Super-sized salaries

Malden's school superintendent, Joan A. Connolly, got a 24 percent raise over the last three years, boosting her total compensation to $169,579.

The increase, which includes a $7,500 pension annuity, makes Connolly, 61, the highest-paid leader of a kindergarten-to-12th grade Massachusetts school district north of Boston, according to a Globe review of school superintendent contracts.

But the raise was more than a gold star for a veteran educator. It also was done to align Malden's salary structure with the going rate for school superintendents, whose salaries can now start at $150,000. Connolly, whose base salary this year is $157,270, is retiring in June after seven years in Malden.

"We needed a salary that would reflect a changed market," said Malden Mayor Richard C. Howard , who also is the School Committee chairman. "We needed a placeholder in our budget. . . . We were thinking about the day she might retire."

A hot market has led to higher pay and perks for superintendents. A shortage of qualified candidates, those with advanced education and management experience, has given applicants the upper hand in contract negotiations.

"The pool of people applying is really small," said Paul Andrews, director of professional development and government relations at the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents in Boston. "The going rate for a superintendent will vary by community, but the salaries are all going up."

Since 2003, total compensation for 162 school superintendents in Eastern Massachusetts has increased 8 percent, to an average of $147,500, according to a Globe review. In the northern suburbs, the average total compensation increased 11 percent, to $141,300 for superintendents in 34 public school districts, the review found.

And there are still-bigger paydays ahead. Marblehead and Manchester-Essex have raised the bar, offering $160,000 to $180,000. The range places the two districts in the top tier of superintendent salaries most common in the affluent suburbs west of Boston.

"We compare ourselves to the W's -- the Westons, the Wellesleys," said Susan Beckmann , chairwoman of the Manchester-Essex Regional School Committee. "They seem to attract good candidates."

Wellesley schools Superintendent Matthew King earns $185,360 in base salary. The highest-paid superintendent in Eastern Massachusetts outside Boston is Newton's Jeffrey M. Young, who is paid $197,832 plus perks totaling $31,628 to run the 11,567-student district.

In Marblehead, the new superintendent, G. Paul Dulac, will earn $169,000 when he starts July 1. The amount includes a base salary of $162,000, plus $7,000 for life and disability insurance. Dulac is a former interim school superintendent on Martha's Vineyard, where he is now an elementary school principal.

"The competition is pretty fierce," said Amy Drinker , chairwoman of the Marblehead School Committee. "We wanted somebody who is interested in staying here for a while, who will take us up a notch. We already are one of the better-performing districts in the state."

Several factors influence a salary package, including the size of the student population, the number of employees, and the geographic location.

Local salaries vary widely. The highest-paid is Karen Sarkisian , superintendent/principal of the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School in Haverhill, an 1,145-student district that draws from 11 communities. At 17 years, Sarkisian also is among the longest-serving superintendents in the region. Her base pay of $150,000 is the same as Paul A. Livingston's. He is a first-year superintendent at Pentucket Regional School District, a 3,457-student system serving Groveland, Merrimac, and West Newbury. Sarkisian's perks, including a $10,500 annuity, bring her total compensation package to $173,000.

"It took me 17 years to reach this level," Sarkisian said. "Some superintendents start out now at that. . . . Times now are very different from when I started."

There are 38 superintendent vacancies statewide, according to the superintendents' association. Local openings include Malden, Manchester-Essex, Georgetown, Salem, and Essex Agricultural Technical High School in Danvers. Most of the districts aim to hire someone by June. The search processes have included community meetings and focus groups. Some districts have hired private consultants to help find candidates. Promotional brochures touting the school district and community are common recruiting tools.

A wave of retirements, scarce finances, clashes with school committees, and pressure to perform on high-stakes tests such as the MCAS exams are often cited as factors draining the pool of potential candidates. "It's not one job," said Andrews of the superintendents' association, who retired as school chief in Woburn. "It's really two. During the day, you're dealing with administrators and students. At night, you're dealing with school committees, town meetings, city councils. . . . It's time-consuming."

Marblehead learned hiring a superintendent is a tough assignment. The 3,115-student school district has been without a permanent boss since 2005, when Ellen Minihan resigned. Philip DeVaux, a retired Marblehead superintendent, has been serving as interim superintendent, earning $150,000 per year.

Marblehead selected Dulac after two searches. The first was conducted last spring, when three finalists were chosen. Within hours, two had dropped out; at least one took another job. Instead of interviewing only one candidate, the committee opted to conduct a second search.

The minimum salary also was raised $10,000, to $160,000. "We were very sensitive to the competitive nature of the market," said Drinker, the School Committee's chairwoman. "We wanted to say to the candidates, 'This is how important this job is. This is what we're willing to pay.' "

Manchester-Essex is also prepared to pay. The 1,308-student district is seeking a replacement for Robert Shaps, who resigned in August for a $200,000 job as superintendent of the Hastings-on-Hudson school district in New York.

"I think we're at a crisis point relative to leadership in the public school arena," said Beckmann, the Manchester-Essex School Committee chairwoman. "People have to have much more than the traditional educational vision and curriculum work. It's really become much more of a business-centered job."

Manchester-Essex received 20 applications for the job, and the goal is to hire a new superintendent by April. The district sends 100 percent of its high school graduates to college. The high school has been selected four times for Newsweek magazine's list of the nation's top 1,000 high schools, ranking number 154 last year.

Georgetown is looking to hire its first school superintendent in 16 years. Larry S. Borin opted to retire in June, a year earlier than he had planned, after the School Committee criticized his purchase of $93,000 worth of school supplies without its permission.

The search committee has set a salary range of $135,000 to $150,000. At the least, the new boss will earn more than Borin, who receives $116,888. "Market forces will have a lot to do with how we compensate," said George S. Moker, the School Committee chairman.

In Malden, Connolly's salary will serve as a benchmark for her successor. The district will look at multiple factors, including salary packages for other urban districts about the same size as Malden. The 6,287 -student school district has a high percentage of low-income and minority students.

"We'll look carefully at what other systems like ours are paying," Malden's Mayor Howard said. "We want someone who will build on the progress Joan's made here. . . . We know we'll have to offer a competitive package."

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.