Principals get 2.9 percent annual raises, retirement benefits capped
LAWRENCE » All principals in the Lawrence Township Public Schools district will receive annual 2.9 percent pay raises for the next three years.
That’s because the Lawrence Board of Education approved a new contract codifying salary increases for the district’s seven principals, five assistant principals, eight supervisors and the athletic director.
“We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to work with the BOE and to come to a fair settlement for our members,” David Adam, president of the Lawrence Township Principals and Supervisors Association, said Friday in a press statement.
“The board is pleased to have reached a settlement with LTPSA,” school board President Kevin Van Hise said Friday in a statement. “The process was collaborative, professional, and fair, and we thank the LTPSA Negotiations Committee for their professionalism and dedication to our students and to our district.”
While the new contract gives 2.9 percent pay raises for each year in the threeyear contract, it also implemented costsaving controls to reduce post-retirement compensation.
When former Slackwood Elementary Principal Patricia Wendell retired in September 2011, she received $21,208 for unused vacation leave and $19,568 for unused sick leave at the time of retirement, according to Lawrence school board records.
Large retirement payouts like what Wendell received in 2011 will not be possible in the district effective July 1, 2020, when the maximum payment for unused accumulated sick leave at retirement will be capped at $10,000 for 12-month employees and $8,000 for 10-month employees, according to the new LTPSA contract.
Furthermore, the new contract reduces vacation benefits for any administrator hired on or after July 1. Veteran administrators retain their 23 days of annual vacation, but future administrators will start with 17 days of annual vacation and will get one additional vacation day in each subsequent year of service up to a maximum of 20 vacation days.
New language added into the contract says any administrative employee “who separates from the district prior to June 30th of a given school year shall only earn vacation credit for that year for the period of employment. Vacation shall be prorated based upon the vacation day allowance specified in the contract.”
The new contract could serve as a blueprint for what benefits a new superintendent of schools may get when the Board of Education hires a new schools chief later this year.
Former Lawrence superintendent Crystal Edwards, who retired earlier this year to accept a new job in Virginia, received a payout of nearly $20,000 in unused vacation days and $15,000 in unused sick days due to retirement, according to Lawrence school board records.
District teacher Jeanne Muzi has been hired as the new principal of Slackwood School effective July 1, replacing Principal Jay Billy, who has been transferred to Ben Franklin Elementary.
The new LTPSA contract runs from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2021.