The Dunklin R-5 School District will pay $73,530 more on administrative salaries during the 2023-2024 school year than it did the previous year.
Dunklin will pay $1,031,321 in administrative salaries this school year after paying a total of $957,701 on those salaries during the 2022-2023 school year.
The bulk of the additional salary cost is due to the district promoting Michele Liles from dean of students at Pevely Elementary School to assistant principal at that school, Superintendent Clint Freeman said.
“Dean of students turned into an administrative position, but the salary was not (an administrative salary), if you will,” he said. “She was paid on a teacher’s salary with additional days last year. She is on an administrator’s salary this year.”
Liles’ annual salary increased to $71,976 for this school year. She was paid $56,950 last school year.
Her job change to an administrator position increased Dunklin’s administrative staff to 10 positions.
“Michelle Liles was brought on as a dean of students last year, and there were job duties in mind for her at that time,” said Matt Lichtenstein, Dunklin communications director. “Well before the year was over, the position grew. She could take on more and did more than expected. Looking at it from a distance, you could see dean of students did not quite cover it. She became an administrator to rectify the duties she is doing.”
Lichtenstein also said three administrators – Freeman, assistant superintendent Joe Willis and Senn-Thomas Middle School Principal Tracy Lewis – received larger raises than other administrators because each one recently earned doctoral degrees.
Freeman’s salary increased from $166,829 last school year to $183,500 for the 2023-2024 school year. Willis will be paid a $140,000 salary this school year after earning $127,857 last year. Lewis is being paid $116,000, an increase from $107,562 during the 2022-2023 school year.
“Per my contract, the most it can be raised is 10 percent,” said Freeman, whose salary increased by 9.9 percent. “Joe’s and Tracy’s (raises) were 9 percent. Most (administrators’) raises were between 4 and 5 percent.”
Freeman said when setting administrative salaries, as well as other district employees’ salaries, the district strives to make sure they are comparable to what other school districts in Jefferson County pay.
“Even though we are a small district, we want to retain and recruit the most highly qualified staff that we can,” he said. “That is not just teachers. That is principals, custodians, bus drivers, and if we are not competitively paying them, they are going to go to another organization to work. We don’t want to lose them.”
Freeman and Lichtenstein also noted that two administrators – Willis and Herculaneum High School assistant principal Ryun Kasten – each took pay cuts to come to the district four years ago.
Willis, who was paid $118,680 as the Festus Middle School principal, initially was paid a salary of $115,000 at Dunklin. Kasten, who was paid $104,518.37 as the Fox C-6 School District’s Seckman High School athletic director – initially was paid $81,844 at Dunklin.
Freeman said he believes some people come to work at Dunklin, even if they’re paid less than other districts, because of the community and the work culture.
“The community is amazing,” he said. “They are very supportive and understanding. They have one goal, and that is for us to care about their kids and love their kids and make sure we are putting the right people in front of them to do that every day. I think a lot of people in the area know that is what we are trying to do.
“Right now, we are fully staffed (about 360 employees), and neighboring districts can’t say that. I am talking about bus drivers, custodians and all positions. That is because of the culture of this district, and that is a testament to the people we have in the buildings working with kids every day.”
Freeman also said he feels the district has the right number of administrators, and administrative salaries are in line with the demands of the positions.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recommends districts have one assistant superintendent if the teaching staff is between 101 and 200 teachers. Freeman said Dunklin employs 178 teachers.
The district also falls within the DESE recommendations for the number of principals it has on staff.
Herculaneum High has a principal and assistant principal for its projected 507 students this school year. DESE recommends two principals for buildings with student populations between 451 and 600.
Senn-Thomas Middle has a principal and assistant principal for its projected 359 students this year. DESE recommends two principals for buildings with student populations between 451 and 600.
Pevely Elementary has a principal and two assistant principals for its projected 734 students this year. DESE recommends two and a half principals for buildings with student populations between 601-750.
“I think we are right sized with the amount of kids we have and what the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education say we need,” Freeman said. “With that being said, there is a lot on the plates of our administrative team, as well as our directors, teachers and everyone. That is OK; that is the work.”
2023-2024 administrator salaries
- Clint Freeman, superintendent, $183,500
- Joe Willis, assistant superintendent, $140,000
- Tracy Lewis, Senn-Thomas Middle principal, $116,000
- Stephanie Dix, Herculaneum High principal, $113,635
- Katherine Dunlap, Pevely Elementary principal, $98,561
- Ryan Kasten, Herculaneum High assistant principal, $85,206
- Jason Gillman, Herculaneum High activities director, $81,167
- Adam Dixon, Pevely Elementary assistant principal, $73,241
- Michelle Liles, Pevely Elementary assistant principal, $71,976
- Kyle Borror, Senn-Thomas Middle assistant principal, $67,945