Sunday • December 16, 2001

Despite raises, turnover strikes schools

By Marcie Grover/Reporter Staff

A strike and weeks of marching the picket lines earlier this year netted Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District teachers a two-year contract that brought them 10 percent raises in the first year and another 5.37 percent in the second year.

That pales in comparison, however, to some of the raises received by top administrators in the district, according to results of The Reporter's 24th Public Employees Salary Survey.

Salary adjustments, cost-of-living increases and movement up the salary scale caused the pay for some administrators to grow by as much as 26.2 percent from last year.

But even the hefty increases were not enough to deter a substantial number of management personnel from leaving the district.

The 2001 survey shows 18 management members gone from last year's list and 25 new names on the payroll.

"It's been a year of highs and lows," said Fairfield-Suisun Board of Education member Anne Griffin. "Unfortunately our contract negotiations took the lion's share of the year, but when it was over the teachers got their raise and we were able to get back to business as usual."

Griffin had no opinion on the turnover, which was much higher than that in the neighboring Vacaville Unified School District. In Vacaville, just six managers changed since last year's survey.

Fairfield-Suisun district officials did not return calls.

Despite the turnover, Fairfield-Suisun did manage to add seven more positions to its management team. The district has 105 people in its management ranks, supervising some 1,300 teachers, the most allowed by law. Those numbers dwarf Vacaville Unified's 44 administrators for 800 teachers. New positions created in Fairfield-Suisun include a combined position of Director of Student Services/Secondary Education taken on by John Stockton, a GATE coordinator, a recruitment specialist and a new planning position.

Fairfield-Suisun Superintendent Sharon Tucker joined The Reporter's unofficial "$125,000 Club" this year with a 16 percent jump in base salary to $139,873. A compensation package, which includes a retirement contribution and health benefits, brings her yearly total to $161,991, reflecting an 16 percent compensation jump from last year.

The largest salary jump was achieved by Literacy Coordinator Jean Veltema, whose duties were expanded from kindergarten to third-grade to kindergarten through high school, garnering a substantial 26.2 percent base pay increase and 22.7 percent compensation boost, bringing her new total compensation package to $97,594.

Vacaville Superintendent Richard Jackson is again in the "$125,000 Club." This year he received a 6.5 percent raise, bringing his base pay to $128,845.

Vacaville Unified also saw some new faces join the management ranks.

It added the position of assessment coordinator, filled by Mark Frazier in January. His duties include helping teachers review and evaluate test data to help formulate more effective teaching strategies. His base salary is $79,143, topped by a compensation package of a degree stipend, health benefits and retirement contribution totaling $94,145.

According to Lettie Allen, who filled the Deputy Superintendent of Administrative Services position vacated by Terry Beckham, the Vacaville finance department eliminated one position in anticipation of adding a financial analyst, a slot that is as yet vacant. The new analyst's duties will include budget development and monitoring, which will relieve the Director of Fiscal Services from the task of budget analysis, Allen said.

Vacaville Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Ron Hawkins said the only other personnel changes in management were lateral replacements in assistant principal positions.

In the Dixon Unified School District, managers saw little or no increase in their paychecks this year, with Superintendent Wally Holbrook receiving no raise. Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Tom Rahill saw the biggest increase, 6.7 percent, which came with his job change from business services director.

In the Travis Unified School District, managers typically received 10 percent to 15 percent raises. Custodial Supervisor David Florez topped the list with 22.8 percent, bringing his base pay to $48,699.

The Solano County Office of Education managers reaped some substantial raises in the wake of some restructuring and job title changes that gave staff new responsibilities.

Garnering the largest pay hike was Patrick Currier with a 41 percent jump that came when he left his position as information services manager to become network coordinator. Office of Education officials did not return calls to explain the nuances.

Six people got raises in the 15 percent to 21 percent range, with 17 managers receiving 9 percent to 14 percent increases.

• Marcie Grover can be reached at schools@thereporter.com.