JOLIET, IL - A total of 57 employees with Joliet Township High School District 204 made at least $100,000 in salaries during the 2017-2018 school year, a Joliet Patch analysis of the district's public salaries found. In recent weeks, District 204 mostly complied with a Joliet Patch Freedom of Information Act request seeking access to the past five school years worth of salaries and fringe benefits data for full-time teachers and administrative staff. Patch had also requested the salaries for the current school year 2018-2019.



In turn, District 204 furnished Patch with the past four school years of data, which is good through 2017-2018, but school officials indicated at the time of Patch's FOIA that the school board had not reviewed the employee compensation for the new school year, 2018-2019. "FY19 will be presented for board approval at the September 18th meeting, and posted on the district's website," Joliet Township District 204 Freedom of Information Act officer Ilandus Hampton informed Patch in an email.



At any rate, the following public salary data is intended to provide you with greater transparency on how your public school tax dollars are being spent by District 204 officials. After all, the majority of District 204 expenses go to fund the salaries and benefits packages for teachers, administrators and additional support staff. After analyzing the salary data, Joliet Patch comprised a list of all District 204 officials who topped $100,000 in pay during the 2017-2018 school year. Patch also included their salaries from the previous school year, in 2016-2017, and analyzed how much of a salary increase these top-paid teachers and administrators received between 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

Bear in mind that this is not Patch's first story analyzing District 204 school salaries. In May, Joliet Patch was the first news outlet to report that the District 204 School Board, led by President Jeff Pierson, a board member since 2001, had quietly awarded Superintendent Cheryl McCarthy a new five-year contract back in May 2014 that gave her guaranteed 6 percent raises every single school year. McCarthy got a raise of $16,626 in May, boosting her current salary to $293,724.

Pierson Under Pierson's leadership on the school board, McCarthy has received more than $61,000 in salary increases during the past four years alone. McCarthy will be leaving the district next summer, and a search is currently underway to name a new superintendent for Joliet's high school district.

JOLIET TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 204

Administrators who made more than $100,000 during 2017-2018 year: 1. Cheryl McCarthy, district superintendent

