The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
A year from now, when educators across the state are stressing over annual Standards of Learning exams, Landstown Elementary Principal Greg Anderson plans to be relaxing at his family’s second home in Canada near Lake Ontario.
Anderson, a 35-year veteran of the Beach school system, is one of about 240 employees who will be paid as much as $8,500 to retire at the end of the school year.
Division leaders expect to save between $2.3 million and $2.7 million a year by offering the one-time retirement incentive, paid for using a federal jobs grant.
Several top-earning employees took the bait, school officials said, many of them stepping down a year or two sooner than planned.
For Anderson, who earns $100,645 a year, the one-time cash payment wasn’t the driving force for his retirement, he said, “but it certainly was something that helped to tip me in that direction.”
Employees 50 and older with at least 30 years of service in the Virginia Retirement System were eligible to receive the incentive, as were workers 65 and older with at least five years’ experience in state schools.
A total of 450 school employees have announced plans to retire in June, double the number who typically call it quits each year, said John Mirra, assistant superintendent for human resources. The expected savings in salaries is enough to give the division’s 10,500 returning employees a 0.5 percent raise next school year.
“In effect, we took one-time federal money and turned it into year-over-year savings that can be used for sustained employee pay increases,” School Board Vice Chairman Bill Brunke said. “I saw that as a very creative and out-of-the-box way to find an increase for our staff that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.”
The incentive has its drawbacks. About half the retirees are classroom teachers, Mirra said. Anderson is one of five elementary school principals stepping down this summer. Some assistant principals also are retiring.
“It’s a mixed blessing,” said Board Chairman Dan Edwards. “In truth, we’re losing a lot of experienced teachers and experienced administrators as a result of this, and that’s not necessarily easy to replace.”
Mirra said he wasn’t too concerned about finding qualified teachers with a year or two of experience.
“Not in this job market,” he said.
The school division has more than 2,650 active teacher applications to choose from.
School leadership positions are more difficult to fill, Mirra said, but the division has groomed several veteran teachers and assistant principals for those spots.
“Anytime you lose experience, it’s something that is very difficult to replace,” Brunke said. “But I’m confident we’re well positioned to fill these openings.”
Mike Hixenbaugh, (757) 222-5117, mike.hixenbaugh@pilotonline.com
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Sad salary for 35 years of dedication
It is sad to me that Mr. Anderson is retiring, as an administrator with 35 years of experience and he only makes 100,000 a year. As an administrator, he works twelve months, long days, beginning as early as 6:00 a.m. and often not ending until 6:00 p.m. (not to mention the evening and Saturday PTA events or the work he takes home with him.) More than likely, he probably has one or two degrees beyond a Bachelor's Degree and must continue to stay current by taking courses every five years mostly at his own expense. Sadly, many educators have to go back to work part-time after they retire to make ends meet. Educators are embarrassingly underpaid!!! I hope Mr. Anderson is able to enjoy his much deserved retirement!
Page Two.....
2nd comment to this post. What happened?
Just think how poorly paid the rest of the employees are.
But...more up-to-date: Don't feel too sorry for Mr. Anderson. As a retired Principal the VBCPS will bring him back for "special projects" and he will be paid between $300 and $500 a day. Substitute pay for retired teachers is approx $85 a day.
Then there is the article about John Kalocay in today's Beacon. He'll collect his pretty good retirement (much better than most school retirees) as a retired 6 figure administrator and also has a job lined up with another company....and I guarantee it is not a minimum wage position. The only after retirement jobs most teachers can find are working as retail clerks or substitutes.
if you can read this thank a teacher
I'm wondering if some of the posters here have actually read the story.
“In effect, we took one-time federal money and turned it into year-over-year SAVINGS that can be used for sustained employee pay increases”
So the article states this action will actually save money...not squander tax dollars. Guess some people never miss a chance to complain about THEIR tax dollars going to education. Giving an incentive to those who are prepared to retire soon anyway, makes way for new teachers to earn their retirement. What concerns me is the trend that educating our children = teaching students to chose one of the available answers (A, B, C, or D?)instead of encouraging them to ask questions and find answers we may not be aware of yet.
just because
Just because someone is eligible doesn't mean they are going to retire unless there is an incentive to do so.
$8500 bonus to retire early?
VA Beach's education community may well want to cut costs by providing incentives for early retirements, however. . . to offer such bonuses to personnel who are already eligible for full retirement is throwing greatly needed moneys down the drain. The offer should be for those who are eligible for full retirement in 2 to 5 years.
Additionally, robbing Federal Jobs Grant dollars intended for creating jobs. . . what are you guys thinking?
Why not just fire them!
It sounds like the money was offered to people to retire that were at the end anyway. Why not just force their retirement at no cost and use the grant money to upgrade the schools.
Age discrimination anybody??
Cannot believe this is posted, "Why not just force their retirement at no cost and use the grant money to upgrade the schools."
So, every employee should be fired who has worked in the school division for 30 years and is 50 years old? Get real man. Wonder what AARP and others would have to say about this age discrimination?
RE: experience matters
It's amazing that Virginia Beach thinks that having a supply of applicants who have "one or two years" experience in the field would be acceptable replacements for people who have worked 30 or more years. As a nation there is a huge outcry that we must "reform" education, but this shows that we actually just want the job done by the least experienced people available. When these young college graduates find out that a computer specialist makes an entry level salary comparable to a person who has taught for 10 years, they may reconsider their career choice.
trade-offs
This is an insightful comment.
However, I want to point our the positive side to hiring new teachers over retaining tenured teachers:
1. young teachers have learned the latest educational techniques, and
2. young teachers have a passion for pedagogy that older teachers may have lost. Not always, but often.
As with so much in life, there is always a trade-off.
People vs. Things
The way this reads sounds like the VBCPS is doing employees a favor. The .05% salary increase & incentive are something wonderful. While it is better than nothing, for some it is next to nothing. $250 spread out over 20 pay periods is $12.50 a pay period, or $6.25 a week or $1.25 a day, or $.17 an hour.
For those making $20,000 or less, the increase is barely worth the time it will take to make the changes in the computer.
But for those who moan and groan over the salary increase with taxpayer dollars, consider this...over the last two years the VBCPS will have spent over $20M on technology, including $651,000 on iPads and will spend $500,000 on a fancy septic system for Kellam HS. Contrary to the SB, I think people are more important.