On May 11, the Proviso Township High School District 209 school board will vote on employment contracts, including those in excess of $150,000. D209 has posted the list online at www.pths209.org/Page/4489.
These contracts include those for administrators, such as principals, and the list reveals a new administrative structure, which includes grade level principals, although a description of that position is not included.
Notably absent from the list is the current principal of Proviso East High School, Dr. Patrick Hardy. If approved by the board, the new principal at East will be Rodney Hull, with a salary of $161,718.24 and benefits package of $32,129.52.
At Proviso Math and Science Academy (PMSA), the new principal, if approved, will be Elizabeth Martinez, with a salary and benefits the same as Hull’s, above.
William Breisch, the current principal at PMSA, is being recategorized as a grade level principal, with a salary of $125,535.48 and benefits of $32,129.52.
For Breisch, the reclassification means a cut in salary. His 2019-2020 salary listed on the district’s website was $136,036 with benefits of $31,141. (The 2020-2021 salary list was unavailable on the morning of May 8 on the district’s website, though by law the district must post updated salary information for public employees).
Dr. Bessie Karvelas, principal at Proviso West High School, is staying in her role because her contract specified that she could not be reclassified.
The Review doesn’t have information yet on what the position is, but the agenda indicates that the board will be voting on eight grade level principals between the three high schools. So far, it isn’t clear which high schools the principals will be assigned to.
In addition to Breisch, other grade level principals who currently work with the district are: Fred Aguirre (currently listed as assistant principal at Proviso East on the district website), Brandon Alexander (currently listed as principal of Educational Services) and Joseph Kosina (currently listed as assistant principal at Proviso West).
Grade level principals new to the district (not currently listed on the district’s website) are: Latoya McIntosh, Shaylon Walker and Albert Brass.
Kisha Lang is also on the list of potential grade level principals to join D209 for the next school year. Lang formerly worked in the district as East’s assistant principal for educational services, joining the district in 2011.
Lang is named in a 2014 lawsuit filed by a Proviso East security manager against the district for retaliatory discharge, according to previous Forest Park Review reporting. In the lawsuit, the former employee accused Lang of using district employees to perform personal errands, and Taylor claimed he was fired in retaliation after informing others of what Lang was doing.
Amid recent talk of outsourcing the IT department, the potential appointment of Michael Pritchard as directory of technology for the district is noteworthy. His proposed base salary is $146,017, with $32,129.52 in benefits.
Pritchard served as senior IT project manager at Normandy School District in Missouri from 2008 to 2011. Henderson served at that district as chief of staff during those years.
For the most part, all current administrators who are on the proposed list of employees for the 2021-2022 school year are taking a salary cut.
One exception is Dan Johnson. During the 2019-21 school year his base salary was $150,620. In September 2020, he was appointed by the board as assistant superintendent for Human Resources with a salary of $170,000, according to previous reporting in the Review.
His proposed new position, deputy superintendent of operations, would come with a base salary of $176,245.36. He served as interim superintendent after former superintendent Jessie Rodriguez left while the board was doing a search for a new superintendent.
Another exception to salary cuts is Stephen Ngo, currently listed on the district website as a social studies division head at Proviso West. If appointed, Ngo will serve as “coordinator 1 – social studies,” with a base salary of $126,766.22. During the 2019-2020 school year his base salary was $75,000.
