Milford schools chief tops district earners
MILFORD — The city’s schools chief and his second-in-command led the list of top 20 wage earners in the district in 2020, followed by the school system’s COO, records show.
Superintendent of Schools Anna Cutaia topped the list at $240,231.
Assistant Superintendent Amy Fedigan came in second at $186,662, while Chief Operations Officer Jim Richetelli was third, earning $170,602 last year.
Principals of the city’s two high schools tied for fourth; Max Berkowitz, principal of Joseph A. Foran High School, and Francis Thompson, principal of Jonathan Law High School, each earned $170,024.
Cutaia declined to comment on the list.
The list of top wage earners in schools was provided by Richetelli swiftly and free of charge upon receiving a Freedom of Information request from Hearst Connecticut Media.
Richetelli noted the numbers do not reflect the “annual contractual salaries for these positions,” as the way the pay dates and holidays fell, “The actual salaries for these positions are about 1/26 less than the wages reported in 2020.”
Going back a little further, figures for 2019 salaries showed Cutaia was the highest wage earner in the entire city that year at $227,137. It was not yet clear whether that held true for 2020, as salary numbers from non-education positions were not yet available. (The city is compiling the information.)
After Cutaia, Fedigan, Richetelli, Berkowitz and Thompson, the remainder of the top 20 wage earners in the school district for 2020 were:
— Shannan Perry Carlson, principal, East Shore Middle School, $164.698.
— Steven Gottlieb, principal, Harborside Middle School, $164,075.
“The actual salaries for these positions are about 1/26 less than the wages reported in 2020.”
Milford Chief Operations Officer Jim Richetelli
— Caroline Keramis, principal, West Shore Middle School, $164,075.
— Sherrod McNeill, principal, Pumpkin Delight Elementary School, $162,374.
— Gail Krois, principal, Meadowside Elementary School, 161,330.
— Jamie Whitaker, principal, Calf Pen Meadow Elementary School, $161,330.
— Rosemarie Marzinotto, principal, Live Oaks Elementary School, $160,810.
— Joseph Apicella, principal, Orange Avenue Elementary School, $160,187.
— Sean Brennan, principal, John F. Kennedy Elementary School, $160,187.
— Melissa Currier, principal, Mathewson Elementary School, $160,187.
— Sarah Gallipoli, supervisor of special education, middle school, $154,605.
— Sean Smyth, instructional supervisor, $154,605.
— Patrick Bradbury, director of facilities, $154,604.
— Eric Paradis, supervisor of special education, high school, $154,282.
— Annaliese Spaziano, instructional supervisor, $154,282.
Richetelli explained in his note: “In a normal year there are 26 bi-weekly pay periods. In 2020, because of the way the calendar fell, a scheduled pay date was Friday, Jan. 1 2021. When a pay date falls on a holiday, we are obligated by law to move it to the day before so it was moved to Dec. 31, 2020, creating a 27th pay in calendar year 2020. The actual salaries for these positions are about 1/26 less than the wages reported in 2020.”