Letter: Consider ‘extreme’ salaries, questionable poll, prior to April 2 referendum vote
To the Editor-
Check out https://govsalaries/WI/
You will be shocked at what you find on this website.
The highest salary at Stevens Point Area Public School District in 2023 was $195,000 (superintendent). The average annual salary last year was $62,654 and the median salary was $59,081.
The SPAPSD average salary is 34 percent higher than the USA average, and the median salary is 36 percent higher than the country’s median salary. The number of employees at the public school district was 600.
The next salary items are from a few personnel listed for the school district:
Superintendent Cory Hirsbrunner, in 2023, had an annual salary of $195,000, according to public records. This salary was 211 percent higher than the average and 230 percent higher than the median salary in SPAPSD. It was also 37 percent higher than the average district administrator’s salary in the state of Wisconsin.
Business Director Thomas Owens in 2023 had an annual salary of $151,784 — 31 percent higher than the average business manager salary in the state of Wisconsin.
Elementary Education Director Christopher Nyman had an annual salary of $140,000, which was 123 percent higher than the average and 137 percent above the median salary in the school district.
Beth Bakunowicz, director of human resources, last year had an annual salary of $139,289, which is 122 percent higher than the average and 136 percent higher than the median salary in the district.
You can read about the rest of the employees’ salaries on the link above.
I went to the meeting at SPASH on Wed., March 13, when we were told that everything is being done to cut costs in the school district. Really? But they need our hard-earned money via property taxes, not once, but on a recurring basis.
As part of the slide presentation, information was shared about how people hold our educational system in high regard, titled “Community Feedback”….85%, 87%, etc. were all high numbers. The superintendent did not allow more questions to be asked, but she told those attending that she would stay until the last question was asked, but Board Member Dennis Raabe stopped the questions/answers without warning before the attendees were done.
I asked the communications director how they got the community feedback information. She told me that they hired an outside source to do the poll.
As you already know, polls are a series of controlled questions, multiple choice answers, and questions to elicit a controlled answer from those who pay for the service/poll. And, by the way, how much did this poll/study cost? Here is another spending by the school district that has no value to the students and little value to the people who pay property tax. This is not cutting costs, but an attempt to redirect what people think about this school district.
I would ask all of you to check out the website and find out the truth about the extreme salaries in the Stevens Point Area School District before you vote on the school referendum on April 2.
Ruth Pfiffner
Stevens Point
