Study will address issue of discrepancies in pay for principals

Confusion about how the Beaufort County School District decides salaries for top school administrators has spurred a rash of complaints from employees and prompted a study to determine how some recently hired, lesser-experienced principals came to be paid more than their counterparts.

Jacqueline Rosswurm, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources, said her office has fielded several complaints over the past two weeks as administrators learned of salary discrepancies. She hosted two meetings -- one last week and another Monday -- to hear employees' concerns.

Lady's Island Middle School principal Terry Bennett said some at the meeting were upset because they don't understand what accounts for some fairly large differences in salaries.

"We've been told there's formula, but I don't know that many of us have seen it," he said.

For example, three elementary school principals hired this year -- Carmen Dillard at Coosa Elementary, Don Doggett at James J. Davis Elementary and Bob Grant at Joseph S. Shanklin Elementary -- make $85,000 or more, near the high end of the $77,000 to $89,000 current salary range for the position.

Also, Mona Lise Dickson, the first-year principal at Whale Branch Middle School, earns $91,963 -- more than any other middle school principal in the district. Before she came to Whale Branch, Dickson was an assistant principal, academic dean and in charge of the international studies school at Beaufort High School.

Bennett and Denise Smith at Robert Smalls Middle School earn less than $88,000 per year. Both have at least 10 years experience as principals. Sherry DeSimone, principal at Hilton Head Middle School for five years, makes $82,067 -- nearly $10,000 less than Dickson.The district has hired Dan Cobb, the retired former director of human resources for Richland School District II, to examine such discrepancies.

DeSimone and Smith said they would appreciate transparency.

"I don't have any doubt that it will be fixed, but how did it happen?" DeSimone asked.

Cobb will compare Beaufort County to similar districts in the state, develop a salary schedule for administrators and place current administrators on that schedule, according to a proposal provided by the school district. Previous salary studies for other types of school employees have resulted in pay raises and salary freezes, Rosswurm said.

Superintendent Valerie Truesdale said, "What we're working toward is consistency and continuity."

Rosswurm said she hopes Cobb's recommendations will be presented to the school board for approval in late January or February, along with a timeline for implementation. The board approved a salary study in July.

Rosswurm said she does not know why there are large discrepancies in administrative salaries.

"There are a lot of different adjustments that have happened throughout different periods to have salaries where they are today," Rosswurm said.

She said she has little historical perspective because the former superintendent for human resources resigned and the former director of human resources died. Rosswurm began working in the human resources department in September 2007

"Communication was limited," Rosswurm said. "There was a lot of mystery about what went on in human resources."

Truesdale said there is no master handbook that explains how salaries were established in the past because hiring policies in the district were not standardized until a few years ago.

Teachers are paid on a salary schedule that considers experience and education level.

A more flexible salary formula for administrators considers factors such as teaching and other administrative experience and advanced degrees. However, the formula apparently was applied inconsistently in the past, Rosswurm said.

The formula was used by human resources this year to hire the three new elementary school principals and Dickson. No salary negotiations took place, per school policy, Rosswurm said.

Rosswurm promised about 10 administrators at Monday's meeting that she would try to fix possible errors.

"I would not say we are beyond human error, but if we have made errors, we're trying to rectify them," she said, adding that she is now reviewing all of this year's administrative hires.

The district has conducted other salary studies in recent years, but it's not clear to what extent they influenced district policy.

For example, at Monday's meeting, Cindy Rini, assistant principal at H.E.Middle School, distributed a memo dated Jan. 16, 2007, that suggested that only in exceptional circumstances should new administrative hires receive a salary exceeding the middle point of the pay range for their position.

Rosswurm said she had never before seen the letter.

"All these caveats that are just beginning to surface," she said. "Issues are out there. We need to understand what they are."