; pure and simple.
liarsinnews on October 14 at 8:06 a.m.
How can the board of education condone giving the Administrators a raise. How can they justify the bloat of these people in the District 81 building. I`ll wager Rocky Treppiedi had something to do with it. Why the voters reelect him is a mystery to me other than he wants to change the public disclosure law so these characters can attend more clandestine meetings.
misjustice on October 14 at 8:14 a.m.
Seems like the schools are being run “like a business”, as so many Gaggers cry for when berating government. The CEOs(Principals) get raises while the worker bees (Teachers) get laid off or have their pay/benefits cut. Works for business, works for schools? Greed is good.
greyhound2 on October 14 at 8:27 a.m.
The reason the schools rank 30th in quality in the world while being the most expensive in cost is that the schools are run for the benefit of administrators and staff and not the students.
lewis8457 on October 14 at 8:32 a.m.
But we will get to hear how they need more money and the voters of Spokane will give them more like always. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
MrNatural on October 14 at 9:10 a.m.
Well isn’t this a sign of the times…I imagine there is some consternation for some to find themselves on the same side as the teachers union. I have to agree with their protests though…I know many teachers who spend their own money for classroom supplies and put in extra hours just to stay even while administration work bankers’ hours and spend money on vacations to self admiration seminars.
philipgregory on October 14 at 2:16 p.m.
There must be a change in the SCHOOL BOARD!
All who voted for the raises - OUT!
Thoreau on October 14 at 3:42 p.m.
To be a school board member, one does not need a high school diploma.
liarsinnews on October 14 at 4:38 p.m.
Ms.justice: Run like a business? Really. Spoken like one call that`s all. Might be too many that regurgitate. .
elanath on October 14 at 9:29 p.m.
Ugh. Disgusted to see so many six figure salaries. What the sam hill do “Executive Directors of Teaching & Learning” do such that we need five of them? Bernard is too bloated. We need to decimate the number of administrators we have…then we might have enough money to fund the small schools and small class sizes peer-reviewed education research in the last two decades has shown as the path to student success.