MASON CITY – The Mason City School District is currently $36,623,417.00 in debt, according to a figure given to Jack McCourt by School District Financial Officer Ramona Jeffrey late this week.
The district is wrapping up a $34,845,300 renovation of Mason City High School and John Adams Middle School.
The district recently published in the Globe Gazette newspaper the salaries for all school district employees for the 2012-2013 school year. Five employees earned over $100,000, according to what was published (two of them are set to retire). The total figure for all salaries paid to district employees was over $24.2 million.
NorthIowaToday.com requested this information weeks ago, but school district administrators did not send it, despite promising to do so. “We have not closed the year as yet so do not have that information available,” Ramona Jeffrey told NIT on June 19th, 2013. “We normally publish the annual salaries the last part of July or first part of August.  We can include you in that communication.”
“I’m not surprised they left NIT off the list of public information to the media,” said NIT Publisher Matt Marquardt. “The school district administration wants everything kept quiet right now so they have a better chance of passing their to two new taxes on the people of Mason City. What better place to publish the salaries of district employees than the classified section of the Globe Gazette? They know hardly anyone reads it, so the outrage and fallout in the community will be less.”
According to the figure published in the Globe Gazette, Superintendent Anita Micich’s salary for the 2012-2013 school year was $199,534.96.
But in an email from Ramona Jeffrey, she said “Anita’s total salary for 2013-2014 is $187,820 (Mason City will pay $112,692 with 60-40 split with Clear Lake).  She received a 2% increase.” Jeffrey did not make it clear how Superintendent Micich’s salary is smaller in 2013-2014 than the previous year despite getting a 2% raise.
“What you get from the school district is a lot of double-talk,” Marquardt said. “We ask the administration a simple question, and they answer us with a question. Or, it takes them days or weeks to respond, if they respond at all. They want to slow down the process, make it hard. I think it’s all a game to them of keeping their public information out of NIT so they will not face criticism or the hard truths we and our audience like to discuss. In the end, the public is less informed and they just plain look bad.”
