Superintendent is top paid in New Canaan school district
Luizzi ($345K) says salaries ‘competitive’ among area educators
NEW CANAAN — Superintendent of Schools Bryan Luizzi was New Canaan Public Schools’ highest-paid employee for the 2022-23 school year, and his salary has got even higher since then.
New Canaan Public Schools has released a list of its top 10 highest-paid employees for fiscal year 2022-23, and
Luizzi topped the list with a base salary of $345,840.93. Deputy Superintendent of Schools Jill Correnty was second with $242,807.01. Assistant Superintendent of Schools William S. Tesbir was third with $230,000.16 and Director of Finance and Operations Sean O’Keefe was fourth at $225,000.
Rounding out the top 10 is New Canaan High School Principal William Egan, with a salary of $220,165.11.
Luizzi said the salaries are fairly consistent with past years and “competitive” with other districts in Fairfield County and in Westchester County, N.Y. For instance, Toni Jones, the superintendent of Greenwich Public Schools, earned $322,222 in gross pay in 2023.
Westport Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice had a salary of $307,745 in 2023. His pay totaled $334,941, though, with $6,891 in vacation compensation, $10,000 in tax sheltered annuity and $10,306 in other earnings.
Luizzi said New Canaan’s school base salaries also reflect the quality and experience of the New Canaan Public Schools’ staff.
“I think it’s just important to note that the salaries are an investment in people doing the work and leading our school system forward,” he said.
Luizzi’s current salary is actually higher than the one on the list from June 30, 2023. In August, his contract was extended with a 4 percent raise, bringing his salary to $359,641, retroactive to July 1.
He said there have been other changes since the list was released at the end of the fiscal year. For instance, another of the top-paid employees, Kristine Woleck, then principal of East Elementary School, has since left the district for a job as assistant superintendent of New Fairfield Public Schools.
The eighth, ninth, and 10th spots on the list were actually a tie between Woleck, and the other two
school principals, South Elementary School Principal Matthew Kascak and West Elementary School Principal Janet Murphy — all of whom had a listed salary of $196,266.
Luizzi said the building principals and building administrators are in the
New Canaan Administrators’ Association, and their salaries are contractually negotiated every three years.
His salary and those of Correnty, Tesbir, O’Keefe and human resources director Darlene Pianka (who ranked sixth on the list with a salary of $210,000) are all individually contracted, he said.
Luizzi stressed that many of New Canaan’s edelementary ucational leaders have more than a decade in education: This is his 13th year in New Canaan and 10th as superintendent, and he had 28 years of experience overall as of June 30, 2023. Correnty has been in New Canaan for more than 18 years and Tesbir nearly 30.
“That type of longevity in the district really leads to the excellence we have in our system,” Luizzi said.