Superintendent Authement: $60K raise 'rumor is absurd'
As the Rapides Parish School Board prepares to consider contract negotiations with its superintendent, a rumor that he requested a $60,000 raise had social media buzzing this week.
"The rumor is absurd," Superintendent Nason "Tony" Authement said Thursday. "There's no truth to it at all."
He did not comment as to whether he asked for a raise at all. He said his inclination was not to discuss the issue at all as it remains in discussion and is a personnel issue, but he said he did not ask for $60,000.
The rumor likely stemmed from discussions and a document he presented to board members in an executive session meeting a few months ago.
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While discussions in executive session are private, board member Stephen Chapman said he received permission from Authement to disclose that Authement presented a document listing salaries for superintendents across the state. Other board members confirmed this.
"He tried to give us a comparison to districts comparable in size (to Rapides)," Chapman said. "He asked if we would consider that as a guide."
Chapman didn't have his notes with him when interviewed and couldn't quote the document exactly, but he said some districts' superintendents had much higher salaries than Authement's.
Authement entered a three-year contract with the Rapides Parish School Board on April 27, 2013, at a "minimum base salary" of $160,000. The contract also includes an $800 monthly stipend for "furnishing of required equipment" of a cell phone and car insurance.
Chapman said some of the salaries on the list might have been in the $200,000-plus range, which is where the rumored $60,000 raise would put Authement, in areas where there is "oil money, et cetera, where the salary is kind of skewed."
Chapman, who represents District E, called the claim "totally false."
"He did not ask for a $60,000 raise," Chapman said.
Folks on social media — many of them parents, educators or others interested in the local education system — were "fired up," as some described it, that he might ask for such an exorbitant raise after teachers and staff have received little in the way of salary increases in recent years.
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The board will take up the discussion again on Tuesday. The agenda for its Nov. 3 meeting features a motion to "consider and take action on renewing the employment contract of Nason Authement." It is authored by Chapman and fellow board member Gerald Crooks.
Chapman brought up the issue at the board's Oct. 6 meeting, motioning to offer Authement a new four-year contract at his current salary when his expires this spring.
Some board members voiced concern that the motion was unnecessarily early. Legally, the board is required to notify Authement 90 days prior to the expiration of his contract only if it intends not to renew, counsel James "Jam" Downs informed board members in October.
Chapman said Thursday he is sticking with his original motion for Tuesday's meeting, which starts at 5 p.m.
"I have no problem giving him a new contract," Chapman said in an interview. "My proposal is we give him a four-year contract at the same salary. ... I think he's done a very good job, and I would feel comfortable with him continuing (in Rapides)."
His reasons for discussing it now is to get the ball rolling, one way or the other.
"The bottom line is: Do we want to keep him or not? And if we do, we need to tell him," Chapman said.
When it comes to a raise, Authement said Thursday that any raise would be up to the board and would be performance-based, looking at objectives and targets set in his original contract.
"If the board chooses to give me a raise, I wouldn't deny it," Authement said. "If a raise were to be considered, it would be reasonable and would be based on my performance."
Board member John Allen echoed that, saying he and fellow representatives will look at targets established in Authement's original contract to determine where to go from here.