We're #1
According to the LA Daily News, Jordan High School has the highest paid principal in LAUSD. At $168,549.64 that makes our principal top dog, well, ok, top Bulldog.
Top 10 LAUSD Paid High School Principals:
STRACHAN, STEPHEN $168,549.64
VELASCO, SALVADOR $143,931.57
MC EWEN, KIMBERLY $142,753.94
GEE, MYRON $142,350.42
TARIN, ALFREDO $141,414.34
DOWNING, JAMES $140,557.84
PRIZANT, RICHARD $140,157.15
CALVO, LINDA $140,118.51
HIGGINS, LARRY $134,317.20
BISHOP, FONNA $132,477..84
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/lausdpayroll/
According to the same source, LA Daily News, our LAUSD administrators are top earners in the nation, yes, nation (How does the LAUSD compare in salaries?, 9/28/08). Taking into account that Jordan High School has the top paid principal in the top paying district in the nation for administrators, it could very well make him the top paying high school principal in the U.S.
Others making the JHS list:
Gary Martinez $116,491.92
Cori Waters $115,669.64
Marvin Avila $112,308.01
Robert Whitman $105,100.68
Candice Waters $101,879..88
Rosa Trujillo $96,222.60
The figures speak for themselves, and they are deafening when you consider that, according to the same source, the picture for LAUSD teachers is the contrary. LAUSD teachers are at the bottom of the barrel when compared to other large districts in the nation.
Los Angeles Unified teachers on average earn $63,000.
Gathering the payroll data was no easy task for LA Daily News. LAUSD hired an outside attorney who confirmed that the information was public (apparently LAUSD attorneys didn’t know). I could have shared with the LA Daily News what I have known for years: getting information from LAUSD is like requesting information from Home Land Security.
For instance, try getting a breakdown of everything that is spent at JHS and who gets what? Good luck getting it. What you will get is some list with budget codes and figures and told to go figure it. Really, should it be that difficult to request such level of fiscal accountability? Should it not be easy in our high tech present to make all funds spent at JHS and other schools easily available for the public to access if they wish? Apparently not.
But going back to the salaries. What should we conclude from the information? I am not sure, but I am certain that making it public is good. Valid questions can arise from the information. Are the public and students getting what they deserve from such salaries? Are teachers getting the support we should be getting from such high paying salaries? Or do such high paying salaries simply result in positions whose primary function is to find ways of justifying their existence and make themselves unexpendable?
What such high paying salaries should be buying for parents, students and teachers is the guarantee that the educational container at Jordan High School promotes and supports teachers and what they do in the classroom. A good start would be to put an end to the hundreds of daily late student arrivals (I personally counted over 600 students that arrived late to school on Friday, September 26). Our high paying administrators are not even keeping records of these late arrivals. Isn’t this data important enough to track? I need not inform you that the educational container is the very first thing Charters get under control. They know how critical a role it plays in education. Why are we not supported similarly?
Top 10 LAUSD Paid High School Principals:
STRACHAN, STEPHEN $168,549.64
VELASCO, SALVADOR $143,931.57
MC EWEN, KIMBERLY $142,753.94
GEE, MYRON $142,350.42
TARIN, ALFREDO $141,414.34
DOWNING, JAMES $140,557.84
PRIZANT, RICHARD $140,157.15
CALVO, LINDA $140,118.51
HIGGINS, LARRY $134,317.20
BISHOP, FONNA $132,477..84
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/lausdpayroll/
According to the same source, LA Daily News, our LAUSD administrators are top earners in the nation, yes, nation (How does the LAUSD compare in salaries?, 9/28/08). Taking into account that Jordan High School has the top paid principal in the top paying district in the nation for administrators, it could very well make him the top paying high school principal in the U.S.
Others making the JHS list:
Gary Martinez $116,491.92
Cori Waters $115,669.64
Marvin Avila $112,308.01
Robert Whitman $105,100.68
Candice Waters $101,879..88
Rosa Trujillo $96,222.60
The figures speak for themselves, and they are deafening when you consider that, according to the same source, the picture for LAUSD teachers is the contrary. LAUSD teachers are at the bottom of the barrel when compared to other large districts in the nation.
Los Angeles Unified teachers on average earn $63,000.
Gathering the payroll data was no easy task for LA Daily News. LAUSD hired an outside attorney who confirmed that the information was public (apparently LAUSD attorneys didn’t know). I could have shared with the LA Daily News what I have known for years: getting information from LAUSD is like requesting information from Home Land Security.
For instance, try getting a breakdown of everything that is spent at JHS and who gets what? Good luck getting it. What you will get is some list with budget codes and figures and told to go figure it. Really, should it be that difficult to request such level of fiscal accountability? Should it not be easy in our high tech present to make all funds spent at JHS and other schools easily available for the public to access if they wish? Apparently not.
But going back to the salaries. What should we conclude from the information? I am not sure, but I am certain that making it public is good. Valid questions can arise from the information. Are the public and students getting what they deserve from such salaries? Are teachers getting the support we should be getting from such high paying salaries? Or do such high paying salaries simply result in positions whose primary function is to find ways of justifying their existence and make themselves unexpendable?
What such high paying salaries should be buying for parents, students and teachers is the guarantee that the educational container at Jordan High School promotes and supports teachers and what they do in the classroom. A good start would be to put an end to the hundreds of daily late student arrivals (I personally counted over 600 students that arrived late to school on Friday, September 26). Our high paying administrators are not even keeping records of these late arrivals. Isn’t this data important enough to track? I need not inform you that the educational container is the very first thing Charters get under control. They know how critical a role it plays in education. Why are we not supported similarly?
posted by Aureliano Nava at 6:19 PM
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