School chief's salary package is alarming
I was shocked going over the article of the new contract for the superintendent of Northwest Suburban High School District 214. I agree that Mr. Schuler probably does deserve the new contract for the work he has done - but am concerned the contract was agreed upon in a closed-door session of the board. Why wasn't the public invited to discuss this new contract? The item that surprised me the most was his compensation.
They give him an extra $43,000 for annuity and his contribution to the Illinois Teacher Retirement System. What was that amount? The 37 sick days per year, really! I am going to assume that if he doesn't use them, he will be able to redeem them at the end of his contract. That comes to an extra $48.367 per year out of the taxpayers' pockets.
If he gets an increase every year, that amount goes up again. Most private companies may give up to 20 sick days a year, if some employees are lucky. Another note, they don't get paid for them if they don't use them. The same goes for vacation, if after two years you have more days on the book than your total vacation days, you lose them.
Every time you read about a public official getting released out of their contract, they get paid for all their unused vacation time. The base salary includes the vacation cost; why add to it if they don't use the days? Then the public wonders why their taxes are going up.
I put the blame on the school boards and lack of common sense. The excuse I hear is that we have to give the new individuals more perks or they will not agree to the new contract. I am sure there are other qualified candidates out there. This gives the new candidates more leverage, as they use the old contract as a tool to get even more.
Paul R. Gasiorowski
Palatine