Monday, February 08, 2016

IPS Board Giving School Superintendent Retroactive Pay Raise For Doing A Poor Job

Supt. Louis Ferebee
Enrollment is plummeting and school performance is flat or worse, but your esteemed members of the Indianapolis Public School board think it's time to revamp Supt. Louis Ferebee's contract to reward him with a big pay raise. Chalkbeat reports that the board plans to boost Ferebee's base pay from $198,000 to $209,880 a year, made retroactive to July 1, 2015. He will also be eligible for a bonus of $35,000 a year instead of $25,000, plus the board plans to make $30,000 a year in new contributions to Ferebee's retirement package.

It's a bit puzzling to understand why he was given any bonus at all last year, but these out-of-touch board members voted to award Ferebee a $21,000 bonus last year for a job not well done. I guess he's entitled to a pay raise because he's not making a stink about the efforts by the education profiteers who populate the board from driving a stake in the public school system through its accelerated privatization efforts that benefit only the education vendors who are stuffing money in their campaign pockets.

IPS Board President Mary Ann Sullivan can't find enough good things to say about Ferebee's performance. "It was a very positive, positive review and positive conversation," she told Chalkbeat. "We have high expectations. … (But) I think I would be proud to get the evaluation he got for his work." Chalkbeat says Ferebee's pay, even with the big adjustment, is still below the average paid to urban school superintendents with more than 50,000 students enrolled, which it says is $211,000. The board also plans to throw in a big bonus pool that will match the bonuses paid to Ferebee for other members of his leadership team.
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:18 PM EST

    We love IPS and continue choosing it over private. Take a serious look at the great things going on. It is obvious that the faster IPS can be vilified, the faster we get corporate shoved down our throats. No thanks.

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  2. Anonymous10:31 AM EST

    To the IPS corporatists it is less about the quality of the product than it is to generate revenue for their charter school clients. As a successful CEO, Ferebee and the other purchased board members are entitled to a financial package that reflects their ability to secure a return to their shareholders who are the investors/privatizers. As candidates applying for charterhood give their pitch to the Charter School Board, committee members naively revel over their pie-in-the-sky dog and pony shows while Chairman Mutz frets over whether applicants will receive a fair return on their investments.

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  3. Anonymous7:35 PM EST

    Isn't Ferebee in violation of the IPS nepotism policy by employing his half-sister as his chief of staff? Or did he disclose that information prior to the School Board hiring him?

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  4. Gary R. Welsh2:12 PM EST

    There is nothing to the rumor stated in anon. 7:35's comment. I spoke to Dr. Ferebee's staff. There are three people who joined IPS who previously worked with him down in North Carolina, including two female staff members, Le Boler and Wanda LaGrande. I've been assured that neither of them is related to Dr. Ferebee by blood or marriage, and there is nobody on IPS' payroll who is related by blood or marriage to him.

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  5. Anonymous7:58 PM EST

    Does Isletta "Le" Boler even have a college degree or the quals to be IPS Chief of Staff and command a six-figure salary?

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