BY CHRISTINE HEISER
All of the school districts in the area covered by Neighborhood News papers complied with a request for school meeting minutes.
But in more than half the school districts, requests for teacher salaries were met with confused looks and questions. Some districts required a written request to get the information, despite the Right to Know Law’s definition that salaries of government officials are public information.
Reporters were either able to obtain printed copies of meeting minutes immediately or were directed to the school Web site to view them online.
Who did well
Teacher salaries, however, were only readily available at three of the nine SAU offices we went to – SAU 28, Windham and Pelham; SAU 19, Goffstown, Dunbarton and New Boston; and SAU 66, Hopkinton.
In Windham and Pelham, the salaries for the previous year were listed for each employee in the town report. Susan Cad in the SAU office said the newest salaries would be available in about a week.
In Hopkinton, superintendent’s secretary Cettie Connolly printed out the salary information while we waited, and labeled the copies with their contents.
SAU 19 employees didn’t have the information at their fingertips when we requested it, but they were able to get it to us within the day.
Slow to comply
In other districts, the information requested was not as forthcoming.
Though the woman in the Salem School District office ultimately admitted the information was public record, the reporter was still asked who she was and whether she was a reporter. She had to fill out a request in writing but was not given the information when at the SAU office.
Other districts also had the reporter file a written request. One of those was SAU 24, which handles the Weare schools, including John Stark Regional High School. The employee could not reach the person she thought could provide the information.
At the SAU 15 office, covering Hooksett, Candia and Auburn, the reporter was told to leave his name and number and someone would get back to him. Although we called to verify they would send the salary information, we did not receive it by press time.
At SAU 53, which covers Pembroke, Epsom and Allenstown, a woman was unsure if she should comply with the request for salaries.
“I don’t know if we even give that kind of information out,” she said.
She asked us to file a written request and eventually sent the salaries to the reporter.
Other districts didn’t have the information about salaries we requested.
In Bedford, Mary Cody made a copy of the pay scale for the 2007-08 school year which showed the salaries teachers make depending on education level and years of service. It did not contain any specific information about individuals within SAU 25. When we asked her if we could get the salaries of everyone in the district, she said the salary schedule sheet was all she had.
In Bow, SAU 67 administrative assistant Gayle Theos was helpful in getting us the minutes from the School Board meeting, but said we’d have to talk to Duane Ford, finance director for the district, to get the salaries. He was in a meeting at that time and was out of the office the next day. A message left for Ford the following Monday, Sept. 10, yielded neither the salaries nor a return call by press time.
Theos seemed confident we would get the information, however.
“I”m pretty sure you can get it,” she said. “After all, that’s public information, right?”