BY TED SHOCKLEY, Eastern Shore Post —
Accomack County Superintendent Rhonda Hall received a 5% salary increase that the school board never voted on, violating stipulations in Hall’s employment contract.
Hall’s pay hike came to light after a compensation study led to salary increases for school leaders, some of whom earned five-figure pay increases on top of salaries exceeding $100,000.
While the salary increases for school system employees was allowable, only the school board can increase the superintendent’s salary, according to Hall’s contract.
In the process, Connie Burford, a former school board candidate and a longtime observer of school board actions and expenditures, initiated a public records request of Hall’s contract and school system salaries and posted the documents on Facebook.
School Board Chair Janet Martin Turner said it was unclear how Hall ended up with a raise of $8,849 — bringing her annual salary to $185,830 — without the school board’s knowledge or approval.
“We weren’t really given a clear explanation,” she said.
However, Hall no longer has the pay increase as of the school board’s Tuesday, Oct. 1, meeting, held at Chincoteague Elementary School.
In two tense, taut votes, the school board first declined to give Hall the 5% raise in an amendment to her contract.
Then it voted to ask that Hall return any salary increase she has received since it took effect July 1.
“It’s not our money — it’s taxpayer money,” Turner said later.
In both instances, the school board divided on predictable lines — four on one side, five on the other.
Jesse Speidel, Lisa Johnson, Camesha Handy, and Malcolm White voted first to give Hall the money and, then, to let her keep the amount she had received.
Turner, Vice Chair Edward Taylor, Jason Weippert, Stefanie Bowmann, and Glenn Neal voted against Hall’s raise and voted for Hall returning the amount of the raise she had received.
Hall did not speak during the votes. Johnson said Accomack superintendents customarily received pay increases along with everyone else in the school system and said to vote otherwise was to “ignore a past practice.”
“Past practice sets a precedent,” she said.
However, Turner said the board was following the rules of Hall’s four-year contract.
