A decision by the TUSD Governing Board to review the pay of a longtime staffer may be reversed after the employee argued that the action is a form of retaliation.
Instead, the board president wants to review the pay of the all of the handful of employees under the Governing Board’s authority.
Tucson Unified Board President Michael Hicks said his vote on Oct. 3 to review the pay of Mary Alice Wallace — a 27-year district employee who earlier this year filed a hostile workplace complaint against board member Rachael Sedgwick — was a mistake.
“It just didn’t feel right to me. When I started looking at everything else that was going on, it was like, if we’re going to do this, we need to do it to everyone,†he said.
Wallace, the director of staff services to the Governing Board, filed a hostile workplace complaint against Sedgwick in May, saying that Sedgwick had verbally attacked, threatened and tried to intimidate her — mostly through a deluge of emails. In the complaint, Wallace said she believed Sedgwick was attempting to get her fired.
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“Who hired you? Do you think you are replaceable? And, last, how many people do you think the board needs working for it in the Board office? Do you think the TUSD community thinks your salary is fair?†Sedgwick asked in the emails.
Then, shortly after the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Daily Star received a copy of the complaint through a public records request, Governing Board Member Mark Stegeman singled out Wallace for a salary review, a move that was supported by fellow board members Sedgwick and Hicks.
Wallace called that a clear act of retaliation.
Stegeman, who proposed reviewing Wallace’s pay, and Sedgwick, who seconded his motion, both said the move had nothing to do with the recent hostile workplace complaint, and it was purely an attempt to look at cutting costs.
Wallace earns $79,000. Stegeman said he has long received questions from the public as to why Wallace earns so much. But Stegeman acknowledged that singling out one employee — especially one who recently claimed harassment — looked unfair, and agreed the salary review should include all the employees of the district Governing Board office.
Teachers, principals and district administrators all fall under the authority of the superintendent, but a handful of employees — Wallace, two staff assistants and an internal auditor — work in the Governing Board office, and report to the five-member board directly.
Senior staff assistant Sylvia Lovegreen, who has held the position since 1999, earns $69,000 and staff assistant Michele Gutierrez, who has been in her position since 1997, earns $55,000. Additionally, Demetrius Lee, an internal auditor hired this year, earns $90,000.
Hicks said he thought targeting one employee was unfair, and he will make a motion at the TUSD Governing Board’s Jan. 5 meeting to reconsider his vote, instead putting forward a motion to review the pay of all employees who report directly to the Governing Board. He said he didn’t know if the pay was fair market value, considering the employees’ years of service, but that administrative salaries at TUSD in general are too high.
“I stand by the statement that the further away from the classroom you get, the more money you make,†he said.
