COD set to ink three-year contract with new president
College of DuPage trustees are expected to approve a three-year contract Thursday with Ann Rondeau, a retired Navy vice admiral who will become the school's first woman president.
Trustees will vote on the tentative pact during a special meeting at 7 p.m. at the Glen Ellyn-based college.
"The board has made every effort to be transparent as to the terms and, moreover, to also avoid errors that were seen with the contract of the prior president," Chairwoman Deanne Mazzochi said Wednesday.
Rondeau will receive a $325,000 base salary in the first year of the agreement. The board would then determine annual pay raises of no more than 6 percent for the remaining years of the pact.
That cap would allow the college to avoid paying penalties established in a state law meant to discourage school districts from awarding late-career pay raises that boost educator pensions.
Rondeau, 64, signed the contract Tuesday, one day after the board voted 4-0 to hire her. Trustees Dianne McGuire and Joseph Wozniak voted "present." Trustee Erin Birt abstained.
She was selected after a monthslong nationwide search that also found two other finalists: Elgin Community College President David Sam and Barbara Kavalier, district president of Navarro College in Texas.
Rondeau's proposed contract contrasts sharply with that of her predecessor, Robert Breuder, who was fired last fall and criticized for his spending at a college-owned restaurant, a college-paid membership at a private hunting club and other perks.
Breuder's controversial $763,000 severance package helped inspire a state law signed in September by Gov. Bruce Rauner that limits community college severance deals to one year of pay and benefits. The law also restricts the length of contracts for community college administrators to four years.
Rondeau's contract goes a few steps further. The agreement would run three years - from July 1 to June 30, 2019 - and caps any severance deal at 75 percent of her annual base salary.
Breuder's contract also called for automatic, one-year extensions every April 1, unless either he or the board gave written notice of their intent to terminate it. Those contract extensions, which began in 2010 and were not made public, helped drive up the cost of the $763,000 severance awarded to Breuder in January and later revoked.
Rondeau's proposed contract includes no automatic renewals. She would be evaluated by the board in annual reviews and have to submit monthly expense reports and "substantiating documentation." Whether the college would reimburse her for those expenses would be subject to review and approval by the board at a public meeting.
The board also would publicly sign off on paying any membership dues to service and civic organizations Rondeau wants to join within the boundaries of the community college district. Rondeau would have to explain the reasoning for paying more than $500 to any such group a year, or more than $5,000 in total yearly dues.
Rondeau also would receive benefits comparable to those provided to other senior administrators, college officials said Monday. Those include sick leave, medical insurance, a qualified annuity contribution up to $18,000 and computer and Internet access.
Rondeau now lives in Vienna, Virginia. If necessary, the college would reimburse her for temporary housing and travel expenses. Over the life of the contract, COD could reimburse her for costs for attending educational conferences or similar activities "commonly extended" to other administrators.
• Daily Herald staff writer Robert Sanchez contributed to this report.