No Cuts In The School Salaries

May 26, 2011

The school salary list is once again topped by Guilford County School Superintendent Mo Green at $250,000 a year.

Green is by far the highest salary on any of the four salary lists we publish, which along with Guilford County Schools are Guilford County, Greensboro and High Point. He hasn't gotten a raise but, unlike many employees in the private sector, he hasn't gotten a reduction in pay either.

Most of the salaries at the top of the list are within a dollar of where they were last year. It appears the computer is rounding the salaries off differently, but we believe the exact amount is the same.

Last year there was a three-way tie for second on the Guilford County Schools salary list, and one of the three was Chief Administrative Officer Eric Becoats at $155,872. Becoats left to become the superintendent of Durham Public Schools and his position has not been filled. So that leaves two tied for second: Sharon Ozment, chief financial officer, with a salary of $155,873; and Beth Folger, chief academic officer, at $155,873.

The other changes at the top of the list are that Chief Operations Office Leo Bobadilla and Regional Superintendent for the Enrichment Region Lewis Ferebee are both gone.

Andy LaRowe was promoted from executive director for facilities and construction management at $109,943 last year, to chief operations officer at $135,000 this year. Getting a promotion and a raise of over $25,000 is good any year, but in this economy it is outstanding. The schools don't seem to have realized that it is a buyer's market when it comes to hiring and promoting employees. In the private sector many employers are paying less to fill open positions. In the schools they are paying the same, which is better than paying more, which some other government entities are doing.

John Eldridge, the current superintendent of the Enrichment Region, didn't get quite as big a raise. He went from executive director of the Enrichment Region last year at $118,825 to $133,000 in his new position.

The top principal on the list is once again Noah Rogers at $137,637, followed by Principal Kathryn Rogers at $132,480.

The top employee with "teacher" in the title is Phillip Hampton, teacher Junior Reserve Office Training Corps/Navy, who is being paid $80,172. Last year Hampton's salary was $78,441. So when the government wasn't giving raises he got a raise of over $2,000. Spot-checking other teacher salaries it appears most are exactly the same as last year, but some of the other Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps teachers also received raises.

He is the only teacher on the list who has passed the $80,000 mark, but there are 20 teachers whose salaries are over $70,000.

It is also pertinent that teachers' salaries are based on a 10 month teaching contract, which means if you want to compare those salaries to salaries of other non-teaching government jobs or jobs in the private sector, you need to divide the salary by 10 and then multiply by 12. For instance, a salary of $70,000 for a teacher is equivalent to a salary of $84,000 at a 12-month-a-year job.

We started off printing the salaries of all school employees over $50,000. Then we jumped to all salaries over $60,000, and this year we are printing all salaries over $62,500. But all the school salaries are available online at rhinotimes.com.

Most of the abbreviations used seemed fairly self explanatory. But here are a couple that may held you figure out the rest.

IB MYP Cood: International Baccalaureate middle years program coordinator

EC Path-SI: Exceptional children speech/language pathologist

EC Tr Ocs: Teacher of record-occupational course of study

CTE: Career and technical education

MP: Mission Possible

Click here for a PDF list of all Guilford County Schools salaries

Email Link

Feedback

Tags: Guilford County Schools

Hard to interpret without context
May 26, 2011 | 09:48 PM

Dear Sir,

As a taxpayer and supporter of informed participation in democracy, I applaud your efforts to make the readership aware of how money is spent. I am, however, dismayed by the omission of years of service, educational attainment, and similar contextual indicators that make this data interpretable. There also is error inherent in the presentation; not all positions listed are 12-month positions. Perhaps an index of parental involvement, student achievement, percentage of students served who receive a free school lunch, and percentage of students served who meet criteria for special services could be added into the equation for next year?

Regards,

Anonymous
May 27, 2011 | 11:22 AM

Your statement, "a salary of $70,000 for a teacher is equivalent to a salary of $84,000 at a 12-month-a-year job" is misleading. A teacher who makes $70,000 in ten months must stretch it to last 12 months. It's not as though they are making $84,000 a year. $70,000 is still $70,000. A teacher still has living expenses during those two months of the summer. They are basically "unemployed" for two months. Please do not mislead your readers into thinking teachers are being paid more than what they truly are.

GCS Employee
School Salaries
May 28, 2011 | 10:13 PM

While it may sound good to think a teacher may make $60,000 a year, please indicate this is after 30 plus years, a master's degree and other advancements that make the salary more. Also, realize that a college student going to work in a large company starts off around $54,000 usually with a bonus following. As a teacher (not making $60,000 or more), we have a tremendous amount of stress to deal with daily and continous throughout the day. Yes, we have the opportunity to teach our youth of today, but in doing so we have to deal with parents who aren't always supportive, admin, the state, and the public in general who thinks that all we have to do is sit at our desk all day and the students quickly pick up the material and then we can leave at 4:00. The school day doesn't end at 4:00 for most teachers. Teaching has become a fairly thankless job, teachers seem to be the scape goat for any and everything that goes wrong in society.

Anonymous
Salaries
May 29, 2011 | 12:55 PM

Thank you for sharing GCS school emoloyee salaries. I think the Rhino Times is one of the better student papers out there. I actually think that many of the top salaries should be reduced to pay teachers more. For any teacher to get the authors at the Times to write like they are in high school is a huge accomplishment! Thanks for the article!

Bill
Yeah Right!!!
May 30, 2011 | 09:03 PM

"He hasn't gotten a raise but, unlike many employees in the private sector, he hasn't gotten a reduction in pay either".....Are you a Democrat or what?!?!? NOBODY IN GCS GOT A REDUCTION IN PAY (not without getting a differen job). AND EVEN IF THEY DID THIS IS NOT THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Why should HE have to take a cut. If it was the private sector the salaries would be much higher. Thats your mentality, the rich get richer while the poor sit and watch an do nothing to better themselves but complain about the rich. If you are jealous that they make more than you, go back to school to better yourself and make more money. Im not even on the list, when and if I ever do get on it all I have to look forward to is the scrutiny that comes with it from the bottom feeders who talk about the people on the top of this list.

Anon
What a Joke
May 31, 2011 | 12:37 PM

Your contention that 10 months equals 12 months is asinine. Teachers are "officially" unemployed during the Summer. However most attend workshops, training, prepare lessons, and other activities all Summer, for which they receive no extra pay.

List your pay Mr. Hammer. I know you will not. You will claim that you do not have to. But if you are really interested in fair, then be fair all around.

Face it, your only desire is to sell advertising. So you use articles like this to make your salary higher.
Don't mislead yourself.
May 31, 2011 | 06:41 PM

"(Teachers) are basically "unemployed" for two months. Please do not mislead your readers into thinking teachers are being paid more than what they truly are."

Teachers have unpaid time off of two months/year - time with which they are free to do what they may including getting a temporary job.

Sheesh.
Scared
June 01, 2011 | 08:06 AM

So, this is not really a public forum. Why would you not post my comment about your salary?
Flabbergasted
June 01, 2011 | 04:32 PM

I tell you one thing, if another kid comes to my door wanting to sell something for school to attain money for their schools, I'm going to tell them their teaches/principals/administration salaries are burning up majority of the education finances. I'll never purchase another item from a child! I had no idea the salaries were that high within education. I no longer feel for them, that's for sure!! Our entire office is speechless over the salaries. Stress?? We all have stress with our jobs and bonuses?? No, bonuses are something of the pass unless you're in the banking business. I would love to have a salary of $70k with two months off. I would have no problem making the dollars stretch. I placed this story on my Facebook & friends are amazed as well as shocked over the salaries.

Shannon
Competitive salaries
June 02, 2011 | 02:24 PM

For the most part these are fairly competitive salaries, I know managers at a fortune 500 company that has to manage a whole lot of employees and are usually the first to go because of high salaries make about some of the admin get paid. I think the superintendent need a pay cut to about 170k but everything else seems about right in book. Some teacher could get paid more or maybe they can work out some kind of bonus system for student success.

Dan Donovan
Easy for you to say
June 03, 2011 | 06:14 PM

I know you feel as though you are doing a great service in reporting this information and it is appreciated somewhat. However, whether inadvertently or intentionally, you've left out some pertinent information that would weigh heavily on this article. You state that if educators were paid on a twelve month scale as opposed to 10 months teachers would make an extreme amount of money. It is an entertaining thought but since teachers dont get paid for two months, it's futile to discuss. It's like saying if a potato was a tomatoe it would be very hard to chew (sort of like your point in this article. By the way, the only way teachers receive money in the summer is because they have taken the initiative to spread out the 10 month allotment into 12 month installments.
So let's revisit your scenario from a more realistic view. A ten month employee (teacher) making 70,000 spreads his or her wages over twelve months so instead of making 7,000/mo. over a ten month period, the teacher now receives 5833.33. That's a loss of 1166.67 (17% of monthly income). Now the only reason I used the 70,000 figure was because that's what you used. The majority of teachers in this district dont make that and those who do have either been in this career for 28+ years and made the sacrifice of going back to school to attain advanced degrees and certifications. I would like to point out that this salary range is reflective of the extremely large districts such as GCS, Wake Co., and Charlotte/Meck which thankfully include substantial supplements. You do know what a supplement is, dont you? It supplements or helps your actual state salary, which is not anywhere near that 70,000 mark.
Now you need to weigh in the countless hours teachers put in at home with lesson planning, calling parents to inform them of their children's success or lack of, receiving calls from parents, being stopped at the store, movies, or restaurant by concerned parents (because that's what concerned parents want from teachers...the best that they can offer their children...all of the time)- most times disregarding their own families; and the hours at school because they want to be able to give their families at home some time, and the countless paperwork. Oh and dont forget monetary contributions to help students who need assistance with buying prom attire, basic clothing for school, hygene essentials, and food to eat (lunch and home). And last but certainly not least the disrespect and swearing students use at teachers because they feel they can do it, especially since other adults disrespect teachers as well. The funny thing about that is that after teachers are blatantly disrespected by these students, those same teachers would have to save those students lives if they are threatened even to the point of personal sacrifice. They practice fire drills, tornado drills, campus emergency drills every month...I'm sure you think it's nothing.
With that I would like to close by asking what's your salary, is it public record? Are you free to discuss it? Just curious.

Unknown
And the rest of us?
September 09, 2011 | 12:08 PM

I am quite sure there are specific individuals that manage to make substantial salaries with the title "teacher" attached to their name, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find an English, Math, or Science teacher that faces EOC's and county tests that makes anything close to 80k. After enough years teaching that I'm well accustomed to the pressure of state tests, I still make less than nurses (with only 2 year degrees) and my car mechanic. Please don't take that to mean I should be paid more than them for what I do. It is only to say that the base pay for teachers is NOT good, and its difficult to hear people discussing high teacher's salaries without pointing out that the rest of us just don't make that much. No one comes into teaching to get rich. We understand that when we start, but please don't make it sound like most teachers are burning up education funds with their salaries. We can discuss what administrators should or shouldn't be paid. 250k is a lot!!! 30k isn't. It's not minimum wage, but please don't imply that we're in here getting rich from our 12 hr days.

Reader Feedback Submission

Use this form to submit Reader Feedback. Your submission will be reviewed by our staff before appearing on the Web site.

* required value

News

Opinion

No Cuts In The School Salaries