Belinda Conaway’s ridiculous salary and other city school money madness

The Baltimore Sun did a great thing when they published the salaries of city school employees. Now the tax payers who fund this bureaucratic monster can see where their money is REALLY going.

For years we have known that former Councilwoman Belinda Conaway worked for “the city school system”, but I never heard what she really did there. I still do not understand what a “109275 Staff Associate/12mth” does, but I do know that in 2009 between her city council job and her school job that she was paid a grand total of $133,580! One hundred and thirty-three thousand five-hundred and eighty TAX PAYER DOLLARS! Conaway started working for the city school system exactly twenty years ago today according to the following chart. One can only imagine how much money she has made there over the last twenty years:

Name	Fiscal year of salary*	Listed date of hire	Title	Salary or Rate	Total
Conaway, Belinda K	2011	1992-02-03	109275 Staff Associate/12mth	$78,102	$78,102
Conaway, Belinda K	2010	1992-02-03	109275 Staff Associate/12mth	$77,329	$77,329
Conaway, Belinda K	2009	1992-02-03	109275 Staff Associate/12mth	$75,813	$75,813
Conaway, Belinda K	2008	1992-02-03	109275 Staff Associate/12mth	$74,328	$74,328

Name	Fiscal Year	Hired on	Title	Salary	Overtime	Total	Department	% of income in overtime
Conaway, Belinda K	2009	2004-12-09	Council Member	58,425	0	57,767	City Council	0

A little research dug up this link which tells us that:

“Completed plans should be emailed to Belinda Conaway in the Office of Attendance and Truancy (bconaway@bcps.k12..md.us) no later than September 30, 2011.”

That information leads me to believe that at the very least in 2011 Belinda Conaway was working in the “Office of Attendance and Truancy”. She was paid $77,329 by the school system in 2011.

Let us explore the Office of Attendance and Truancy. It appears to be part of the larger Department of Safety & Student Support Services. Look closely at that link and you will see that Dr. Andrey Bundley and Marshall T. Goodwin also work in that department. Goodwin is a former delegate who ran against Conaway in the 7th district in 2007 until he suddenly dropped out of the race. Dr. Andrey Bundley has twice ran for mayor of Baltimore.

Here is a 2007 quote from the Sun (I made the important part bold):
“The Baltimore school board has named a former state delegate who was running for a seat on the City Council as its new school police chief. Marshall “Toby” Goodwin, 50, has withdrawn from the 7th District council race and is urging voters to support the incumbent, Councilwoman Belinda K. Conaway. Conaway also works for the city school system, as a teacher and counselor, though she is currently on leave.”

Name	Fiscal year of salary*	Listed date of hire	Title	Salary or Rate	Total
Goodwin, Marshall T	2008	2007-08-29	102625 Director – School Police	$123,786	$123,786
Goodwin, Marshall T	2009	2007-08-29	102625 Director – School Police	$123,786	$123,786
Goodwin, Marshall T	2010	2007-08-29	102625 Director – School Police	$123,786	$123,786
Goodwin, Marshall T	2011	2007-08-29	102625 Director – School Police	$123,786	$123,786

What a coincidence! Goodwin drops out of the race to take a job with a $123,786 yearly salary (since 2008 he has been paid a grand total of $495,144 tax payer dollars!) that happens to be in the school system where the incumbent Conaway works. He then endorses Conaway a few days before the election. It appears that Conaway now works in the same department as Goodwin (Department of Safety & Student Support Services).  This department just happens to also employ former mayoral candidate Dr. Andrey Bundley who has been paid $493,894 tax payer dollars since 2008.

Name	Fiscal year of salary*	Listed date of hire	Title	Salary or Rate	Total
Bundley, Andrey L	2008	1993-02-02	102655 Director II	$126,436	$126,436
Bundley, Andrey L	2010	1993-02-02	102655 Director II	$123,292	$123,292
Bundley, Andrey L	2011	1993-02-02	102655 Director II	$123,292	$123,292
Bundley, Andrey L	2009	1993-02-02	102655 Director II	$120,874	$120,874
493,894 Grand Total (from selected search parameters)

Let us take a look at what other Department of Safety & Student Support Services employees make:
Office of Attendance and Truancy Coordinator Dr. Tanya Crawford Williams

Name	Fiscal year of salary*	Listed date of hire	Title	Salary or Rate	Total
Crawford, Tanya M	2011	2002-08-28	102365 Coordinator	$91,641	$91,641
Crawford, Tanya M	2010	2002-08-28	102365 Coordinator	$87,859	$87,859
Crawford, Tanya M	2009	2002-08-28	102365 Coordinator	$86,136	$86,136
Crawford, Tanya M	2008	2002-08-28	109275 Staff Associate/12mth	$79,246	$79,246

Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS)- Eric Bandzak:

Name	Fiscal year of salary*	Listed date of hire	Title	Salary or Rate	Total
Bandzak, Erik C	2011	2007-06-23	109947 Student Support Liaison	$85,455	$85,455

So all of this information brings up a lot of questions. Does Belinda Conaway work all 12 months of the year and why does the Office of Attendance and Truancy need to be staffed during the summer? Conaways sure are experts in Truancy, Frank Sr. does a radio show every Friday from 10AM to noon and he is supposed to be Clerk of the Court (Belinda often calls the show). What kind of pensions are all these overpaid employees going to get? Do “loser” politicians get rewarded with extremely high paying questionable jobs in the Department of Safety and Student Support Services? Do you feel that the city school 2011 payroll of $602,530,499 is high and could be better allocated? Do we really need a “Department of Safety” in the school system especially one with so many people making over $100,000 a year? The school system had 438 employees who made over $100,000 a year in 2011. How much money did you make in 2011?

The next time you hear the standard “It’s for the children” argument, please think of this article.