EDITOR: Although I was originally not planning on responding to
Superintendent Carolyn McKennan
’s rebuttal (it spoke plainly enough for her lack of leadership
and propensity for misinformation) related to her compensation
package, it has become necessary to provide some clarification
regarding extra-duty stipends.
EDITOR:
Although I was originally not planning on responding to Superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s rebuttal (it spoke plainly enough for her lack of leadership and propensity for misinformation) related to her compensation package, it has become necessary to provide some clarification regarding extra-duty stipends.
Numerous individuals, some claiming to be past NFL stars, are coming out the woodwork wanting to coach football (for the big money no doubt). I truly do wish that I made $10,457 coaching football at Live Oak – it would help to justify giving up my summer vacations and half of my weekends. But the sad truth is, that even a conservative time analysis would show compensation on the order of $2 an hour. Thank God that I get the satisfaction of working with a highly motivated, courageous, and honorable group of young men or half of my life would be a write off.
It is true that I did receive $10,457 in extra duty stipends last school year. This number comes from the $1216 (the extra duty unit value) time a total of 8.6 units. I received 2.6 of these units for serving as the head varsity football coach. I received one unit for serving as the head freshman coach, (a position that I assumed following the untimely departure of the freshman staff and a duty that increased my workday to 14 hours for three months.)
I received an additional 4 units of pay for giving up an athletics class and teaching a regular class in its place – a move that saved the district around $3000 after paying me the 4 units. I also received one last unit for winning a grievance against the district when forrmer Live Oak Principal Rich Knapp failed to honor a contract provision that he himself had negotiated. (Athletic coaches have a contract limit of two different academic preps, my schedule, Chemistry, AP Physics, CP Physics, and a combined AP and CP Physics, had no two classes alike).
It was nice to hear the superintendent’s assertion that I have an “annualized” salary of over $100,000. I’ll be sure to hire a financial adviser right after I ask my wife where it all went. Since the superintendent feels that summer time is worth the difference between my actual and fictitious (for her political spin) salary, perhaps that means that she is willing to pay summer school teachers $25,000. Our negotiators will have to keep that in mind.
Unlike the superintendent, teachers do a lot of extra duty at what amounts to greatly reduced rate to earn their extra duty stipends. The superintendent, on the other hand, has tried to equate her off-the-pay scale no-duty bonus to hard-earned extra-duty stipends.
What additional work did the superintendent do to earn a $35,000 stipend this year? The answer is none. Calling her bonus a stipend and burying it in her closely held contract and a different budget line was nothing short of a purposeful move to fly below the radar and guarantee herself an annual $5,000 per year raise. All the while teachers and service employees suffered increased workloads, layoffs, pay cuts in some cases, and well as the despotic self-serving leadership that is now clear to everyone.
Glen Webb,
head varsity football coach,
Live Oak High School
