Latham leads in Lynn school salaries

LYNN – Superintendent Catherine Latham tops the salary list for the Lynn Public Schools, earning $212,000.98 in 2013, according to figures provided by city Treasurer Richard Fortucci.In a time when many are unemployed and still struggling with the fallout of a recession, some may consider Latham’s salary extreme, but in relation to her peers, it is not. It is, in fact, average.According to a 2011 Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents survey, Latham’s base salary in 2011 was $150,000, which put her last when ranked among like communities, such as Brockton and Lawrence, whose superintendents both had a base salary of $198,900, and Lowell, whose superintendent’s base salary was $170,000. Springfield’s superintendent took home a base salary of $203,572 in 2011, and in 2013, Revere Superintendent Paul Dakin, who has been in the top slot for 15 years, made $222,000.Parent activist Lori D’Amico, who, at times, has been a sharp critic of the superintendent, said she believed Latham’s salary should be in line with other districts, but she also felt Latham lacked other attributes of a good superintendent. She questioned Latham’s interpersonal, communication, and listening skills and said she feels she lacks empathy, charisma, responsibility and accountability.However, D’Amico also said she believes a salary should reflect job performance, and one could argue that Latham’s job performance hit a high note in 2013.With more than 2,000 teachers and staffers and 15,000 students, Latham oversees the equivalent of a small city that has a budget of about $181 million.When MCAS scores were released last year, six of the city’s 25 schools had reached the standardized test pinnacle becoming Level 1 schools, and two, Lynn Woods Elementary and Classical High School, did it by climbing all the way up from Level 3.Other Level 1 schools include Aborn, Hood, Lincoln-Thomson and Sewell-Anderson elementary schools. Ingalls, Shoemaker, Sisson and Tracy elementary schools are all Level 2, and the rest of the city’s public schools are Level 3.Which was the other big news Latham celebrated in 2013, with a visit from the governor and the secretary of education, Connery and Harrington elementary schools made a bold improvement moving from Level 4, underperforming status, to Level 3.Latham has also paved the way for other programs such as Math First, Imagine Nation, Playworks as well as high school summer camps, all of which are geared toward helping students achieve.It isn’t just Latham’s salary that jumps out, however. D’Amico noted that Thomas Iarrobino, secretary for the School Committee, made just over $100,000, and four confidential secretaries make roughly $65,000 each, which she called absurd.”This is more than many of the teachers in our district were paid,” she said. “In my opinion, secretaries should not be making the same as and certainly not more than any of our teachers. The salaries for our teachers should be higher.”Principals and administrators round out the top 50 on the salary list, each making more than $100,000.D’Amico said she wonders why some principals make more than others and specifically why an elementary principal would make more than a high school principal.Connery School Principal Mary Dill and Harrington School Principal Debra Ruggiero are the district’s highest-paid principals, making $123,600 and $122,900, respectively, but they are also the principals that pulled their schools from Level 4 to Level 3.