The lowest-paid superintendent in Pennsylvania is among a shrinking number of administrators who don’t jump to other districts seeking higher compensation.
“We had plans for a business manager,” Brady said while passing an empty office near his desk. “Down the road.”
He also serves as the business manager for the Schuylkill County district.
Brady, 79, works for no salary. He officially retired in 2002 and started taking his state pension. He mostly works for the cost of his health insurance.
Without a business manager, Brady is on his own when recommending that his school board raise taxes.
“Since I have to raise the taxes, I figured that I would help lessen the burden that’s passed on,” Brady said. “I wanted to give something back before I go.”
Minersville was among the state’s 501 school districts to receive a request from the Mirror for superintendents’ contracts.
“I have been superintendent of Minersville Area since 1974 and have never had a written contract,” Brady wrote. “My salary for 2007-08 is $0.00. This will mark the sixth year of service without a paid salary.”
Brady says his family collectively has 268 years of service in the district. He started there in 1962 as a principal and was promoted to superintendent in 1974. With the portrait of former superintendent Edward A. Brady nearby, Brady acknowledged there is no family member following his path.
A Mirror analysis of superintendent contracts and state records shows few superintendents likely will stay in their positions longer than Brady essentially has worked for free.
About 59 percent of Pennsylvania districts have superintendents serving their first contract. That means more than half of those administrators have led their districts for less than five years, the longest contract state law allows.
The movement is widespread, with few counties spared turnover. There are 57 Pennsylvania counties with multiple school districts. In 10 of those counties, more than half of the superintendents are serving a second contract.
Stinson Stroup, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, says change sometimes is positive for both parties. The change usually provides a superintendent greater compensation.
“I think [school boards] are very reluctant to give them the increment in salary to keep them from moving to another district, so they don’t have to take the immediate pressure from the salary bump,” Stroup said.
In lieu of a higher salary, school boards must find methods of compensation to retain a good superintendent or hope there is personal or professional satisfaction that overrides greater compensation.
“Money isn’t the answer to everything,” said Williamsburg Community Superintendent Lee Swinsburg, who has served for about 22 years in the job.
Like others serving multiple contracts, Swinsburg said he knows there was greater financial opportunity for him elsewhere.
“What makes me stay here is the fact that I’ve got good people in the school district, a nice little community; people are cooperative and do what’s right,” Swinsburg said. “I wouldn’t trade our kids pound for pound for anybody.”
Blair County has one of the lowest new-superintendent ratios in the state. With seven school districts, only Spring Cove Superintendent Rodney Green is serving in his first contract.
Claysburg-Kimmel Superintendent James O’Harrow says he has a few more years left before leaving the schools he has led since 1983.
“People say, ‘How long you staying in Claysburg, Jim?’ I’m waiting for Tyrone to open up,” O’Harrow says, obviously joking. There hasn’t been a superintendent search in Tyrone for years.
Tyrone’s Superintendent William Miller is one of the longest-serving superintendents in the state.
Miller declined a request for an interview.
None of the men cites great compensation when asked why they stay. They know that a decision to remain means forfeiting greater financial gain elsewhere.
The Mirror’s analysis shows that this kind of retention can save taxpayers money.
O’Harrow is paid $95,000 in salary annually, meaning he is paid about $102 per student. When compared to other school districts with 500-1,000 students, O’Harrow ranks 28th out of 57 in salary paid per student.
“If you’re in it for the money of it, move, keep going,” O’Harrow says. “But it isn’t always the best way for every person.”
Altoona Area Superintendent Dennis Murray has served in that position since 1984. Even when adding the guaranteed $6,000 annual travel stipend to his $150,135 salary, Murray still ranks 361 of 386 districts in the state when comparing pay per student.
The other school districts have contracts without salary information or haven’t responded to the Mirror’s request.
“Most superintendents become vagabonds,” Murray said. “You have to understand that before you take the job. You’re not going to stay in one place very long.”
Murray said it’s a challenge for any superintendent to satisfy a majority of a school board. He credits his longevity in the position to the 10 years he has served as a member of the Hollidaysburg Area school board.
Lakeland Superintendent Margaret Billings-Jones is in the final year of her five-year contract. It is her first contract as superintendent at Lakeland. It didn’t take long after she started as superintendent for other offers to arrive. She says she received two inquiries from nearby districts in her first year.
“The money is there if you want to move around for it,” Billings-Jones says. “I’m certainly pleased to work within the means of the district that I’m working for.”
Garnet Valley Superintendent Anthony Costello said he has seen about 70 superintendents pass through Delaware County during his 17 years in that job.
He said the length of service in one place has decreased, and fewer people apply for the jobs.
“People look at the salary and say, ‘I’d really like that salary,’ but nobody wants the job,” Costello said.
TUESDAY: It was very difficult to obtain some of the salaries.
