FWCS hands out raises as cuts loom

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Fort Wayne Community Schools will face a $15 million shortfall in 2010, but five of its top officials will still get a raise.

For FWCS it's a shortfall that will likely require more staff and teacher cuts, but Tuesday NewsChannel 15 obtained some information that shows five people will see their pay increase starting July 1st.

At its December 14th meeting, the Fort Wayne Community Schools Board of Trustees approved the pay increase.

Here's what the board did to make sure these five top officials receive a pay increase in 2010.

First, the three area administrators were moved from an employee group, Group 13, where they had reached their maximum number of pay increases to an employee group where they could receive more.

• High School Area Administrator: Debra Faye Williams-Robbins $116,994  per year
• Middle School Area Administrator: Rita Turflinger $114,506 per year
• Elementary School Area Administrator: Dan Bickel $113,390 per year

Those three were moved into Group 14. That group already included:

• Chief Financial Officer: Kathy Friend $119,431 per year
• Chief Operations Officer: Steve Cobb $117,687 per year

Friend and Cobb had also reached their maximum number of pay increases in Group 14. The number of pay increases for Group 14 was extended from 23 to 30, so all five will get pay raises for at least seven years.

Board member Kevin Brown spoke exclusively to NewsChannel 15 about the pay increases. Brown said the board made a mistake.

"After I had gotten done talking to you (NewsChannel 15) I went back and looked at our December 14th information that you had made reference to and it was an oversight on my part," said Kevin Brown, Fort Wayne Community Schools Trustee.

Brown believes the board needs to look into this issue before it's too late. The raises are still undetermined, and they don't take effect until July 1st, 2010.

NewsChannel 15 is still waiting to hear from Fort Wayne Community Schools as to why these changes were necessary.

This story will be updated.