Just as I suspected, Chicago school administrators are paid BIG money, while school
teachers are thrown under the bus because 'Chicago is broke'.
Really?
The article below proves it's wayyyy past time for a comprehensive financial audit of the Chicago school system.
We're supposed to believe the City of Chicago is "broke" financially, yet this is going on:
In the face of repeated red flags, school board members hiked the pay of a south suburban superintendent and fattened his pension to among the more lucrative in the state, the Tribune has found.
The superintendent, Alex Boyd Jr., was indicted last month on felony charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from West Harvey-Dixmoor District 147, a financially and academically struggling school system that he ran for more than a decade.
Boyd is accused of illegally cashing out months of sick and vacation time without board approval and racking up a five-figure credit card bill. The district's elected board secretary, Mable Chapman, also was indicted on felony charges. Prosecutors say she helped Boyd's alleged theft in exchange for meals and trips on the taxpayers' dime.
The charges stem from state and county investigations sparked back in 2005 — ones that school board members responded to by backing Boyd and making him one of the higher-paid superintendents in the region, both on the job and in retirement.
In the parade of news stories about questionable Illinois pension deals, Boyd's stands out for how board members, some of them implicated in the allegations of wasteful spending, ensured him a top pension despite the district's poor performance.
Boyd was paid about $250,000 a year in his final years on the job, placing him within the top fifth of superintendents across the Chicago region. He then retired in 2011 into a $192,000-a-year pension, the fifth-highest initial pension awarded that year for any retiring public school teacher or administrator across the state. Boyd, 65, stands to lose the pension if convicted.
Helloooo? Mayor Emanuel? Where's the merit pay demand from you for school Superintendents? Where's the "school Superintendents must be held accountable for their work- just like everyone else"??
????
Mr Boyd was paid BIG money as Superintendent-- what? 3-4 times more than the average teacher-- all while his school district is under performing?
Wait, there's more:
In 2002, school board members gave Boyd an unusual perk: They spent $105,000 — equal to more than two-thirds of his base salary — to refill his pension fund. Boyd had drained his contributions years earlier.
By the 2004-05 school year, Boyd's pay leapt into the top 12 percent of superintendents in the Chicago area. That year, the school board decided to give Boyd another pension perk: $37,000 to make sure the credits he earned would mean more money in retirement.
But soon controversy hit, bringing with it investigations that eventually would lead to Boyd's indictment.
Just before school started in August 2005, a Tribune article revealed that Boyd and board members spent tens of thousands of dollars on conference trips, limo rides and meals.
Limo rides? $Tens of thousands for "conferences". How nice.
This is exactly what many of here were getting at during the recent ((unresolved) Chicago school teacher's strike: there needs to be an AUDIT of the entire Chicago school system to determine where the finanical abuse/chicanery is at the upper management level.
The notion everything is OK/acceptable at the upper management level is obviously a load of nonsense.
The fact Chicago Mayor Emanuel says nothing about this is lame, and simply adds to the suspicion he's a union buster-- but he's OK with whatever upper management is being paid because-- well, "they deserve it".
http://www.chicagotribune.com/...