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City athletes take home gold at Winter Games PAGE 19
Delivery 604-942-3081 • Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Sampling a new local dynasty
PAGE 13
Your source for local sports, news, weather and entertainment! >> www.burnabynow.com SCHOOL DISTRICT EMPLOYEES
82 break the $100,000 salary mark Most earning over $100,000 are principals, vice-principals and Burnaby school district staff Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
More than 80 staff in the Burnaby school district hit the $100,000 mark for salaries in the 2010 fiscal year. According to the district’s annual statement of financial information, 82 people – mostly district staff, principals and vice-principals – earned six figures. Gina Cordoni, a teacher, was the top-paid employee, cashing out at $144,650. “This particular person shows up as an anomaly. She is a teacher who was participating in a deferred salary plan and cancelled the plan part way through, resulting in a payout of salary previously earned but deferred,” said Greg Frank, the district’s secretary treasurer. The salaries include benefits and reflect earnings before taxes. With Cordoni as an exception, Frank was the next highest-paid employee in the Burnaby school system with $144,619 in remuneration and more than $14,000 in expenses. Elected school trustees and the British Columbia Public Sector Employers Association approve salaries for district staff and principals. In all, the district spent roughly $193 million on salaries and benefits for the last fiscal year ending in June, 2010. That money paid more than 4,000 employees, Frank pointed out. Salaries and benefits account for 90 per cent of the district’s overall budget, which is a slightly higher percentage than the provincial average of 88.4 per cent – but that’s not because district staff are earning more. “We proportionately have more staff providing educational services. We do not have higher District Page 9
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Walking the talk Grade 11 students Aljhon Lorenzana and Victoria Ly were part of a group at Burnaby Central Secondary that spent Feb. 24 walking for hours without shoes to raise money to help build a school in Ecuador. Participating students gather pledges and then walk in bare feet to get an idea of what it’s like for children in developing countries who can’t afford shoes. The annual event is organized by the school’s Global Action Against Poverty group, which has raised nearly $44,000 since 2004. The money is mostly used to help build schools in developing countries. Larry Wright/burnaby now