Pay For a Delay

School Administrator, Jan, 1998

Angered by what they viewed as slow progress in filling the district superintendency, community members in Whitnall, Wis., took out their fury on the school board by stripping board members of their annual $2,200 stipend.

The unusual action came last fall at the district's annual meeting, where residents approved the pay cut by a 51-18 vote. The motion from the floor substituted for another that would have raised the board members' stipend to $3,600.

Those who proposed the cut expressed anger that the board waited two months to hire a search consultant to find a replacement for Superintendent Gene Thieleke, who announced last July his plan to retire.

(Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)