By Steve Rhodes
“Newly installed Chicago School Board members Wednesday will be asked to approve six-figure salaries for new Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and four other new top executives that represent raises over what their predecessors were paid,” the Sun-Times reports.
“The vote on whether to boost executive Chicago Public School salaries comes only a week after the same board members, in their first official action, found the deficit-ridden system did not have enough money to pay for 4 percent raises to teachers and other unionized school workers worth $100 million.”
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The more Rahm says change, the more things remain the same.
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“Brizard’s base salary of $250,000 is $20,000 more than predecessor Ron Huberman made before taking furlough days; more than the $213,000 drawn by the New York City Schools Chancellor, and more than any other city executive – including Mayor Rahm Emanuel – except for New Police Chief Garry McCarthy.”
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“Chief CPS Communications Officer Becky Carroll is in line for a base of $165,000 – up from her predecessor’s $130,383 and higher than the base salary of mayoral communications chief Christine Mather, who is taking home $162,492.”
Well, that makes sense. Carroll is expected to do two percent more lying than Mather.
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“CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley is due for a $215,000 salary, up from his predecessor’s $179,167 . . . board members will be asked to give Cawley a two-year, rather than the traditional six-month, extension to move into the city to meet residency requirements. Cawley is a Winnetka resident and he and his wife would like their daughter, adopted a year ago from the Ukraine, to finish seventh and eighth grade in the suburbs before the family uproots and moves to Chicago, Carroll said.”
I sure hope they get a long-term commitment from Cawley in writing – or a refund provision – because I have this weird feeling that after two years he’ll be out of CPS anyway and he’ll never have to move to the city.
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I really want to choke on Becky Carroll’s salary. After all, the median household income in Chicago is $38,625. (And just $41,994 nationally.)
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In fact, just 6.24 percent of Americans aged 15 and over make more than $100,000 a year. Becky Carroll, staunch Democrat who worked for the Obama campaign and describes herself as progressive, is a fat cat.
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How anyone can take raises in this environment is beyond me. Carroll is taking $35,000 more than her predecessor – the equivalent of the median income of one Chicago household.
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“Carroll said she expects to also be in charge of internal and external communications as well as media.”
So?
If she’s intimating – but doesn’t yet know even though her salary has been set – that she’ll have more responsibilities than her predecessor, all I have to say to that is: Join the club.
Teachers are getting larger classrooms and they’re getting raked over the coals.
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Carroll’s husband makes $$63,005.11 from his job as an operations project manager for IDOT, so their household income will be in rarefied air. It might not seem like it from our political debates and media images, but only 2.67 percent of all U.S. households make more than $200,000.
Now that elite group includes the communications director of a school district with a $712 million deficit.
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Carroll’s salary is also close to that of union president Karen Lewis.
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Not that union management is to be commended. While Sneed was stymied today in her attempt to learn what Lewis makes, we can get a pretty good idea from what her predecessor made.
“Now it is possible to look back [on] how the former CTU leaders were doing while Marilyn Stewart held power in the union (from August 2004 through June 30, 2010),” Substance reported in February.
“Federal documents on the pay of former union officials are now publicly available.
“Former CTU President Marilyn Stewart took the top prize with her $178,116 salary in 2009 – coupled with her part-time $95,000 salary as an officer (secretary treasurer) of the Illinois Federation of Teachers . . .
“When the new CTU officers were first sworn in last summer, they announced they would cut the officer salaries to what they would earn as teachers according to their years of service and degrees earned, but prorate it to a 12 month salary, which would add an extra two months of pay which teachers don’t receive during the summer. The same formula has been applied to all CTU workers hired by the new leadership.
“However, CTU salaries are still quite high.
“According to the CTU pay and benefits comparison spreadsheet distributed recently, the Stewart compensation average for field representatives was $191,026, but has increased to $199,528 due to the pay raises in their Teamster union contract, which is guaranteed until the end of the 2011 school year.”
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Of course, Sneed was probably fed the question about Lewis’s salary by someone at CPS – maybe even Carroll – who knew the story about their salaries was coming.
The Big Man In Chicago
In 1996, Clarence Clemons doubled as a Fox Chicago reporter and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Trekkie Town
In 1975, a landmark Star Trek convention was held in Chicago.
Dunn vs. Pena
Our very own Dan O’Shea got it right – so far.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Fascinating.
Posted on June 22, 2011