Posted: June 24, 2009

Hales Corners — Whitnall School Superintendent Karen Petric has voluntarily taken a one-year pay freeze to help the school district give raises to other non-union employees.

The School Board, on a recent 5-1 vote, approved a 2.25 percent increase in the total compensation package, including salaries and benefits, for non-union employees over the next school year. The non-unionized group includes school district administrators, principals, assistant principals and some secretaries.

Money that would have been earmarked for a raise for Petric, who earns about $165,000 per year, will be used to help fund that increase.

"In these economic times, I think it important to help the district. This is one way I can do that," she said in an e-mail. "There are a few employees that we needed to make sure they were competitive with surrounding districts, as they are excellent in their roles and they deserve a solid raise."

School Board President Bill Osterndorf applauded Petric's decision.

"She's helping to ensure we keep some of the people who make the district go," Osterndorf said. "We were certainly pleased and appreciated her willingness to do that."

Some board members wanted to give larger increases because of the workers' performances, but the bad economy limited their raises, Osterndorf said.

There was some discussion about a smaller increase or even a salary freeze. But some of the employees' wages were already low compared to their peers and most board members wanted to stay competitive with other school districts, he said.

"We'd like to give a bigger increase in light of their performance and contributions, but in current economic conditions we couldn't do anything higher than this," Osterndorf said.

School Board member TJ Anderson cast the lone vote against the salary increase. Some of the employees deserved the raise but with many in the community hurting financially, now is not the time to increase compensation, he said.

"We cannot be an open checkbook," Anderson said.