Oswego 308 has seen many new hires for the 2012-13 school year over the last couple of months.
With that in mind, here is a compiled list of the 20 highest paid administrators for the 2012-13 school year.
All of this information is public record and can be found at the District 308 website. We post this information because we think it will be of interest to our readers, many of whom are taxpayers who foot the bill.
Patch has also created a searchable database for the 2010-2011 school year for all teachers and administrators at any school in the state of Illinois, which can be used as a good comparison tool.
Name Position Base Salary TRS Pension Contribution Total Annual Salary Matthew Wendt Superintendent $225,000.00 $10,234.96 $235,234.96 Paul O'Malley Assistant Superintendent $180,000.04 $18,675.50 $198,675.54 Jeffery Craig Oswego East High School Principal $131,100.01 $13,601.99 $144,702.00 Ralph Kober Traugher Jr. High Principal $121,482.66 $12,604.16 $134,086.82 Michael Wayne Oswego High School Principal $121,248.17 $12,579.83 $133,828.00 John Sparlin Executive Director of Admin. Services $115,000.39 $11,931.61 $126,932.00 Carla Johnson Director of Teaching and Learning $114,528.37 $11,882.63 $126,411.00 Christine Nelson Director of Student Services $95,130.00 $9,870.00 $105,000.00 David Brusack Lakewood Creek Elementary Principal $92,150.17 $9,560.83 $101,711.00 Pamela Jensen Bednarcik Jr. High Principal $90,250.28 $9,363.72 $99,614.00 Brent Anderson Murphy Jr. High Principal $86,523.00 $8,977.00 $95,500.00 Shannon Lueders Thompson Jr. High Principal $86,523.00 $8,977.00 $95,500.00 Christine Smith Long Beach Elementary Principal $86,070.00 $8,930.00 $95,000.00 Jeffery Schafermeyer Boulder Hill Principal $84,102.17 $8,725.83 $92,828.00 Allison Sulkson Wolf's Crossing Elementary Principal $83,505.11 $8,663.89 $92,169.00 Darren Howard Oswego High School Athletic Director $83,352.00 $8,648.00 $92,000.00 Misael Nascimento Director of ELL/Dual Lang. and AT $83,252.34 $8,637.66 $91,890.00 Melinda Renier Homestead Elementary Principal $83,252.34 $8,637.66 $91,890.00 Janet Demont Wheatlands Elementary Principal $82,046.45 $8,512.55 $90,559.00 Jodi Ancel Old Post Elementary Principal $81,730.26 $8,479.74 $90,210.00Want free local news in your inbox every morning? Sign up for our newsletter.
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I think what you will find is a bunch of jealous people who would not last a week inthe classroom. i"m no teacher, but that is because i do not have the credentials. they don't just hand those out to anyone. People who work to achieve the credentials that teachers and administrators have understand the "value" that MUST be attached. In short, people, quit whining about the salaries of people whose job you are not qualifiied to do. Just accept it and be thankful that people want to work in our district
Do you actually think that is is none of our business to know where our money is going? Welcome to Russia.
I'm self employed and have to prove my worth to my clients everyday and have no problem running my business subject to the free marketplace. I don't have to threaten my clients in order to command my fees. My clients gladly pay me for the results that I'm able to achieve. I don't get a group of my peers together to threaten our clients in our to prove our worth. We'll leave that to the public sector employees.
That's a lot of BS. First of all, technology has allowed for more testing and grading to be completed on computers rather than doing it by hand. Furthermore, most schools give teachers time during the day that is not teaching time in order to grade papers. It's interesting how many teachers also are in the real estate bussines if they don't have any free time. And personal development is interesting too. How much more education does a grade school teacher need in order to be successful? There are far too many teachers who get advanced degrees when those degrees simply add nothing to the results that they obtain. There are many highly qualified people who have been laid off in the private sector because job security isn't guaranteed simply by having an advanced degree. Yet, it is common in the public sector to keep doling out more money for advanced degrees regardless of the success in the classroom. Again, your school teachers who are NEA members are part of a nationwide group with about a 25% dropout rate. And take a look at the District's report card and you can see quite clearly that neither high school has met federal education standards. That's all that matters. The teachers, irrespective of their credentials, are doing an awful job for a high price.
The demands on a grade school teacher are constantly changing and the need for professional development is strong. RtI, Common Core Standards, Gretchen Courtney Reading strategies, OWL, PBIS, (I can go on if you don't get the point) etc. etc. etc. Teachers don't just learn how to effectively integrate these new initiatives magically. They have to be trained and/or receive education on them. I don't really know the demands of your job...and you don't really know the demands of mine. Job security isn't guaranteed by having an advanced degree (or with tenure) anymore in Illinois. Read up on Senate Bill 7, which was passed last year. Graduation rates have actually trended upward since the 1980's. If you include students who take longer than 4 years to graduate and GED students, the dropout rate is 10.2%. This number has trended upward from 16.1% in 1980. I can cite my source if you wish. Do you blaim the NEA for this upward trend in graduation rates? Oswego District 308 has gone from 70% composite percentage of meets and exceeds on all testing in 2002 to 84% in 2011. NCLB says that 100% of students will meet or exceed by 2014. So by not hitting that goal...is Oswego a failure of a district?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU
http://www.familytaxpayers.org/salary.php
Did you read what you wrote? You think it's a success when someone takes longer than 4 years to graduate high school? You also want to take credit when someone gets a GED which could be many years later than when they were supposed to graduate? That's really grasping at straws in order to skew the numbers. You can interprete the failure of the schools to meet federal standards any way you want. I seem to remember most of the schools not meeting NCLB goals either, and there were all sorts of excuses for that too. Everything I need to know is in the school report cards and you are not doing a good job.
Teaching is both a vocation and a calling. If money is the primary reason a person enters the field of education, then we don't need them teaching our kids. Now that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay our teachers a decent wage and benefits, it simply means that we shouldn't feel we are competing with the surrounding districts and have to match their salaries. If you want to keep laying that game, just look at your tax bill and he amount that goes to the school. See if you really think its needed.That's what got us into the 225 grand a year Superintendent cycle in the first place! Let the other districts go broke or tax their citizens out of their homes,,,,we do not need to play that game.
Using the apples to oranges comparisons that I have been reading, trying to compare private sector to public sector jobs (which isn't possible) NCLB in the private sector would be the equivalent of demanding all companies with 2 employees must have 3 million dollars in revenue by 2016 or else you will be taken over or shut down. Obviously that statement I just made is ridiculous just like demanding that all students need to be proficient to a perfect level is absurd. Teachers don't have control over many aspect of their environment like whether the student slept the night before, whether they ate, whether they saw their parents the night before, are they under the influence of drugs or 30 other variables out of their control. When teachers dare try to improve the environment they can control like class size they are instantly labeled selfish. I am NOT from the mentality of I am struggling with the economy so therefore everyone should suffer.
"That's what got us into the 225 grand a year Superintendent cycle in the first place! " (try advertising this job at $125K per year and see the "quality" of candidate that applies. you get what you pay for) "If money is the primary reason a person enters the field of education, then we don't need them teaching our kids." (this is just ignorant) "Now that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay our teachers a decent wage and benefits, it simply means that we shouldn't feel we are competing with the surrounding districts and have to match their salaries." (who should determine what a decent wage is? you? that's laughable)
You said you could easily run a classroom and have experience there. Why did you get out of teaching? You have said yourself that teachers are overpaid and work low hours. Why leave that gig? By the way, you said you run your own business. Did you pay yourself for Monday, October 29, when you spent the entire day bashing people instead of working yourself? Do your employees think you are overpaid if you can spend an entire work day posting comments? You have a nice day Mike.
I specifically mentioned Naperville and Plainfield because that's who was in the recent article from the Patch.
I worked 28 years in the private sector, making well into 6 figures for most of that time, before opting to enter education. So please don't belittle me and many like me that did not just enter education to rip off the public! DH
Can you say "Geneva"?