Gilroy
– Pay for the new superintendent will be somewhere in the realm
of $187,000.
Gilroy – Pay for the new superintendent will be somewhere in the realm of $187,000.
The Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to append the job posting they put up for a new superintendent earlier this month to include that pay for the position would be in line with that received by the last district superintendent and superintendents in similar districts.
“We are going to give Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates” – the search firm charged with finding the next superintendent – “direction that the Gilroy school district will pay a superintendent a base salary that will be commensurate with comparable districts in Santa Clara County,” said Tom Bundros, president of the board.
The two districts in the county that are most comparable are the Milpitas and Morgan Hill unified school districts, said Trustee Pat Midtgaard, one of three subcommittee members charged with exploring pay options for the new superintendent. Both districts have about 10,000 students and similar demographics, she said.
The superintendent in Morgan Hill currently earns $194,500 per year, the district office reported. The average for a superintendent in the county is $187,430, a report from the district subcommittee stated.
Gilroy’s last superintendent, Edwin Diaz, made $187,250 per year. He also received health care coverage, 22.5 vacation days each year and about $8,000 contributed to a retirement account annually. He left in early March to take a higher-paying job at a larger school district in Pasadena.
The district declined to include the fringe benefits that the next superintendent will receive in the job advertisement. Morgan Hill’s superintendent compensation package, including benefits totals about $212,000.
Not posting a clear pay range for the position is typical for this type of position. Six of the first 10 positions listed online at SchoolSpring – a educational job-search Web site – did not have a salary posted. Those that did were all $100,000 or less.
The final salary the board awards the new superintendent will depend on the person’s experience, Bundros said.
The salary was also to be made public, the board unanimously voted Thursday.
With a realm of pay determined, the board will work on setting goals for the district. This will be an ongoing process, with work being done prior to the arrival of a new superintendent – in part at a board retreat today – and with the new employee after he or she has been hired.
In mid-April, simultaneous with this effort, the board will be choosing the next superintendent. Trustees will be reviewing applications and conducting interviews from April 23 to May 2. The board will then identify the preferred candidate in a closed session May 3 and will go on a site visit with the candidate in the week of May 7.
The board will announce the appointment of a new superintendent May 17.
