3 of 4 Oswego Superintendent Contracts Approved

Photo: A community member addresses the school board about the contracts.

Despite vocal members of the public against the contracts, The Oswego School District 308 School Board voted 6 to 1 to approve the contract for Superintendent Matthew Wendt and Assistant Superintendents Judy Minor and John Sparlin. The contract for Associate Superintendent Paul O’Malley was tabled due to O’Malley accepting a superintendent position at Norridge School District 80.

The contracts for Wendt, Minor and Sparlin all came with pay raises, a point of contention for some, but removed any performance-based bonuses. Wendt will receive a $25,000 pay increase, bringing his salary to $250,000. Minor and Sparlin will each receive a $5,000 pay increase, bringing both of their salaries to $160,000.

The Community Room at Oswego East High School was packed with community members Monday night. During the public comment session, one, among a few, spoke her mind about the contracts.

Oswego resident Ivonne Furneaux urged Wendt not to accept the raise.

“I challenge you to regain the trust and support of this community. You have an opportunity, tonight, to stand before the current board and all of these people and do the right thing by not accepting this raise,” Furneaux said.

With newly-elected board members set to be sworn in soon, criticism was also directed at the decision to approve the contracts before those members could be seated. However, Wendt believes the board made the right call.

“When I became superintendent, my board directed me to move the approval process for administrative contracts earlier than what we had been doing in the past,” Wendt said. “I was unaware of the past, but approving administrative contracts in the summer, when their contracts end June 30, in my opinion, is unacceptable.”

Wendt added that not only do faculty members deserve to know, they need to know. Getting contracts approved is also a safety precaution on District 308’s part. The longer it takes for a contract to be approved, the more likely it becomes that an employee may begin to look for jobs outside the district.

“I’m very pleased that the board recognized our plan and I regret that it has become somewhat politicized because that is not our intent,” he said. “I think for people who truly know me and people who know my cabinet and for people who know our administrative team, know that the last thing we’re attempting to do is ask the school board to approve contracts either inappropriately or at the wrong time. I’m glad they did what they did.”

Despite those against the contracts, Wendt wouldn’t say they were misguided.

“I think they believed what they believed,” he said. “I do believe there are some strong opinions about what contracts should look like and how much money should be attached to those contracts.”

Wendt also said contract issues is something he’s seen many times before.

“I’ve never been in a school district, after 20 years, where administrator contracts have not been an issue,” he said. “However, I’ve never quite experienced something to this level, which causes me to believe there’s more to this than just simply wanting the next board to approve the contracts. I don’t know what that is, but I’m sure people can speculate.”

The contracts for Wendt, Minor and Sparlin were approved 6-1, with the lone dissenting vote coming from board member Matt Bauman.

“I can appreciate the goals of the contract, but I thought the base salary was still too high,” Bauman said.

Oswego School District 308 Board Member-elect Jared Ploger said he was not in favor of approving Wendt’s contract.

“I wish it would have been left to us,” Ploger said.