By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Raises for 61 non-union school district employee positions — minus the superintendent — have been approved unanimously by the Board of Education.

Scarice’s raise pending evaluation

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice must wait until the board completes his annual evaluation, which has been the topic of closed-door executive sessions.

“We need to settle the logistics,” board Chairwoman Lee Goldstein said in an email Friday.

The evaluation is to be delivered to Scarice, during an executive session prior to Monday’s public board meeting. 

Because Scarice’s evaluation will be delivered orally, and not in written form, it does not have to be released publicly by the school board.

Scarice was hired in March 2020 and began working in the district that July. He received an initial three-year contract and a base salary of $290,000, plus an extra $5,000 as an annuity.

Last July, the contract was extended a year, to July 2024, and Scarice received a 2.25 percent raise, bringing his annual salary to $296,525.

Scarice, the highest-paid employee on Westport’s public payroll including both the school and municipal ledgers, was paid a total of $322,444 last year, when additional compensation and stipends were added to his base salary.

2.25 percent hikes for other non-union staffers

As for the school district’s other non-union employees, all will get 2.25 percent raises in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which will cost the school district $131,190. All but two of the positions are filled.

Non-union employees include central office secretaries, head custodians, technology assistants, security personnel, occupational and physical therapists, two athletic trainers, supervisors in areas like facilities, nursing, payroll, continuing education, and technology.

Salaries run the gamut, from Suzanne Levasseur, the district’s health services supervisor, who will be paid $155,302 annually under the newly approved salaries, to security personnel who earn between $41,729 and $32,000.

Also among those getting raises are the superintendent’s cabinet, which includes Chief Financial Officer Elio Longo and three assistant superintendents: Anthony Buono, who oversees teaching and learning; Michael Rizzo, in charge of pupil services, and John Bayers, head of human resources and general administration.

All four of the top administrators received contract extensions through June 20, 2025, along with raises of 2.25 percent. The salaries for the four are:

• Longo, $248,009.
• Buono, $235,012.
• Rizzo, $228,966.
• Bayers, $220,928.

Linda Conner Lambeck is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.