When the Lindbergh Board of Education set administrative salaries for the 2004-2005 school year, the board remained “committed to hiring a quality leadership team to guide the district,” according to board President Mark Rudoff.

The Lindbergh Board of Education voted in 2000 to adopt a 100 percent, performance-based compensation system to determine the salaries of all administrators except for the superintendent.

The system, based on those used in the private sector, ties compensation to performance and to an index based on the average of salaries paid by five “benchmark” school district to ensure Lindbergh’s salaries remain competitive with districts competing for the same personnel.

The benchmark districts include Kirkwood, Mehlville, Parkway, Pattonville and Rockwood.

For the 2004-2005 school year, the overall administrative salary increase is 4.7 percent.

“While the board is not attempting to be No. 1 with administrative salaries, we are committed to remaining competitive,” Rudoff stated in a district news release. “We want to position ourselves so that Lindbergh is competitive within the range of our benchmark districts.”

For the 2004-2005 school year, Superintendent Jim Sandfort will be paid $157,500, an 8.6 percent increase from the $145,000 he received last year.

“The Board of Education feels very fortunate to have signed a new three-year contract with Superintendent Jim Sandfort,” Rudoff stated. “He has been an outstanding educator and leader for the Lindbergh School District for the past 13 years, and has remained dedicated to the students and families of our district. As Board of Education, we are working to provide a salary comparable to the other benchmark districts in St. Louis County. Next year’s salary helps achieve this goal as well as recognizing Dr. Sandfort’s leadership of the district.

“A critical component of excellence in any school district is the quality of its leadership,” the board president continued. “Our administrators have been instrumental in helping achieve Distinction in Performance for each of the past three years. We have also had two nationally recognized Blue Ribbon schools, three Missouri-recognized Gold Star schools, a National School of Character and this year’s State Teacher of the Year.

“When we moved to a ‘pay-for-performance’ evaluation for administrators, it became apparent to the board that adjustments were in order for our chief executive officer and administrators. The salary increases are necessary to move our leadership team salaries within the range of the surrounding districts. We remain dedicated to providing an attractive compensation package for all of our administrators in order to recruit and retain the best,” Rudoff concluded.