Retire-rehire plan approved for superintendent

Perry Schools Superintendent Jack Thompson won’t have much time to relax after his retirement begins Aug. 1.

Thompson will return on Aug. 5 to begin serving again as Perry Schools superintendent, according to terms of an agreement between him and the district School Board.

The board, at a meeting last week, voted unanimously to accept Thompson’s retirement and approve his subsequent rehiring.

Ohio law allows public employees to retire, receive their pension and then be rehired for a public-sector job — which is often the same position they held prior to retirement.

Thompson has received an amended five-year employment contract, which will begin Aug. 5 and end July 31, 2024. The new contract starts four days after Thompson retires from his current superintendent position, which he has held for nearly the past eight years.

Before joining Perry Schools, he served as assistant superintendent in the Kenston School District from 2007 to 2011. He has worked in education for the past 30 years.

The first year of Thompson’s revised contract as Perry Schools superintendent goes from Aug. 5, 2019, to July 31, 2020, while subsequent years run from Aug. 1 to July 31.

Under terms of the pact, Thompson will receive an annual salary of $136,594. That’s about $30,000, or 18 percent, less than his current salary of $166,578.

With Thompson receiving a lower base salary, it also will result in smaller payments by the district for programs such Workers’ Compensation and Medicare, which are based on amount of gross income. This will allow the district to save additional money, Perry Schools Chief Financial Officer Lew Galante said.

In addition to his salary, Thompson will receive an annuity in the amount of 3 percent of total compensation on an annual basis. This same benefit in his current contract. The district also will pick up the required employee contribution to the State Teachers Retirement System as a benefit for Thompson, and pay the required employer STRS contribution.

While the district’s payment of Thompson’s employee contribution to STRS will be an additional expense in the new contract, Perry Schools will save money in another part of the pact through a revised longevity payment plan for the superintendent.

Starting in January 2013, Thompson began receiving a longevity payment in one lump sum equal to 1 percent of his then-effective annual salary for each year of service with the district, including the current year.

With Thompson’s amended employment contract, he’ll be receiving the same type of longevity payment, but 201920 will be counted as year one.

So the lower longevity payments over the revised five-year contract will offset the district’s added cost of paying the employee STRS contribution for Thompson, Galante explained.

Thompson said he looks forward to continuing his service as Perry Schools superintendent. In regard to his new contract, he praised the School Board for putting together a “win-win package that will save the district a considerable amount of money over the next five years.”

No audience members spoke about Thompson’s new contract during the public comment portion of the Feb. 19 meeting. The board also received no comments during a Jan. 19 public hearing on Thompson pursuing retirement and seeking post-retirement employment as Perry Schools superintendent.

Thompson