Vancouver’s former superintendent of schools earned north of $260,000 in his final year at the helm of the district.
Scott Robinson resigned from the position in June, one month before the cut-off date for the district’s Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) report that was issued Dec. 15.
As was the case last year, Robinson was the lone staffer to make more than $200,000. For the fiscal year running July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, Robinson earned $261,630. The 2015-2016 fiscal year saw Robinson’s reported earnings listed at $243,763.
Robinson was first named as an assistant superintendent in 2012 and became superintendent in March 2015. He was one of six senior staff members to take an indefinite leave of absence in September 2016. Upon resigning in the summer, he issued the following statement:
“My passion as an educator has always been to collaborate with and empower my colleagues, staff and parents to work together to do what is right for our students. Increasingly over the past year, it became more challenging to retain focus on this. I leave the VSB with the opportunity to recruit a new superintendent and have a fresh start in rebuilding relationships and leading Vancouver into the future.”
John Lewis is the district’s acting superintendent, while incoming superintendent Suzanne Hoffman takes the reins on Jan. 8, 2018.
A VSB spokesperson declined comment when asked if Robinson will be receive further pay next year.
The SOFI report lists all payments made to trustees and employees with remuneration exceeding $75,000 during that timeframe. It defines remuneration as salary, wages, taxable benefits, payment into trust or any form of income deferral paid by the board to an employee.
Dianne Turner made $166,732 in her previous role as official trustee. She’s now serving in an advisory role to the current board, which has been on the job less than two months after the October byelection. Previous board members each made $7,508, save for former chair Mike Lombardi, whose earnings are listed at $8,212. All nine previous board members were fired in October 2016 by then Education Minster Mike Bernier for failing to pass a balanced budget. Green trustee Janet Fraser was re-elected and is now board chair, while Vision trustees Joy Alexander and Allan Wong also survived the fallout, as did NPA trustee Fraser Ballantyne, to return to the board table two months ago.
After Robinson, associate superintendent Murray Doucette ranks second on the earnings list at $195,028. Doucette’s expense totals of $23,292 are the highest in the report.
“Most of the expense is a relocation allowance to hire a member of senior management from eastern Canada,” the VSB spokesperson said.
Principals at schools across the city made, on average, in the range of $100,000 to $130,000.
Some trades workers — electricians, painters, steamfitters, plumbers, for example — earned between $80,000 and $90,000. Those figures are on par with teachers’ salaries in some cases.
Many of those trades positions have a base pay of between $40,000 and $50,000, though factors such as overtime, vacation pay out, acting in a senior capacity or having a secondary job in the district can influence those fluctuations, the VSB spokesperson said.
The majority of high earners at the district level serve in associate superintendent roles, or other senior management positions. Their pay rates hover between $160,000 and $170,000.
Outside of Robinson and Doucette, the other district staff members rounding out the top 10 include:
- Donald Fiddler, district principal — $175,206
- David Nelson, associate superintendent — $173,244
- Guy Bonnefoy, interim secretary treasurer — $169,417
- Julie Pearce, associate superintendent — $168,881
- Govan Keng, home instruction, secondary — $168, 797
- Nancy Brennan, associate superintendent — $168,243
- Karen Blake, coordinator of career programs — $162,373
- Janson Ho, project office director — $161,238
@JohnKurucz
