New Superintendent - Dr. Stephen W. Daeschner

[d204taxpayer]

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It’s right time for change
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Friday, February 16, 2007

Superintendent Howard Crouse says now is a perfect time to welcome a new leader in Indian Prairie Unit District 204.

School board members Thursday dipped into Louisville, Ky., to hire Jefferson County Public Schools chief Stephen Daeschner, 64, to head their still-growing district beginning this summer.

He will replace Crouse, who is retiring after a three-year stint as head of the school system that serves portions of Naperville, Bolingbrook, Plainfield and Aurora.

“If you could pick a time … this has most of the hallmarks of the perfect time to have a transition between superintendents,” Crouse said.

“We’ve got labor contracts in place. The new board will be seated. We’re not opening any new schools. It just has that feel where there’s not impending doom. So you have the luxury of moving in at your own pace and style.”

Daeschner’s initial focus, Crouse said, likely will be on meeting faculty and staff and getting to know his new community. He officially takes over July 1.

“It’s exciting more than demanding,” Crouse said. “You’re walking into a brand-new situation where you know very few people. It’s a clean slate to start over for the superintendent. But it’s a clean slate for the community as well.”

The honeymoon could be short-lived though, because the realities of running the district always loom nearby.

“What I’m hoping, quite frankly, is that there’s no land mines left out there for him to step on or surprises to come out of the woodwork or situations we should have foreseen and we didn’t,” Crouse said.

The biggest item of unfinished business Daeschner will encounter is the ongoing condemnation battle for 55 acres of the Brach-Brodie property to construct another high school to ease overcrowding in the two existing high schools.

District voters approved a $124.7 million tax increase last spring to pay for Metea Valley High School, a 3,000-student facility it plans to build on 80 acres off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.

Officials expect to open it in the fall of 2009 and have said construction needs to begin this spring to finish on time.

That can’t happen until a jury establishes a price for the land and the district agrees.

Crouse hopes the case goes to trial in June, before Daeschner takes over. If not, the new superintendent will need to step in and hit the road running.

Some other issues immediately at hand for the new superintendent will be wrapping up next year’s budget, deciding when to discuss boundary issues, and the startup of Metea Valley, Crouse said.

High school boundaries were redrawn in a contentious process last year prior to voter approval for the facility.

Officials have said middle school and some elementary school boundaries also will need to be redrawn before fall 2009 to more evenly distribute students.

But by and large, the timing for the change seems ideal, he said.

“It’s nice to have some of the more controversial and difficult events out of the way,” Crouse said, “so the new superintendent doesn’t have to deal with them for a couple of years.”




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dailyherald.com

[d204taxpayer]

Howard Crouse bio

Spring 1972: Receives bachelor’s degree with major in political science and minor in education from North Central College

Fall 1972: Starts as fifth- and sixth-grade teacher in Darien Elementary District 61

1975: Receives master’s degree in education and administration from Northern Illinois University

1981: Joins Indian Prairie Unit District 204 as principal of Indian Plains Elementary School

1985: Becomes first principal of Brookdale Elementary School

1987: Promoted to district director of elementary education

1989: Receives educational specialist degree from NIU

1990: Title changed to assistant superintendent for elementary education

1999: Title changed to associate superintendent for elementary education

2000: Begins overseeing middle school and high school administration as associate superintendent of secondary education

June 16, 2003: Named retiring Superintendent Gail McKinzie’s successor effective July 1, 2004

July 1, 2004: Officially takes over as superintendent

May 5, 2006: Announces his retirement following the 2006-07 school year

June 30, 2007: Scheduled to complete his tenure in District 204

Source: Daily Herald reports, District 204 information

Stephen Daeschner timeline
Posted Thursday, February 15, 2007

1964: Graduates from Baker University in Baldwin, Kansas, with bachelor’s degree in physics/mathematics


1965: Earns master’s degree in secondary education from Kansas State University


1965: Becomes teacher at Pacific Grove Public Schools in Pacific Grove, Calif.


1969: Begins teaching research at Oregon State System of Higher Education in Monmouth, Ore.


1972: Becomes principal of Kendall Demonstration School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C.


1972: Earns doctorate in educational administration from University of Wisconsin


1973: Becomes director of research, evaluation and planning of St. Louis Public Schools


1977: Begins work in Anchorage School District in Alaska as assistant to the deputy superintendent


1981: Takes over as deputy superintendent of the Anchorage district


1986: Begins as superintendent of Cedar Rapids Community Schools in Iowa, overseeing 17,500 students


1993: Assumes leadership of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Ky.


2004: Becomes adjunct professor in college of education and human development at University of Louisville


2006: Earns Superintendent of the Year honors from the Kentucky Association of School Administrators


January 2007: Becomes finalist for Indian Prairie Unit District 204 superintendent


Source: Daeschner’s resume provided by the Jefferson County Public School District

[d204taxpayer]

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Kentucky leaders lament loss of schools chief
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, February 15, 2007

Leaders in Louisville, Ky., say the hiring of the city’s schools chief, Stephen Daeschner, today by Indian Prairie Unit District 204 is Louisville’s loss and the district’s gain.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for you all,” Mayor Jerry Abramson said. “He’s done an outstanding job in this community. He’s very innovative, very visionary, very creative, but, most importantly, very focused on the students, the children. It’s a tremendous loss for our community and a tremendous win for yours.”

Daeschner, who led Kentucky’s largest school district, will replace Superintendent Howard Crouse, who is retiring after this school year.

Louisville-area leaders credit Daeschner with improving student performance and narrowing achievement gaps in an urban school district with a highly diverse demographic. They repeatedly pointed to the Every 1 Reads initiative - designed to bring all students up to their grade level in reading - championed by Daeschner as a concerted effort to narrow the achievement gap.

Ben Richmond, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, said he’s had an excellent working relationship with Daeschner. He said the educator puts an emphasis on youth and empowering teachers and building principals to focus on students.

“He doesn’t play around with that,” Richmond said. “That is a very difficult thing, especially when you have an extremely high poverty level and African-Americans are over represented (in some schools).”

Joe Reagan, president of the Greater Louisville Inc. Chamber of Commerce, called Daeschner’s 14-year stint as leader of Jefferson County Public Schools a “tremendous tenure” and noted it’s unusual for a superintendent to stay in such a large district for that long.

“He’s leaving absolutely on a positive note,” Reagan said. “The business community would have been happy for him to stay a few more years and retire here. We know this is good for him and his family and he’ll do well wherever he lands.”

www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=281485


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dailyherald.com

[blankcheck]

Having their cake and eating it too
Superintendents allowed to collect retirement pay while working elsewhere

February 18, 2007
By BRITT CARSON Staff Writer
Retirement doesn't mean slowing down for many school superintendents.

In fact, superintendents from many states, including Illinois, will retire but then head to another state where they can hold another superintendent post, earn a salary and still collect their retirement benefits.

» Click to enlarge image

Stephen Daeschner speaks at the VanHoose Education Center in Kentucky. The Jefferson County (Ky.) School District superintendent will retire from his post this summer, but also will earn a $225,000 salary from Indian Prairie School District 204.
(Courtesy of The Louisville Courier-Journal)

» Click to enlarge image

Drury


Illinois Teachers Retirement System
To qualify for retirement a member must be 62 years old with five years of service; age 60 with 10 years of service; age 55 with 20 years or service or age 55 with 35 years of service.
Early retirement also is an option and benefits depend on the age of the retiree, years of service and the amount of sick and or vacation time that is unused.

Source: www.trs.illinois.gov
An investigation by The Sun reveals the practice is fairly common among many superintendents who are either retiring in Illinois and seeking out jobs in other states or coming to Illinois with retirements from their home state.

The most recent example is in Indian Prairie School District 204, which announced Wednesday it will hire Stephen Daeschner as its next superintendent. Daeschner, 64, has been the superintendent in Jefferson County School District in Louisville, Ky., for the past 14 years. He will retire from his post this summer and collect a $225,000 salary from District 204.

According to the Kentucky Teachers Retirement Salary benefits estimator online, Daeschner could be receiving a $69,000 retirement in addition to his District 204 salary. That number could change depending on accumulated sick and vacation time.

"It didn't even factor into our decision making," said school board member Mark Metzger, of Daeschner's expected annual retirement.

Illinois system allows collection in private sector
Taking the retirement packages and then another job is not illegal and all those mentioned in this article are abiding by the rules in their respective retirement systems.
Eva Goltermann, public information officer for the Illinois Teachers Retirement System, said the Illinois system allows employees who retire to collect benefits as long as they are not working in public education in Illinois. Superintendents and teachers are free to go to another state, earn a salary and continue collecting their retirements.

"The rules say unless the member takes on a TRS-covered position, the benefit amount remains the same," Goltermann said. "If they go teach at a private school in Illinois, they could still continue to collect benefits from TRS since that is not a TRS covered-position."

The TRS covers teachers and administrators in Illinois.

If the retirees take another position in a public school in Illinois where they work more than 120 days or 600 hours per calendar year, their benefits are suspended, Goltermann said.

Alan Leis was a deputy superintendent in Fairfax County School District in Virginia. He took early retirement, collecting a partial retirement package in 2003 and became superintendent of Naperville School District 203, where he earned $170,000 to start.

Retired superintendents or teachers also can work in the private sector and still collect their retirements. Donald Weber, former superintendent in Naperville School District 203, retired in 2003 and now works for PMA Financial Group in Warrenville.

Other states have similar policies
Illinois and Kentucky are not the only states that allow the practice. Richard Drury is the superintendent of Muskego-Norway School District in Wisconsin. This summer he will retire from his position, collect a partial retirement and become the superintendent of Community Unit School District 200 in Wheaton/Warrenville.
Tom Scullen, a former District 204 superintendent who retired in 1995, took advantage of a 5-plus-5 program that allowed people to add five years onto either their age or service at retirement. Scullen retired and has been the superintendent of Appleton Area School District for the past 12 years. If Scullen, 68, retires in Wisconsin, he will collect both his Illinois and Wisconsin retirements.

Even though the 5-plus-5 program no longer exists, teacher and superintendents in Illinois can now boost their last year or two of salary 20 percent under the TRS requirements, thus increasing their retirement benefits.

Benefits can increase depending on age
Members of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund also can work in other states and collect their IMRF retirement. Employees also can transfer up to 10 years of service to the IMRF as long as the work is not at the state or federal level, according to Linda Horrell, IMRF communications manager.
In 2004, Gail McKinzie retired from her superintendent post in District 204 and took a job as superintendent of Polk County School District in Florida. She had nine years invested in the system and qualified for a 20 percent bump in pay the last year of her salary to boost her retirement.

Using the TRS formula, McKinzie could be receiving a retirement package of $31,000 annually in addition to her $201,000 salary in Florida.

Benefits can be increased depending on the age of the person, years of service and sick or vacation time that was saved up. Goltermann said anyone who is older than 62 with five years of contributions to TRS can collect a retirement, although it likely will be a partial amount due to the small number of years of service.

District 204 is signing Daeschner to a three-year contract next week and if he stays on an additional two years, he will be eligible to collect an Illinois retirement in addition to his Kentucky retirement.

Daeschner will replace Howie Crouse, who will retire this year at age 55 after 35 years in education, 26 of those in District 204. Crouse has not announced if he has any plans after his retirement.

Staff writers Tim Waldorf and Jennifer Golz contributed to this report.

Contact Britt Carson at [e-mail] or 630-416-5269.


Area superintendents at a glance
A look at area past, present and future superintendents and where they are now

Stephen Daeschner

Age: 64

Current position: Superintendent Jefferson County School District, Louisville, Ky.

Current salary: $201,074

Future position: Indian Prairie School District 204

District 204 salary: $225,000

Estimated retirement from Kentucky: $69,000

Richard Drury

Age: 58

Current position: Superintendent of Muskego-Norway School District, Muskego, Wis.

Current salary: $135,000

Future position: Superintendent of Community School District 200 in Wheaton/Warrenville.

District 200 salary: $200,000

Estimated retirement from Wisconsin: $5,300

Gail McKinzie

Age: 59

Current school district: Polk County School District, Bartow, Fla.

Current salary: $201,000

Previous position: Superintendent Indian Prairie School District 204

Previous salary in 204: $175,371

Estimated annual retirement from Illinois: $31,680

Tom Scullen

Age: 68

Current position: Superintendent of Appleton Area School District, Appleton, Wis.

Current salary: $147,087

Previous position: Superintendent of Indian Prairie School District 204

Previous salary in District 204: $113,820

Estimated annual retirement from Illinois: not available

**The retirements are all estimates using formulas on each state's retirement Web site.



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[blankcheck]

Several things wrong with this article. First, her salary in her last year here was $276,385. (2004) Her 2003 salary was $201,775. She received a 37% increase her last year not a 20% increase. Not sure where they are pulling these figures.

Her average salary her last four years of service was $160,207. If she receives 75% of that at retirement, its a lot more that $31,000.

[momof3]

bc - It doesn't appear that she qualified for the full 75% or so in Illinois.
When she left she was 57 with 9 years of service.
Was she able to buy years of service with vacation or something?

trs.illinois.gov/subsections/general/benefits.htm

Age Retirement Annuity
A member is eligible to receive a monthly retirement annuity when he or she terminates active service covered by TRS and meets the following age and service requirements:

age 62 with 5 years of service, or
age 60 with 10 years of service, or
age 55 with 20 years of service (discounted annuity), or
age 55 with 35 years of service.*
* If the member is eligible to receive a retirement benefit of at least 74.6 percent of the final average salary and will reach age 55 between July 1 and December 31, he or she will be considered to have attained age 55 on the preceding June 1.

The retirement benefit is calculated by applying a statutory formula based on average salary and years of service. The salary used in the calculation is the average of the creditable earnings in the highest four consecutive years within the last 10 years of creditable service. For post-June 1998 service, this average salary is multiplied by 2.2 percent for each year of service.

[blankcheck]

You make a good point MomX3, however, her numbers have to be wrong because she did not use her ending salary of 276,385 (close-only off by $100,000). Where she got that figure I have no clue. She served in our district for 9 years - prior to that where was she? Did she work in Illinois paying into the retirement fund? If anyone could enlighten me on how this is figured I would appreciate it.
BTW- M2 & JC where on the board when they gave her that $75,000 increase her last year knowing that she would be leaving - hence one of the reasons I will not vote for them.

[wvhsparent]

What's the big deal.....One retires from one job...gets a pension, and if able, finds another job, while still collecting a pension.

It's fairly common in the government sector, and I am positive in private sectors where one gets a pension too.

[momof3]

Agreed WVHS - my father-in-law collects 2 pensions from the 2 public companies that he worked for. Most people in the private sector have a problem with this practice today because it seems outdated, I suppose, in the world of 401Ks/Roths/etc.

bc - GM worked in MO before Illinois. Those rules determine if you can even qualify for any pension, not a full 75% pension. I couldn't find the calculation for the percent you qualify for.
Also - are you sure the number you are quoting as salary is pure salary? I read on the website that a district can kick in towards your pension annunity in the last year.
www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=35815155

[204parent]

Interesting LTE in the 2/25 SUN. Is CFO counting on the new Superintendent to "clean up the waste" in 204?

What he achieves is test of school chief

I am as critical as anyone with regard to the waste and fraud that emanates from Indian Prairie School District 204 but I would like to respond to the letter from Bill Lueck with regard to his objection to Mr. Daeschner's salary.
While I agree this amount is excessive, the real test will be what Mr. Daeschner does as superintendent. If I were superintendent, we would not be purchasing $10,000 bells as decorations or building empty schools; we would be educating students. If Mr. Daeschner can eliminate even 20 of these pork-barrel projects from the 204 budget, he will be worth the $225,000.

Paul White

Naperville

[bob]

Can he get anything right? We aren't paying $10k for a bell and we don't have any empty schools.

Is he the guy from Colishaw?

[Arch]

bob said:

Can he get anything right? We aren't paying $10k for a bell and we don't have any empty schools.
Is he the guy from Colishaw?

Yes. He was slated to replace this guy in 2003, but that job didn't pan out.