LETHBRIDGE – Questions are being raised about hefty pay increases over the past several years for administrators with Palliser Regional Schools.
“For me, more of the concern is the fact that these wage increases at central office are happening, when teachers are being cut on the front lines,” said Kelly McLeod, chairperson of the parent council at Dorothy Dalgliesh School.
McLeod has four children at the school in Picture Butte, which is in the Palliser school division. Alhough she loves the teachers, she believes some of the students need more support, including her eldest daughter, whose Grade 5 class has 31 students.
“We asked for an additional teacher to be put in (to the classroom),” said McLeod. “But we were told there wasn’t funding available. We then tried to get a teacher’s assistant in the classroom full-time, or even part-time. We were told there was no funding for that.”
Palliser Regional Schools also increased student enrollment fees by $10 in 2015.
Get daily National news
“A $10 increase, we didn’t see that as very big at the time,” said Palliser Regional Schools Trustee Don Zech. “We had not raised student fees for 16 years.”
While parents are paying more, administrators are earning more. Between 2011 and 2014, superintendent Kevin Gietz saw his salary and benefits rise from $189,589 to $265,000, an increase of about $76,000.
- Will Santa get your letter this year? Alternatives amid Canada Post strike
- As much as 100 abuse victims of Montreal billionaire Robert Miller, lawyer says
- Bank of Canada could rein in rate cuts amid tax relief cheques: TD Bank
- Canada’s 988 suicide crisis helpline sees over 300K calls, texts in 1st year
In 2015, Gietz earned close to $40,000 more than other local school superintendents with a salary of and benefit package worth just over $270,000. In that same time period, Palliser Regional Schools was projecting a $1.5 million deficit.
Salaries for other top officials at Palliser jumped $5,000 from 2014 to 2015. Parents question why administrators are getting raises, while there are fewer teachers in the classrooms. Zech defends the numbers, citing travel between schools in Lethbridge and Calgary as one reason why for higher compensation.
“Because of the uniqueness of our situation, there is a lot of added responsibility because they spend a great deal of time on the road,” said Zech. “When they finish their work day they still want to drive home for a meeting in Lethbridge the next day. So you’re looking at 10, 12, or 14 hour days.”
Zech also stated that support staff benefited from wage increases in 2015.
Comments