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Care to know how much $$$$ the administration at your school is raking in?! Disgusting.
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Anonymous
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A recent thread asked independent school teachers to list their salaries. Many of the replies were shocking to me. I had no idea teachers made so little when they are the heart and soul of a school and the real reason we are paying $$ to send our kids to private. Administration of a school is important as well but I see no reason for the large disparity in salary between administration and staff. The top salary information for non-profit schools are available online - it's public information from the IRS form 990. Here is what I easily found for 4 popular DC area privates. Search for your school here:
http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/esearch.php Read it and weep. I'm disgusted. Maret - 2009 HOS - $332,358 + $62,672 Business Manager - $202,790 + $28,534 Director of Development - $123,383 + $19,104 Director of Lower School - $105,325 + $11,890 Director of Middle School - $100,414 + $16,260 Director of Admission - $106,996 + $17,793 Director of Academic Affairs - $105,409 + $14,603 GDS - 2009 HEAD OF SCHOOL $479,256 + $85,255 CFO $200,312 + $25,749 hs principal $ 157,162 + $22,330 dir of develop $131,480 + $50,801 MS PRINCIPAL $180,625 + $14,130 LS principal $130,045 + $16,862 language dept chair $119,126 + $18,531 Sidwell ** 2004 *** The Most Recent 990 Available. No doubt the salaries are much higher now. LS PRINCIPAL $154,000 + $26,182 DIR FIN&ADM $160,650 + $20,056 DIR . OF Development $159,000 + $19,917 US PRINCIPAL $115,625 + $ 29,106 PRINCIPAL $110 000 + $ 19 296 Holton Arms - 2009 HEAD OF SCHOOL $253,391 + $123,052 CFO $ 164,107 + $22,579 DIR OF ENROLMENT $122,761 + $17,505 UPPER SCHOOL $121,062 + $68,122 MIDDLE SCHOOL $105,684+ $18,600 LOWER SCHOOL $130,584 + 0 |
Anonymous
| Why are you disgusted? The skill set one needs to be a successful head of school is very different from the skill set one needs to be a good teacher. You will probably find bigger differences between the CEO of a hospital and a front-line doctor or resident. Or a University president and an average professor etc etc. A bad teacher can be easily replaced. A bad head of school can make a horrible mess that affects a lot of folks' lives adversely. |
Anonymous
| All less than I make and my job is 10 times easier than theirs. The head of school of a school with c. 1000 students (which most of the ones list have) is a big job. |
Anonymous
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"Oh I used to be disgusted
And now I try to be amused. But since their wings have got rusted, You know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes. But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain, That's when I knew that I could not refuse. And I won't get any older, now the angels wanna wear my red shoes. Oh-oh." -Elvis Costello Srsly, how does any of this surprise you? HOS these days, is a dirty, dirty job. |
Anonymous
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Not OP here, but I think she's disgusted b/c the schools claim to be providing the best EDUCATION for the money, not the best ADMINISTRATION for the money. Last I checked, it was the teachers that provided that education!
If it's really about the administration of the school, that suggests that it may be about marketing over substance, something many of us worry about quite a bit. |
Anonymous
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I'm not particularly offended or surprised by the compensation levels listed here. But I am curious why there are no 990s for St Albans or NCS. Are they considered religious institutions and thus exempt from reporting obligations? Any tax lawyers know the answer to that one?
Out of curiosity, I checked a few other well-regard schools in other states (Brearley in NY, Deerfield in MA, and Andover in MA), and their highly compensated employees are at similar levels. |
Anonymous
| OK, so I'm a bit amused as well (love Elvis Costello). What surprises and disgusts me though is how much less the private school teachers make. Fine, pay the HOS the big bucks but why such a large pay gap between the top of the school and the teachers? Do any teacher salaries even come close? Even the superintendents of major public school systems don't come close to making as much as these HOS. |
Anonymous
I'm not sure that's correct. Per this report, Jerry Weast (former super of MontCo schools) was making $490,000 in 2007-08. Here's a 2007 WaPo article on this exact topic -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901910.html -- which notes that even despite the significant salaries, many schools struggle to find qualified candidates. |
Anonymous
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ETA: Weast report is here ...
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2009/07/weast-highest-compensation-package.html |
Anonymous
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And here is a list (from 2006) of 500 educational salaries in Montgomery County. Many are pretty high.
http://www.gazette.net/specialfeatures/salaries/top500education.html |
Anonymous
In fact, it looks like the salaries for public school principals are pretty comparable to those for the private school principals. And if you assume the private school heads are roughly comparable in job description to the county superintendent, those salaries look pretty comparable too. |
Anonymous
| Teachers work for about 9 months a year. Administrators tend to work a full-time+ schedule all year long. Just something to account for part of the differential. Though I agree teachers should be paid well. |
Anonymous
| BTW, just to be clear, posts 15:35 - 15:43 were all me. I was not trying to sock pocket, but just extending my own comments. Sorry to clog the thread. |
Anonymous
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So if you go to work in education, you don't deserve pay?! If you go to work in education you take a vow of poverty?!
Agree that teachers- -public or private- - deserve a higher paycheck. Lastly, if I had to deal with the hyper-competative a$$hole parents that populate this city, I am not sure these salaries would compensate!! |
Anonymous
Yes, but those Division Directors and Heads of School deserve the money they are making. They have VERY difficult jobs and spend hour and hours away from their families. I would personally love to move into an administrative job but can't because I do not want to be away from my children for so many hours every week. But yes, we the teachers make nothing what we are worth. Although it is really furstrating to know that some teachers have been teaching for thirty years and are terrible teachers tuck in their ways and make 100,000 a year for ...nothing. |