MUSD superintendent's salary increase angers teachers

Menifee Union School District board members prepare to discuss the contract of Superintendent Steve Kennedy (far left). Menifee 24/7 photo: Doug Spoon

Teachers reacted with anger and frustration Tuesday to a unanimous decision by the Menifee Union School District Governing Board to give Superintendent Dr. Steve Kennedy a three-year contract extension with 3 percent annual step increases.

The head of the Menifee Teachers Association said there was insufficient information given to the public in advance of the action during Tuesday's board meeting, and some parents complained on social media that board members were "sneaking" the action item onto the agenda.

Actually, the item was on the original agenda as a personnel item, but with much less detail than the last time board members proposed a contract extension for Kennedy. At that June 27 meeting, after hearing from seven individuals who were critical of the salary figures proposed, board members voted to pull the item from the agenda for further review.

In the June agenda document, board members proposed a contract extension that would pay Kennedy $229,918 this school year, $236,816 in 2018-19 and $243,920 in 2019-20. That would make Kennedy's salary similar to or more than some K-12 district superintendents in Riverside County.

In explaining the decision that day in June, when only three of five board members were in attendance, board member Ron Ulibarri told the audience, "There are a lot of big decisions we have to make, and sometimes we need to rethink things." In an interview after the meeting, he said, "We didn't really understand the monetary situation in all this."

Yet even though the salary figures were not included in Tuesday's agenda item, board president Bob O'Donnell told Menifee 24/7 those exact same figures are what was approved by the board this time around.

"You’re absolutely right," O'Donnell (left) said when asked whether the three-year salary figures should've been published as before. "Those figures should’ve been visible because we are attempting to be transparent. In this case, I don’t know why those figures weren’t listed. They are the same figures as before. No change."

Brenda Myers, president of the Menifee Teachers Association, said because of the vague language included in the published proposal, she walked away unsure of exactly what Kennedy was getting.

"The thing that bothers me the most is the lack of information presented for the public to know," Myers said. "In the agenda for the June 27 meeting, the salary numbers presented were very detailed. This time, you can’t even tell what they gave him.

"If it’s supposed to be public knowledge and it isn’t, why approve it? When the public doesn’t even see what is approved, that’s wrong."

The language used in Tuesday's agenda item was as follows:

Effective Nov. 1, 2017, the superintendent will maintain his current Health and Welfare benefits. The Superintendent's salary schedule will be based on Salary Schedule #115 with an annual step increase of 3 percent effective through June 30, 2020. Anniversary increments for years of service will include the following:

10 years - $1,000

15 years - an additional $2,000

20 years - an additional $3,000

Kennedy came to MUSD in 2005, first as a principal and later as assistant superintendent, so with 12 years of service he is eligible for the $1,000 anniversary increment. But without salary schedule 115 listed and no salary figures given, those in the audience seemed unsure whether Kennedy got the figures mentioned in June or not.

"We’re basically just approving a step increase, the same contract," said board member Jerry Bowman.

Ambur Borth, assistant superintendent for business services, said the 3 percent step increase was standard for administrators as well as teachers.

"This is a contract through 2020 with a 3 percent step increase," she said. "Looking at prior superintendents, theirs was higher than Dr. Kennedy. Previously, it was 4 percent."

However, a study of Kennedy's base salaries since his first full salary year as superintendent in 2013 shows more dramatic increases. In 2013, his regular pay was $153,723, according to public records. In 2014 it jumped 14 percent to $175,808. The next year, it jumped 15 percent to $202,665. After a 3 percent increase for 2016, his base salary was $208,969.

And going by the $229,918 current salary O'Donnell confirmed was approved on Tuesday, Kennedy's salary will now increase another 10 percent. That salary is more than the 2016 salary of Pat Kelley, who is superintendent of the K-12 Murrieta Valley Unified School District ($211,345), and close to the 2016 salary of Tim Ritter, superintendent of the K-12 Temecula Unified School District ($237,580). It is more than the salary of Hemet Unified Superintendent Vince Christakos ($213,756) and much more than superintendents of smaller K-8 districts (Romoland and Perris Elementary).

Kelly's Murrieta district has an enrollment of 23,385, meaning he is paid about $9 per student. Ritter's Temecula district has an enrollment of 28,468, meaning he is paid a little more than $8 per student. With his new salary in a K-8 district of 10,149 students, Kennedy will be paid $22.65 per student.

A small group of teachers who stormed out of the meeting after the board's approval of the contract gathered in the lobby to vent their frustration. They are especially upset, they said, because their own union's negotiations with the district for raises has been difficult because of what board members say is a budget deficit.

None were willing to give their names to Menifee 24/7 for fear of retaliation, but two agreed to speak anonymously.

"We’re a K-8 district and he’s one of the highest paid superintendents in the county," one said. "He is competing (for funding) with districts that are not equitable (K-12). That’s something they throw in our face constantly when we negotiate. 'We are not funded as well because we’re a smaller district.' OK, then his salary should not compete with other districts, either.

"It’s horrifying, the damage to morale that has been created in the last few years in this district because of a lack of addressing the social and emotional needs of the whole unit. We used to be a family. Menifee was known as the sweet, small town district that had a family mentality. It is not true now. There is a complete disconnect and teachers are disheartened."

Another teacher referred to drastic budget cuts she has seen in the years since Kennedy, as she puts it, "came into power."

"We’ve lost so many things since he’s come into ‘power’, as you would say," the second teacher said. "We’ve lost busing, we’ve lost curriculum. The curriculum here is made up by the district off the Internet. We don’t have new books. Our books are 20 something years old. We’re told to turn those in so they can give us printouts off the Internet. We’re having to make our own curriculum.

"We are not having the same benefits we had under the other superintendents -- balanced budgets, buses, curriculum. Things were secure; it was all about kids. We don’t have that now. When you walk into our classrooms, you see the investment of our hearts. We have put in our own money for playground balls, all kinds of things we pay for because we know we’re not going to get it if we request it. It’s not about kids anymore, and this has all happened since Dr. Kennedy has come into power."

Kennedy did not respond to an opportunity to address the allegations. Menifee 24/7 submitted a public records request with Borth for the language of Salary Schedule 115 and for the salaries of former superintendent Dr. Linda Calloway from 2006-12. So far, a response has not been given.