The Shawnee Mission School Board this week approved an agreement with Deputy Superintendent Robert DiPierro that will end his employment with the district next April. Board President Deb Zila described the contract as “a retirement agreement.”
DiPierro will be paid $223,406 from now until April 15, 2015 under the contract and will retire on that date. His “irrevocable letter of resignation” is part of the agreement. DiPierro will get health insurance coverage, capped at $15,515 per year, until 2018. In addition he will be paid $1,625 per month from July 2015 to July 2018. Zila described the monthly payments as consulting, noting his institutional knowledge.
The agreement voids DiPierro’s three-year contract that would have expired in 2017. Zila said the retirement date was chosen by DiPierro. “This is a nice sendoff,” she said of the package. The agreement also contains language that releases the district from any “claims or causes of action.”
“Mr. DiPierro, who is beginning his twenty-third year of service in Shawnee Mission, has decided that he will retire April 15,” Zila said in a statement. “This year, he will work with the superintendent, deputy superintendent, and others to transfer knowledge and transition duties in preparation for his retirement.”
DiPierro came to Shawnee Mission from Arizona in 1992 with former Superintendent Marjorie Kaplan. He has been deputy superintendent for operations. He had been the only deputy superintendent in the district until March when former Belton superintendent Kenny Southwick was hired.
The board approved the agreement without comment this week along with a new agreement and contract extension for Superintendent Jim Hinson. The other four members of the superintendent’s cabinet also were given new one-year contracts with salaries ranging from $138,000 to $151,000. Each of those agreements includes a $500 car allowance, 31 vacation days and $3,100 contribution to deferred compensation.
Dr. Hinson also presented a new district organizational chart that includes the deputy superintendents, associate superintendents, chief academic officer, director of security and capital programs manager all as his direct reports. Other new positions on the chart include the director for STEM and executive manager of information services.
