Superintendent to Earn $168,000

By Jessamy Brown, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Dec. 16–SOUTHLAKE — Carroll schools’ new superintendent will be paid $168,000 a year and said Thursday that he plans to take advantage of a $5,000 housing incentive to live in the district.

An employment contract for David J. Faltys to take the district’s helm Jan. 3 is nearly complete. Trustees met for about 45 minutes behind closed doors Thursday before emerging to vote 4-0 on a 3 1/2-year agreement.

Faltys, now superintendent of the Navasota school district near Bryan-College Station, is selling his house in preparation for moving to North Texas. Trustees said the contract includes an annual housing allowance to encourage the superintendent to interact with the community but does not require him to live in the district.

“I think it is important for him to be involved with the community, to show a commitment to the community,” Trustee Craig Rothmeier said.

The average sale price of a house in Southlake is $428,603, city figures show.

Faltys, 42, said he and wife, Jennifer, plan to enroll their two school-age children in the district when they arrive. Their two other children are too young to be in school.

“We really expect to be in the district. We want our kids in the schools and in the neighborhoods where their friends are,” Faltys said in a telephone interview.

Legal details of the contract have not been finalized, and the board did not release the document. But trustees outlined details of the agreement. Faltys will get a $7,200 annual car allowance and an $1,800 annual allowance for mobile phone expenses, Internet service and other communications technology.

The district will contribute at least 5 percent of his salary each year to a deferred compensation package. That plan is still under legal review, school board President Erin Shoupp said.

The board voted unanimously Dec. 5 to hire Faltys to lead the 7,600-student district.

Faltys earned an annual salary of $100,000 under a three-year contract with Navasota, a 2,900-student district where he became superintendent in May 2003. The Navasota contract included a $5,000 auto allowance, a mobile phone and a laptop computer to use at home, according to the document.

Faltys, whose performance will be reviewed annually, said he expects to receive a doctorate in education in January from Texas A&M University in College Station, he said.

Carroll’s previous superintendent, Gary Mathews, had a salary of about $174,000 when he left in June to become superintendent of a district in Virginia. His contract included a $75 per month cellphone allowance and a car allowance similar to Faltys’, officials said.

Mathews’ contract did not include a housing incentive. He lived in Southlake when he was hired in 2002, then moved to North Richland Hills in spring 2004, about a year before his departure.

Faltys’ salary falls in the midrange of salaries paid to school superintendents in Tarrant County. Trustees studied districts of similar size and administrators with similar experience in determining Faltys’ contract, Shoupp said.

“We looked at the total picture of what he could bring to the district,” she said. “We did a lot of background work on comparable salaries across the state.”

In April, Northwest district trustees approved a four-year contract for Karen Rue that pays her $180,000 a year to lead the 7,700-student district. She replaced Keith Sockwell, whose salary and incentive payments totaled $225,836 when he retired at the end of the school year.

Fort Worth Superintendent Melody Johnson was hired in March with a contract through 2008 that pays her $300,000 annually.

Keller schools Superintendent James R. Veitenheimer, who earns $165,950 annually, and Grapevine-Colleyville Superintendent Kay Waggoner, who earns $180,250 per year, both were hired in July 2004.

Hurst-Euless-Bedford district Superintendent Gene Buinger earns $180,568. White Settlement Superintendent Susan Simpson, hired in January 2000, earns $152,250. Arlington Superintendent Mac Bernd , hired in late 1997, earns $226,944.

IN THE KNOW

Carroll superintendent

Name: David J. Faltys

Hired: Dec. 5

Starts work: Jan. 3

Salary: $168,000

Contract term: Jan. 3, 2006 to June 30, 2009

Online: www.navasotaisd.org and www.southlakecarroll.edu

Source: Carroll school district

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