Superintendent merry-go-round yields fat severances - Chicago Tribune

Superintendent merry-go-round yields fat severances - Chicago Tribune:

Superintendent merry-go-round yields fat severances

Tribune investigation finds school districts usually pay hefty parting gifts to leaders who leave early, even if they leave under a cloud

July 16, 2011|By Diane Rado and Duaa Eldeib | Tribune reporters

Stanley Fields resigned after just a year as superintendent of a suburban Cook County school district where he was put on leave, faced with firing and ultimately required to apologize to the community. Still, he walked away with a $100,000 severance payment.

He also had prematurely left his prior job, at a Lake County high school district, cashing out $30,426 in unused vacation. The school board waived a $60,000 breach-of-contract payment from Fields, now superintendent in another Chicago-area school district.

Fields' experience illustrates a statewide phenomenon that is costing the public millions in buyout deals worked out in secret by school boards, a Tribune investigation found.

The newspaper's review of more than 100 superintendent contracts, financial records and