District 62 OKs contract extension, 11% pay increase for superintendent

Des Plaines Elementary School District 62 has agreed to a pay increase of about 11 percent in a one-year contract extension with Superintendent Paul Hertel for the 2020-2021 school year.

The contract approved Wednesday by the school board will pay Hertel a salary of $239,777, an approximately $24,300 increase over his current pay to lead the district with about 4,700 students and a dozen schools. The school district also will contribute $60,000 toward Hertel's retirement plan if he retires after the two years and doesn't enter another contract.

"We are very pleased that Dr. Hertel will continue to serve in his capacity as superintendent of schools through 2021," school board President Stephanie Duckmann said in a news release. "He will be a visionary leader who will guide the district as we begin the next steps of implementing the newly-adopted District 62 Strategic Plan."

After 19 years as a teacher in Elgin Area Unit District 46, Hertel joined the district in 2006 as the human resources director and was promoted to assistant superintendent a year later. He became the acting superintendent in November 2017 after the resignation of former Superintendent Floyd Williams Jr. The school board named Hertel superintendent in June, entering a contract through the 2019-2020 school year.