ONTARIO – The Ontario School Board has extended Superintendent Nikki Albisu’s contract through June 2027 and raised her pay by more than $30,000 a year through various benefits.
The board unanimously voted on Monday, July 22, to retroactively approve the three-year contract extension, which took effect on Monday, July 1, prior to the board’s vote.
With a $25,000 salary increase, Albisu will be paid $170,346. She also will receive $600 per month for “inter-district” travel costs, up from $300 per month, along with another $200 per
month for phone and internet.
In 2022, Albisu signed a three-year contract with an annual salary of $145,300 and annual cost-of-living increases.
Albisu was named interim superintendent in 2012 and was appointed permanently a year later.
During the July 22 meeting, Mike Blackaby said he “appreciated” Albisu’s two-page contract change proposal, separate from her contract, which listed the rationales behind the proposed changes.
The unsigned and undated contract change proposal memo stated that Albisu is among the lowest-paid superintendents in the region and state. According to the proposal, she is $14,000 per year below the state average for similarly-sized districts and $10,000 a year behind her regional peers. The proposal document notes that with the suggested changes, Albisu’s compensation would still put her among the lowest paid superintendents in the state and region for this school year. However, the proposal states that “the gap is still closing.” The proposal goes on to state that Albisu’s total compensation – salary and benefits – would be among the average by the end of the three-year agreement.
Her total compensation, with benefits, is $18,000 below the state and regional average for comparable districts, the proposal states. According to the document, she is the longest-tenured superintendent in the region. The board agreed to increase her annual retention bonus from $3,500 to $5,962.
Albisu’s contract follows the board’s February near-perfect evaluation of Albisu across standards, which included, among other things, inclusive district culture, ethics and professional norms and communication and community relations.
Board members rated Albisu three out of four for “communication and community relations,” the lone standard for which Albisu did not receive a perfect score.
The board wrote that the information Albisu and her staff shared about the district’s elementary reconfiguration, a plan to close a pair of Ontario rural schools, “was not done in the best way.”
Nonetheless, the board wrote that “other evidence” shows that she communicated clearly about the reconfiguration.
READ IT: Superintendent’s contract
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Ontario School Board gives Albisu a near-perfect evaluation
Ontario officials balk, stall on school superintendent’s evaluation records
News tip? Send your information to [email protected].
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE – The Malheur Enterprise delivers quality local journalism – fair and accurate. You can read it any hour, any day with a digital subscription. Read it on your phone, your Tablet, your home computer. Click subscribe – $7.50 a month.