School board will consider contract extension, pay raise for Gill at Monday meeting
The School District 186 board of education will vote Monday on granting Superintendent Jennifer Gill a two-year contract extension through 2026.
According to the proposed employment agreement posted by the district late Thursday, Gill will receive a 5% pay increase for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years and a 4% boost for 2024-25. Gill's salary for the 2025-26 school year will have to be negotiated by no later than March 1, 2025.
Her current base salary is $199,680.
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School board president Anthony "Tony" Mares said while a majority of school superintendents across the state were compensated and received salary increases and bonuses during the COVID-19 pandemic, "(Gill) didn't get any of those things."
Gill, 53, has been superintendent since early 2014. The Springfield native had served as the director of teaching and learning at McLean County Unit 5 School District in Bloomington-Normal when she was picked to succeed Walter Milton Jr.
Mares said Gill's contract took on a sense of urgency with the current board, which did her evaluation.
The new board will be seated on May 1 and includes two new members: Ken Gilmore who defeated incumbent Jeff Tucka in Subdistrict 4 and Debra Iams who ran unopposed in Subdistrict 7 and succeeds Bill Ringer.
"This board needed to act, tie this down and move on," said Mares, reached Thursday night.
Although it was a unanimous decision to grant Gill an extension and pay raise, Mares said the board was going "to hold (Gill) and her administration accountable for the results the district achieves. That hasn't changed and it won't change going forward."
As part of the agreement, the board and Gill will draft a memorandum of understanding, including additional goals established by the board.
Of particular concern, Mares said, were graduation rates at the three high schools and chronic absenteeism and chronic truancy - areas cited by the 2022 Illinois State Board of Education report card, released last fall.
Springfield High, Southeast and Lanphier were all below Illinois’ four-year high school graduation rate of 86.8%.
"We've spent $215 million of the taxpayers' money," Mares said. "The taxpayers and us as a city deserve the best results possible."
Meanwhile, eight of the district's elementary schools moved into the "commendable" category, according to the ISBE report card.
Also, some of the fruit is coming to bear from the passage of a 1% sales tax hike approved by Sangamon County voters in 2018. That has meant major facelifts for schools or new construction around the district.
"She's a positive impact on the community," Mares said of Gill.
Gill will also get 1% of her salary contributed into her retirement account this school year and next school year. It gets bumped up to 2% for 2024-25 and is negotiable for 2025-26.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: The Springfield school superintendent could get a contract extension and pay raise
