Difficult to get info on salaries

I am a school board member in the Everett School District. In response to Thursday’s article “What it pays to run a school district”:

I, too, share the public’s concern about the justification of administrative salaries, and as a newbie-elected school director, I have been working to understand the system. Unfortunately, even as a board member, it has been difficult obtaining just basic documentation (such as salary schedules and contracts), let alone thorough or even sufficient explanations for just how our school district determines administrative pay.

I can tell you that in the Everett School District, many administrators have total salaries in the $120,000-$150,000 range.

Also, seven administrators (in addition to the superintendent) have special perks, such as a car allowance of $769 per month to pay for their in-district travel, plus they receive mileage reimbursement and/or use of district vehicles for out-of-district travel. I have posted this information (administrative contracts that I received as part of my public records request) at the following link: www.scribd.com/doc/31367352

As an elected school official, I need to tell the public that your elected officials need to hear from you about your concerns. One of the reasons I ever thought about running for the school board was because during one school board meeting, a board member said, “Well, we must be doing a pretty good job because no one ever comes to our meetings to complain.” Lord help me if I ever become that out of touch.

If you have questions about what is going on in your school district, I urge you to write and call your school board officials, and to come to board meetings to make your voice heard.

Make your elected officials accountable. Only your elected school board officials are accountable for the public’s money; salaried administrators — who effectively control many, if not most of our school boards — are not.

Jessica Olson

Everett