Strongsville Schools superintendent, treasurer to receive 1.5 percent raises

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — Strongsville City Schools Superintendent Cameron Ryba and schools Treasurer George Anagnostou will receive 1.5 percent increases this summer and next summer, and have received another 1.5 percent increase retroactive to August 2020, under contract addendums recently approved by the school board.

Ryba’s and Anagnostou’s base salaries will rise from $153,395 and $127,659 — which is what they were earning, respectively, before the contract addendums were approved earlier this year — to about $160,400 and $133,500, once all three raises are awarded.

Also, Ryba is receiving an additional $6,000 a year because he earned a doctoral degree in education in December 2018 from the University of Akron.

Ryba’s original five-year contract, which the board approved in 2017, stipulated that he would receive a $2,500 salary increase if he earned a doctoral degree in the future. Since then, however, it was discovered that a district employee handbook section, in place prior to 2017, states that any school administrator earning a doctorate will receive $6,000 in additional salary, according to Anagnostou.

The school board unanimously approved the contract addendums in February.

Under the addendums, both Ryba and Anagnostou are allowed to accept cash in lieu of taking three personal days each year. The original 2017 contracts didn’t permit them to cash out their three personal days.

“This adjustment is to give us parity to the other administrators (in the Strongsville district),” Anagnostou told cleveland.com in an email.

Anagnostou’s addendum allows him to exchange any of his 25 vacation days for cash, something his original contract didn’t permit. Ryba has been allowed to cash out his vacation days under his original contract.

Under their original five-year contracts approved by the board in 2017, both Ryba and Anagnostou received 4.6 percent pay increases in 2018. The contracts said they might receive 1.5 percent increases in subsequent years depending on their performance, as judged by the school board.

Prior to 2017, Ryba and Anagnostou hadn’t received increases since starting in their positions in July 2015. They succeeded John Krupinski and Deborah Hermann, respectively, as superintendent and treasurer.

The district, under the 2017 contract, will continue to:

• Vest $2,000 a year into tax-deferred annuities, or retirement plans, for both Ryba and Anagnostou. That’s a total of $10,000, if they stay in their positions through the 2022-2023 school year.

• Pick up Ryba’s share of contributions to the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System and Anagnostou’s share of contributions to the School Employees Retirement System. Normally, employees pay part of these contributions from their own salaries.

• Pay Ryba’s and Anagnostou’s share of Medicare payroll taxes, which equals 1.45 percent of their salaries.

• Pay 85 percent of Ryba’s and Anagnostou’s medical, dental and vision insurance premiums.

• Provide life insurance for Ryba and Anagnostou.

• Cover Ryba’s membership fees in three professional organizations of his choosing.

• Pay for Anagnostou’s annual dues to the Ohio Association of School Business Officials and Buckeye Association of School Administrators.

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