Oregon schools eliminate busing, but give admin raises...

welcome to $-owned america! dollar dollar bills y'all!

The state law that permits districts of completely eliminating high school transportation need to be changed. It's legal coercion and aids districts trying to force voters to approve levies. These folks in Oregon have every right to be outraged. It's a complete joke that his raise was needed to keep him. Many of these school bureaucrats are unemployable outside their own school systems.

Zalar must be paid by the word. Any function I have attended, he takes an opportunity to speak about the district and goes on & on & on until someone takes the mic away

Does Issue 2 / SB5 do anything to prevent this hypocrisy, or will its passage make things worse?

The board's defense, that they have to give raises to keep quality people, is bogus. Where else in this economy is someone making $116,000 per year, with three months vacation, going to go? The public should demand that the superintendent AND board members resign.

That is an incredible amont of money to be made. Man alive I picked the wrong line of work!

$116K is low for the area suburban schools. According to the Blade, the average is in the $140 plus range.
Supers generally have 12, not 9 month contracts.

Remember,it's for the kids!

I might accept offshore's argument, if the school district wasn't in such a financial crisis.

The school board member says that they'd have to pay a replacement candidate more if Zalar left. But that's assuming that:

1) He would be able to find another position that he'd be willing to leave for
2) They wouldn't be able to find an acceptable candidate who would work for a comparable salary to what Zalar was getting

I think it sends the wrong message to the community to give the superindendent an 11% raise right now, and they are absolutely dense if they can't figure that out!

Do we know what the specific qualifications for the job are?

I make no value judgement, just stating facts.

I'd also wonder if his qualifications have been upgraded since he was hired.

Clearly his contracted pay rate was acceptable to him when he accepted the position.

BTW - I'm not arguing against someone being compensated fairly for a position. The timing just seems a little suspect, that's all.

For some perspective, a full time Pharmacist at Wal-Mart makes around $110,000...

From the district's web page

http://www.oregoncityschools.org/District/District_Administration_and_Supervisors/Mike_Zalar.html

For the 2008-2009 school year, the Ohio statewide average pay for a superintendent was $101,403. (The average for Ohio urban districts during that same time frame was $118,066. The article I read didn't cite a specific figure for suburban districts.)

I gave the figures for that year primarily because they were readily available in a news article I found. However, since Dr. Zalar was hired in July 2008, it does provide an interesting perspective.

Article

try this for local comps
http://toledobladedata.com/caspio/subschools.asp

If you read the article I linked above, it talks about how 1 in 4 Ohio superintendents were collecting a pension on top of the superintendent salary.

A superintendent candidate only needs to "retire" for one day to be hired and also collect pension, according to the 6/20/2010 article

It also goes on to say that Ohio has one of the most liberal laws in the country for retiree-rehire programs:

The 2000 change in the law made it easier for school districts to keep superintendents on the job by eliminating an 18-month waiting period to return to work after retiring.

Calfee had to stay off the job for a single day.

Other states don’t make it so easy.

“In some states, you can’t work in the system you’re retired from,” Calfee said. “Some states absolutely ban it.

“Ohio may be the most liberal state in the country for their retired-rehire programs under STRS.”

(Note: Calfee = Tim Calfee, Superintendent of Ravenna Schools)

It was a very interesting read - I certainly wasn't aware of some of those facts. (Sorry for steering the topic slightly away from Dr. Zalar, but I thought it was something that perhaps the public should know about.)

Does anyone know what factors are used for comparing superintendent pay in terms of the district's size? (i.e. - number of schools, number of teachers, number of students, etc.)

I know you have to take district size into consideration when comparing superintendent pay - I just don't know which one is "the" factor to consider.

One last thing...

According to the Blade database offshore linked above, Dr. Zalar's 2009 gross pay was $131,717.95.

Yet, according to the current article:

The increase brings his annual pay to $130,221, up from $116,965.

If his base pay is $116,965, does anyone know why he was paid over $131K in 2009?

Was there some sort of bonus or other one time payment? Did he take a pay cut at some point between 2009 and 2011?

I think those things should certainly be taken into consideration, and perhaps could change public opinion about the pay raise.

Superintendents (School Districts):

GRANGER (Anthony Wayne): $152,172.29
MAGRUM (Bedford): $114,593.59 (also two other "supers" making $100k+)
WITT (Lake): $99,703.53
SMITH (Maumee): $124,350.00
CLARK (Northwood): $110,670.23
HEIDELBERG (Ottawa Hills): $147,189.14
HOSLER (Perrysburg): $136,859.50
LANG (Rossford): $128,191.30
HOTT (Springfield): $143,596.69
RIEGER (Sylvania): $144,600.00
HICKEY (Washington Local): $140,061.06

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Remember, these are just the "top dogs". Plenty o' people pulling in well north of $100k in many of these districts. Pretty safe to say they're all well above the mean & median income for the areas.

And for those of you voting on November 8th in Maumee, Ottawa Hills, and Washington Local..."for the kids"...

Maumee: A Maumee School District Levy Addition measure....seeks to add to the current school levy by a rate of $.49 per $100 of assessed property value for a continuing period of time in order to further pay for current expenses in the school district.

Ottawa Hills: An Ottawa Hills School District Levy Increase measure...seeks to replace to the current school levy and increase it to one set at a rate of $.20 per $100 of assessed property value for a continuing period of time in order to further pay for capital improvement projects and repairs in the school district.

Washington Local: A Washington School District Levy Addition measure...seeks to add to the current school levy by a rate of $.49 per $100 of assessed property value for a continuing period of time in order to further pay for current expenses in the school district.

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Yeah...current expenses are a bitch...

YES on Issue 2

YES on 2

It doesn't matter what the average superintendent's salary in the state of Ohio is, bottomline is this district cut out bussing to provide raises. Take from the masses to give to the few. They should all be fired.

One thing to note - school administrators have an entirely separate union than educators.

mom2, it's possible he cashed in some unused vacation or gets other allowances as a superintendent.

FYI Odnation and Private...Issue 2 does nothing to address this situation. It contains nothing to change the double dipping policy that runs rampart in the upper levels of public education. Also, it wouldn't have anything to do with changing what supers make. I am all for improving the way public education is funded and the way they use tax dollars...but Issue 2 is NOT the way to do it. NO ON ISSUE 2!

Sho... I have my reasons behind voting YES on 2. Don't assume that it's solely based on what a superintendent makes

I was thinking it might be something like that.

That's the drawback of the database - it doesn't break out what was the true salary vs. what was from other unusual circumstances.

I know someone who works for BCI, and there was an uproar over his wage when a similar database came out for state employees. However, if I recall correctly, it was based on a year where he had to work a lot of overtime. (Sometimes there is no control over that - if he handled a case, then he's the one who has to testify at trial, etc.) The figure in the database did not accurately reflect his typical income, but unfortunately that didn't prevent them from getting flack about it from their community.

YES on issue 2. It's a good starting point regarding reforming the spending involved with the dramatic growth in public sector union labor costs.

FYI Shonuff- I know exactly what 2 is about. I just wanted to express my support for it. I will not put out a yard sign for fear of retaliation. Nor will I put a sticker on my car for the same reason. Sad that the taxpayer is restrained in this way. See you in the voting booth. As always, I agree with 6th-this is a good STARTING point.

My identify is kinda known, so hope I don't blow my job saying this. But my job includes multiple schools one of them is in Oregon.

It truly saddens me at the true lack of funding in Oregon. Recently one of my other sites switched to Fulton county, and I'm literally up to my neck in top the shelf no money counts technology. Despite the 10k digital whiteboards with full hand recognition and interace, I literally have redundant expensive hardware sitting in storage because.. well we don't need more than one.

Yet my Oregon school was dealing with computers from 7 years ago, no updates, no money, no word from up the chain. I literally feel Oregon abandoned us.

Lucas county was about as bad. While I didn't get involved in the switchover, in retrospect VERY glad one site went Fulton county. The kids are much more engaged, and I can vouch. While I must admit there is waste, the money poured into this niche of the school system has gotten an order of magnitude better results from the kids.

Just wish all our sites had that dough.

My $0.02. Please don't sue or fire me.

After re-reading this thread, I'm in the wrong field 100k+?!?!

I know enough ins and outs, I ought to run.. crap. At least I know I'd be honest and do what is right even at 1/2 that salary.

Oregon voters will never vote for an operating levy again. Public salaries should be tied to local median salaries in the private sector, anyway. I don't think the school board cares about whether a levy passes. Most of an operating levy goes toward salaries and benefits of teachers/administrators. Many times they tell the public that they've frozen their wages, but in reality, they are getting yearly "step" increases in their salaries, which is in their contracts, so they really do get raises when they are saying that they don't.

That's why, if I have a child in Oregon, I would said him/her to Stritch before Oregon. Such a joke.

I know enough ins and outs, I ought to run.. crap. At least I know I'd be honest and do what is right even at 1/2 that salary.

Superintendent isn't an elected position. I believe the majority (if not all) have doctorate level degrees in education and have likely worked in some type of prior administrator position (principal, etc.).

P.S. My kids' school has those interactive smartboards you mentioned in every class - very cool technology!

Mom2 is correct, there are however, alternative qualifications for those aspiring to full licensure.
The state has also created a superintendents’ evaluation system designed to promote leader effectiveness.

The Oregon parents ought to have their own "occupy" site in front of Clay high school until either busing is reinstated or the raises are rescinded.

Charter schools.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2012/07/26/Oregon-school-chief-asks-for-1.html

It's good to see some positive changes in Oregon. The former Oregon School Board president recently resigned, and has been replaced by Kapfhammer.

Interesting read on the topic from Oregon's local paper. http://www.presspublications.com/from-the-press/9825-zalar-gives-pay-raise-back-to-the-school-district.
They have a few more tidbits about the story. Sounds like there was a recent power shift on the school board, with former president of the board Dick Gabel resigning and Kapfhammer getting the job as president. Kapfhammer, according to the article, campaigned last November against the raises. I'm sure with Kapfhammer now calling the shots, Zalar read the writing on the wall.