EASTON — The typical employee at Southeastern Regional School District will earn about $2,000 more than last year, a review of payroll records showed.
The district provided salary data for fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
The top 10 highest-paid workers stayed largely the same from 2023 to 2024. Southeastern Regional High School Principal Leslie Weckesser earned the most in 2023 at $176,178, followed by Business Manager Mark P. Morris and Superintendent Holly T. McClanan. The top three for 2024 were McClanan ($199,809), Weckesser and Morris.
In 2024, two employees dropped out of the top 10: former Director of Pupil Services and Personnel Joanne McCormick and Supervisor of Athletics Daniel E. Tripp. Snagging those two spots were Robert A. Delaleu, executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion; and Shanna L. Howell, vice principal of the high school.
Although fiscal 2024 doesn’t end until June 30, the figures in this story are for the full financial year, said McClanan. Here’s the top 10 for fiscal 2024:
And here’s the list fiscal 2023:
Unlike schools tied to a particular city or town, Southeastern draws students and tax dollars from nine partner communities: Brockton, East Bridgewater, Easton, Foxboro, Mansfield, Norton, Sharon, Stoughton and West Bridgewater. Taxpayers statewide also contribute to Southeastern via “Chapter 70” aid.
More workers reach six figures
In 2024, 81 people made at least six figures. That’s up from 65 in 2023 and 47 in 2022. Southeastern’s payroll has ranged from about 250 to 300 people in recent years. That counts anyone who earned at least $1.
The median salary or yearly wages for someone working at Southeastern hit $75,419 in 2024, up $1,983 from 2023, according to an Enterprise analysis. Total payroll reached $22.5M in 2024, up nearly half a million dollars from 2023.
McClanan, like many district employees, wears multiple hats, including responding to public information requests. The Enterprise has been publishing payroll information for all cities, towns and school districts in our readership area. We asked each entity to provide calendar year data to make apples-to-apples comparisons. However, as McClanan has previously explained, that data for Southeastern is only available by fiscal year.
The figures and data in this story reflect only salary or anticipated hourly wages for the year. Southeastern employees may also earn bonuses for longevity, overtime and other types of pay. Further detail may be found in the 2022-2025 Teachers’ Federation contract.
Best- and worst-paying jobs at Southeastern
The Enterprise also figured out the typical pay for various jobs. The district’s 140 teachers will earn a median salary of $87,418 in 2024, for instance. That’s $3,638 more than the previous year, an increase of 4.2%. The typical teacher’s aide, known as a paraprofessional in education jargon, earned $36,370 in 2024, which is $1,451 more per year and the same percentage increase as teachers received.
Here are representative job groupings, and how pay changed for that group. To see every group, please visit the link below.
Typical pay by job at Southeastern
- Director $152,581 (8 jobs, $13,543 increase from last year)
- Supervisor $125,794 (6 jobs, $2,643 increase)
- Teacher $91,056 (140 jobs, $3,638 increase)
- Custodian $55,266 (18 jobs, $1,602 increase)
- Paraprofessional $36,370 (42 jobs, $1,451 increase)
- Bus driver $25,029 (5 jobs, $729 increase)
- Cafeteria $21,166 (11 jobs, $1,195 increase)*
Source: Enterprise analysis of fiscal 2024 and 2023 Southeastern payroll data. *Please note that part-time cafeteria workers bring down the median for this job.
Explore the data
If you’d like to check who made what in more detail, the following link lets your sort the data by name, job and salary.
What did you find most interesting in the Southeastern payroll data? What’d we miss? Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on Twitter at @HelmsNews.