U-46 superintendent makes her exit

Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Connie Neale, on medical leave since last month, has submitted her official resignation.

School board members will vote Monday on whether to accept her resignation, board President Ken Kaczynski said in a statement Thursday.

The board has been anticipating Neale's retirement since she went on leave for undisclosed medical reasons Sept. 21.

The timing of her official resignation could further pad her already sizable retirement package.

In order to qualify for a pension in Illinois, teachers who have worked in the state for fewer than 10 years must turn 62 before they retire.

Neale turns 62 this month, according to public records.

Hired in August 2002, Neale reached five years of in-state service shortly before she announced her intention to go on leave.

For her five years with U-46, Neale will receive annual pension payments from the state for the rest of her life.

In the first year of retirement, her Illinois pension will be worth about $29,000, depending on a variety of factors, including how she chooses to collect on the more than 400 sick days the school board afforded her.

The pension will increase by 3 percent each subsequent year.

Neale also is eligible for pensions in Kansas and Texas, where she worked before coming to Elgin.

Neale's contract with U-46 calls for an array of post-retirement benefits, including contributions to her retirement account; pension credits and cash for unused vacation and sick days; and complete medical, dental and long-term care insurance for the rest of her life.

The medical, dental and long-term care insurance alone would be worth more than a half-million dollars if Neale lives to be 80.

Neale came under fire in January after the school board approved an amended pay package that included a $60,000 raise and brought her total pay with benefits to more than $400,000. School board member Dan Rich resigned in protest.

A Daily Herald analysis showed Neale's pay and benefits rank her among the top-paid school administrators in the nation in similarly sized districts.

Neale is now living in a house she owns in Missouri. She has sold her Elgin house, which she put on the market in May. At the time, Neale said she was downsizing and planned to buy a home in the area.

Neale's contract calls for the district to pay her moving expenses "to facilitate her transition either before or after her retirement."