{"id":413570,"date":"2025-11-29T20:24:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T20:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/413570\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T20:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T20:24:31","slug":"in-new-york-some-school-secretaries-make-six-figures-and-more-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/413570\/","title":{"rendered":"In New York, some school secretaries make six-figures and more | New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The Center Square) \u2013\u00a0Secretaries\u00a0are well known for\u00a0earning modest wages, but not the ones who\u00a0work\u00a0at Pocantico\u00a0Hills\u00a0Central School District.\u00a0At the school district of 500 students\u00a0outside New York City secretaries\u00a0make\u00a0$130,000 and $190,000\u00a0a year, an investigation by The Center Square found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The highest paid is\u00a0Gina L. Downes, a confidential secretary.\u00a0Her salary is\u00a0$110,538 this school year,\u00a0and\u00a0she will receive\u00a0$79,281\u00a0in benefits and other payments.\u00a0Downes, who will complete her 20th\u00a0year on the job in the spring, has\u00a0benefited\u00a0from\u00a0a\u00a0civil service-based pay\u00a0system, a common feature in\u00a0the\u00a0public\u00a0sector.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another secretary, Annabel Maya,\u00a0will earn $73,659 plus\u00a0$56,034 in benefits and overtime.\u00a0Her tenure began four years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Downes and Maya were\u00a0among\u00a0the district\u2019s well-compensated employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daniel Linehan, a physical education teacher who started\u00a0in\u00a0the district in 1995, will earn a salary of $146,199 and almost $60,000 in other benefits\u00a0this\u00a0school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Vanyo, assistant superintendent for business and operations, will make $240,507 and $53,511 in benefits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a phone interview, Vanyo\u00a0defended the pay packages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have very few staff members, so those secretaries are doing multiple\u00a0jobs, he said. “Plus, they tend to\u00a0stay, because\u00a0Pocantico Hills is a good place to work and live. I could pay them\u00a0less,\u00a0but we would have constant turnover.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pocantico Hills Central School District, in Westchester County, is not\u00a0alone in\u00a0the Empire State in\u00a0compensating its employees generously. Another\u00a0district\u00a0is\u00a0Shelter Island\u00a0Union Free School District, a school district of\u00a0roughly 190\u00a0students\u00a0in\u00a0Suffolk County.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Office assistant Donna Clark\u00a0will earn $98,792 in salary, benefits, and other payments this school year, while\u00a0her counterpart\u00a0Meghan Lang\u00a0will rack up $91,328, according to school district records.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Clark\u2019s and Lang\u2019s\u00a0secretarial\u00a0peers\u00a0in Pocantico Hills earn more, Shelter Island pays its top administrators more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s superintendent, Dr. Brian Doelger, will take home an eye-popping\u00a0$319,170 in salary, benefits, and other payments this school year.\u00a0Director of Athletics Todd\u00a0Gulluscio\u00a0will\u00a0receive a total pay package of\u00a0$189,513.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The school district did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A third school district that rewards employees with generous pay packages is Bridgehampton Union Free School District in Suffolk County, a region known popularly as the Hamptons.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Mary T. Kelly will earn a total pay package of $246,291, while two district staff will make six figures. District clerk Tammy Cavanaugh made $44,318 in salary, benefits, and overtime from July 1 to Nov. 14, a figure that prorated comes out to $118,938 this school year. Brianna Covais, director for pupil personnel services, earned $59,423 in salary, a figure that prorated comes out to $159,480 this school year.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0three\u00a0school districts\u2019 per-pupil spending\u00a0was among the highest\u00a0in New York State\u2019s K-12 public school system of\u00a02.4 million students, according to state data. Pocantico Hills\u00a0spent $71,439 per student, while Shelter Island\u00a0spent\u00a0$65,959 in the 2023-2024 school year.\u00a0Both are\u00a0on\u00a0the high end of what\u00a0private\u00a0four-year colleges charge for tuition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bridgehampton spent $92,586\u00a0for each of its\u00a0roughly 200\u00a0pupils in\u00a02023-2024. The sum was more than the $90,012 that Pepperdine University, a private Christian school in Malibu, Calif., charged for on-campus tuition.<\/p>\n

In a previous story<\/strong>,<\/a> district staff attributed the high per-pupil costs to infrastructure spending spread over very few students, but additional data obtained by The Center square shows that salaries in those districts are also big budget items.<\/p>\n

Zilvinas\u00a0Silenas, president and CEO of The Empire Center for Public Policy, a non-profit, free-market oriented think tank, said high salaries help\u00a0account for\u00a0the districts\u2019 high spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0median pay for a teacher in Pocantico is $121,703, which is in the top 20\u00a0percent\u00a0of school districts with\u00a0the highest\u00a0median pay,\u201d he noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vanyo, Pocantico Hills\u2019\u00a0assistant\u00a0superintendent,\u00a0said\u00a0the district spends more on other budgetary needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a unique situation,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cWe\u00a0are\u00a0a K-8 school district and pay tuition for our high school students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanyo added\u00a0that the district\u00a0pays the costs of\u00a0its high school students to attend one of three public schools in the area as well as the textbooks and healthcare of students who attend private high schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The typical school district\u00a0in New York\u00a0spent\u00a0$35,095 per pupil in the 2023-2024 school year, according to\u00a0the state\u2019s Department of Education.\u00a0The figure was\u00a0the highest\u00a0nationwide. By contrast, Utah spent\u00a0roughly $10,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite\u00a0New York\u2019s\u00a0high median figure,\u00a0six school districts spent\u00a0almost or\u00a0more than\u00a0$70,000 per student,\u00a0double the average.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The top spending district was\u00a0Fire\u00a0Island Unified School District, a small island\u00a0off the coast of Long Island. It\u00a0reported spending $132,196\u00a0for each of its\u00a0roughly 50\u00a0students, according to state data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second highest spending district was Bridgehampton Union Free School District in Suffolk County. It spent $92,586\u00a0for each of its\u00a0roughly 200\u00a0pupils in\u00a02023-2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two more high-spending districts were in Suffolk County\u00a0on\u00a0eastern Long Island. Quogue Union Free School District spent $86,163\u00a0for each of its\u00a0roughly 130\u00a0students, while\u00a0Amagansett Union Free School District\u00a0spent\u00a0$78,916\u00a0for each of its\u00a0roughly 120\u00a0pupils.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To\u00a0get a better handle on\u00a0the districts\u2019 spending,\u00a0last month\u00a0The Center\u00a0Square\u00a0submitted\u00a0requests under\u00a0New York\u2019s Freedom of Information Law\u00a0for staff salaries at five school districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What the\u00a0districts\u2019 responses\u00a0show is\u00a0generous staff pay\u00a0is\u00a0only one\u00a0reason\u00a0for high spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s complex and multi-factorial,\u201d\u00a0Silvenas\u00a0said\u00a0in an interview,\u00a0\u201cTo\u00a0be fair to Pocantico Hills School District, there\u00a0are roughly\u00a0100 school districts where median teacher pay is even higher.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider\u00a0Scarsdale Unified School District\u00a0in Westchester County,\u00a0a\u00a0district of\u00a04,700 students\u00a0outside New York City. It\u00a0pays its teachers\u00a0$156,000 annually, the highest in the state. Yet Scarsdale spent\u00a0$37,800 per pupil in 2023-204, a\u00a0figure\u00a0far below\u00a0that of Pocantico Hills\u2019 $71,439.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silvenas\u00a0acknowledged that\u00a0transportation, building upkeep, and classroom materials are key reasons for\u00a0high spending.\u00a0Each of the six highest spending school districts in New York has fewer than 500 students, a\u00a0barrier to economies of scale.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Mary T. Kelly, superintendent of Bridgehampton\u2019s school district, said small districts like hers get no breaks from the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBridgehampton offers a full continuum of services \u2014 including Advanced Placement courses, a new Career and Technical Education program, athletics, performing arts, special education, and transportation across a large geographic area \u2014 all of which must be provided regardless of enrollment size,\u201d she said in an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While capital and transportation costs are important,\u00a0teacher and\u00a0staff\u00a0salaries\u00a0are, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roxbury Central School District in upstate New York had\u00a0roughly 230\u00a0students in the 2023-24 school year, a figure\u00a0less than half that in Pocantico Hills and only 40 fewer than Shelter Island. Yet Roxbury spent less on\u00a0annual\u00a0teacher salaries\u2014$60,517 per teacher, according to\u00a0The Empire Center.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was\u00a0similar to\u00a0the $59,449 and $57,673\u00a0annual\u00a0salaries of Shelter Island\u2019s two office assistants and tens of thousands less than Pocantico Hills\u2019 two secretaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vanyo rejected the comparison between upstate and downstate school districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re twenty-five miles outside New York City,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0an expensive place to live.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2013\u00a0Secretaries\u00a0are well known for\u00a0earning modest wages, but not the ones who\u00a0work\u00a0at Pocantico\u00a0Hills\u00a0Central School District.\u00a0At the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":413571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,15780,405,403,40552,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-413570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-investigations","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new_york","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115634861922431406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}