TRUMBULL COUNTY School superintendent, principals receive new contracts with raises

The board accepted $50,000 from the estate of a relative of the village's founder.
By MARY R. SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
McDONALD -- The board of education has approved two-year contracts, including pay increases, for the superintendent and the high school and elementary school principals.
Superintendent Michael Wasser's new pact was approved Monday for two years, from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2006, with an increase in his salary from $70,000 to $72,100.
High school Principal John LaRocca's contract was approved for two years, from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2006, increasing his current salary from $66,094 to $68,076.
Roosevelt Elementary School Principal Tony Russo was also given a two-year contract from Aug. 1 through July 31, 2006, and his salary was raised from $60,702 to $62,523.
The pay increases are effective Aug. 1. The board resolution didn't address the issue of pay raises in the second year of the contracts.
Retirement system
The board also agreed to pay for half of Treasurer Thomas Radabaugh's School Employees' Retirement System starting Thursday, which will mean Radabaugh will not have to pay out $2,700 as he has been, and will pick up on his full SERS, $5,400, starting Jan. 1, 2005. Radabaugh makes $54,500 but had no salary adjustment.
Wasser said that the district has entered a lease agreement with IBM for four years for 91 new IBM computers at a cost of $87,000.
The new computers have been placed in the high school and elementary school computer labs and both libraries.
The old computers were moved into classrooms throughout the district, bringing the total number of computers in the schools to 200. Wasser and Radabaugh noted, however, that some of the computers are so old they may have to be discarded in the future.
The district can lease the computers for three years and keep them for $1, or renew the lease and be leased new computers after four years.
The board also accepted a donation of $50,000 from the estate of Florence F. Kelly to create a college scholarship in the name Henry Kelly. The Kelly family are descendants of Thomas McDonald, who founded the village, and Florence Kelly's husband, Henry, was a grandson of Thomas McDonald.
The McDonald Alumni Association is to set up guidelines for distribution of the scholarship, investing the funds to make the most yearly revenue growth and setting yearly minimum distribution. The board also approved an amended appropriation for the district for fiscal year 2004 totaling $6.478 million, which must be sent to the county auditor. Radabaugh said the actual year-end budget was within 1 percent of what was projected.