Retiring Maine West principal gets raise, $16K for unused vacation days, according to agreement

July 07--A final pay raise and more than $16,000 in unused vacation earnings were approved for Maine West High School's retiring principal on the day before her last official day of employment with the district, according to an agreement approved by the District 207 Board of Education.

Under the retirement agreement reached between Maine West Principal Audrey Haugan and the Board of Education, Haugan was granted a 3 percent increase in her 2017-18 salary over the previous year. This results in an additional $6,094, said District 207 spokesman David Beery.

Haugan's most recent annual base salary was $162,856, Beery said. Haugan was also paid $16,676, minus legal deductions, for unused vacation, the agreement states. In addition, she is eligible for post-retirement insurance benefits paid by the district, according to the retirement agreement.

District 207 has also agreed to pay the Teachers Retirement System, which helps arrange retirement pensions and benefits, $92,549 for Haugan's employment between 1985 and 1987.

Beery said the contributions are related to two years that Haugan was a teacher.

"Dr. Haugan recently learned from TRS retirement planners that her first two years of teaching in a private school could be purchased from TRS for service credit," Beery said. "These additional two years would immediately qualify Dr. Haugan for retirement."

District 207 announced Haugan's retirement on June 29. Her final day was June 30.

In a statement released by the district, Haugan said that after 33 years in education she had "made the difficult, but exciting, decision to retire this summer."

Haugan had been Maine West's principal for the last 13 years. She had been employed by District 207 for a total of 29 years.

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