February 04, 2009

Pay freeze for school administrators

At least six school districts and one BOCES are freezing salaries for top administrators to help balance their budgets--and possibly offer an example to teachers unions.

Given that New York has 733 school and BOCES districts, the action by less than one percent of them hardly qualifies as a trend, but it's noteworthy.

By our count, the districts are: Troy, Ossining, Poughkeepsie, Riverhead, Putnam-Valley, Katonah-Lewisboro and Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES. In some cases, administrators volunteered to have their salaries frozen.

• In Troy, Superintendent Fadhilika Atiba-Wez, whose salary is $186,000 a year, is rejecting a scheduled $6,520 raise for the coming school year. "At this time, while many people may face the prospect of losing their jobs, and in light of these current economic times, the thought of taking a pay increase doesn't sit well with me,'' he said (here).
  
• In Poughkeepsie, Superintendent Laval Wilson, who is paid $199,500, is declining a 3.7 percent raise that would have increased his salary to nearly $207,000. He hopes his action will persuade 900 district employees to agree to a salary freeze, saving $1.2 million (here).
  
• In Ossining, the Ossining Association of Administrators and Supervisors, which has 28 members, agreed to forgo pay raises, saving $200,000 or more. Superintendent Phyllis Glassman also agreed to freeze her salary of $255,645 (here).
  
• Administrators at the Putnam-Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) agreed to freeze salaries of 32 employees, saving between $100,000 and $150,000 (here).
  
• In Riverhead, the district eliminated a 3.5 percent scheduled raise for administrators, saving $112,000. Newsday reports Riverhead is believed to be the first Long Island district to do so (here). School Superintendent Diane Scricca is discussing a pay freeze for herself with the school board.
  

  Scricca...said she approached Riverhead Central Faculty Association president Barbara Barosa about teachers taking a similar freeze but was rebuffed. Barosa said Scricca only approached her the day before the vote and made no mention of using the freeze to save teacher positions.

  "We're not adverse to trying to find ways to save money and save jobs," Barosa said. "But there are other ways to save money than making people take freezes. I believe she's just trying to find a reason to cut more positions."

• In Putnam-Valley, Superintendent Marc Space volunteered to freeze his $190,000 salary plus benefits (here).

• In Katonah-Lewisboro, administrators agreed to a pay freeze in December, saving the district $450,000 in the coming school year. Their voluntary action came after the state comptroller issued an audit saying the district's administrative costs where out-of-line when compared to other Westchester districts. The district has 28 administrators( here).

  Posted by Lise Bang-Jensen

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