Chief of Warren schools gets 2 percent pay raise

Board members looked at superintendent salaries across the state before establishing Hellweg’s pay.

STAFF report

WARREN — The city school board has approved a 2 percent pay raise for Superintendent Kathryn Hellweg that brings her pay to $121,766 per year.

Robert Faulkner, board president, said the increase was approved at a retreat Tuesday and gives the superintendent the same 2 percent pay increase other school district employees got for the 2008-09 school year.

One exception is that the board approved picking up for the first time Hellweg’s share of her Medicaid cost: $1,765 this year.

The board also agreed to pick up the Medicare cost for Treasurer Angela Lewis this year, Faulkner said.

The decision to grant Hellweg’s pay increase from $117,376 to $121,766, Faulkner said, came about after board members conducted their annual evaluation.

Faulkner said he took the evaluations of all five board members and condensed them into one form, which came up with a rating of “highly effective,” the third-highest rating of six choices. Being rated highly effective means Hellweg “very frequently meets standards,” Faulkner said.

Board member Patty Limperos said she agreed with the board’s pay raise and its evaluation of Hellweg, saying she is happy with the business aspects of the superintendent’s work over the past year in overseeing the construction of the new high school and four new K-8 buildings.

But she’s not satisfied with the district’s performance on its most recent state report card, which showed the district to be in academic watch, the category next to the bottom.

“There’s still a lot of academic work to do,” said Limperos, who has children in the school system.

“It’s really time to look at these numbers and hold the administration accountable if we don’t begin to see increases,” she said, regarding a similar evaluation she wants to see complete by the fall of next year.

Limperos said the board took the time to learn how much superintendents are paid in other similarly sized districts in similarly urban settings across the state. She said she is comfortable that Hellweg’s pay is fair on that basis.

As for picking up her Medicaid costs, the school board’s lawyer advised the board that picking up the superintendent’s and treasurer’s Medicaid payment has become standard across the state.