The Superintendent's Contract Information

The salaries listed in the previous post were for 2012.   Currently the 2013 salaries are not available.   Some of the employees listed for 2012 are no longer employed by the district.   For example Sam Ison is now employed in the Middletown School District and I was told that Becky Hill is no longer an employee of Lebanon City School District.  

An important factor in any discussion of salaries is the additional perks that go along with the contract.  For example, Mark North’s contract was written in and signed December 21, 2009.     It will expire July 31, 2014.    His salary is listed as $127,749.00.  (Was he given a raise during that period of time?  We will ask.) 

The board pays his retirement benefits and his share of his retirement (pick-up on the pick-up).  That is a total of around $30,000.00.  

The board retained the right to increase his salary at any time prior to the expiration of his contract.  Did they?

The board pays his Medicare contribution. 

The board pays for $500,000.00 life insurance policy. 

The board covers 100% of his family major medical, dental and vision coverage. 

The board covers his family membership to the Countryside YMCA.   

He is entitled to accumulate and retain all accrued, but unused sick leave while employed as superintendent. 

He shall receive an allowance of sick leave and severance pay in an amount equal in accordance with the amount of days granted to other certificated employees immediately upon retirement.

He shall receive $650.00 per month ($7,800.00  annually) as additional salary allowance for the use of his personal automobile for school purposes.

He shall receive $50.00 per month for a cellular phone.

The Board shall purchase a tax-deferred annuity program of the superintendents choosing in the amount of $7,500.00 per year.

His contract year is 260 days with twenty days of vacation each year.

He is entitled to all holidays provided to the certified staff.

He shall receive the same number of personal leave days each year that are provided to the certified staff.

The board shall pay his dues for membership in American Association of School Administrators, Buckeye Association of School Administrators, Association for the Supervision and Curriculum Development and local Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs. 

He is permitted to attend one national conference annually with the actual expenses reimbursed by the board. 

He shall be encouraged to become an active participating member of organizations pertinent to his position and to attend appropriate professional meetings, the actual necessary expenses of said attendance to be approved by the board.

He may take special leave to engage in consulting, lecturing and conference speaking engagements and research without a loss of pay or a charge up to five days annually.

The board shall defend, hold harmless and indemnify up to the amount the board has provided insurance for this purpose. 

The board shall provide $1,500.00 annually which shall be utilized for college tuition reimbursement and may be carried over to the next fiscal year.

*In the interest of brevity, this information is paraphrased from his contract.

 

I believe you will remember that on July 9, 2009 Mr. North “had a sudden change of heart” and left Beavercreek "without leadership."   Mr. North had signed a contract with Beavercreek for $139,000.00 per year.  (See the Western Star article by Christopher Magan.)

His contract, ending July 31, 2009, with LCSD was listed as $108,000.00.   His car allowance at that time was $350.00 per month.  He had another contract ending August 20, 2007 at $111,240.00 per year. 

Some questions to ponder are, why would he accept a decrease of $3,240.00 from his 2007 contract to his 2009 contract?    The numbers, for public consumption, just don’t seem to be reasonable.   Also, why would he take such a huge cut in salary to return to LCSD?    These are questions that were never answered.

Many believe that Donna Davis Norris negotiated with Mr. North to return to LCSD.    The media reported that she did not give him a raise to entice him back to the district.   Since these things were negotiated in “Executive Session” or privately, the public will never know the facts.

Property owners and business owners pay huge taxes to support the school system.   Yet, we are kept in the dark as to where our money is actually being spent.   Often the board meetings are rigged with union members occupying most, if not all, of the few seats that are provided in the small room that is currently being used for the board meetings. 

 

The meetings used to be held in a large meeting room at the high school.  In fact that is where the board was meeting  the night Mr. North and his family were introduced. That facility was perfect and offered plenty of space for the public, the employees and the board.    In the event of an overflow crowd,  the cafeteria could be used and is conveniently located.

Obviously, the board does not want to be observed conducting the district’s business.   They do not want the public to have even a small voice in the way their tax dollars are spent.  In fact, I was told that they did not have to notify the public of their meetings other than a "post-it-note on the door.

It is interesting that the Lebanon City Police Department has been  guarding the board meetings.   I can verify this because I was not allowed to sign in to speak and threatened with being arrested if I tried to sign in to speak.  A person with a "Vote No on the Levy" sign on her car was told by the police to get off the parking lot and the street.   He said by orders of Mark North.

This is a sign of the times for school board meetings nationally.   In fact very recently,  a parent was arrested in Maryland for trying to speak at a “Q & A” board meeting.    Strange!   A “Q & A” meeting and you are not allowed to speak.