Who is Thomas Kelly? Horace Mann head is NYC's highest-paid school principal
The salaries of top principals of elite New York Schools have come into the limelight after a publication revealed that some of the heads from the posh private schools took more than $1M in a year. According to New York Post, seven school principals pocketed a cool $1M each in total compensation in the year ending June 30, 2020.
Thomas Kelly from Horace Mann School in the Bronx topped the list with his earnings of $1,272,141. A few other heads from posh schools in New York City also made it to the list for touching the $900,000 benchmark, putting them all in the nation's top 1 per cent of earners. Speaking of schools, a Washington school made headlines when a teacher asked two Black teens to clean cotton whereas, an English teacher from a posh school was in the news for quitting her job over critical race theory being taught to the students. A Florida teacher was recently arrested after she used to skip school to allegedly molest underage girls and in another case, an Ohio teacher is facing a 54-month jail term after having sex with two teen boys.
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Who is Thomas Kelly?
Thomas Kelly topped the list of earning the most as a principal in New York. According to the official website of the school, Kelly takes care of the Department of Counseling and Guidance of Horace Mann School apart from playing the role of the Head of School Office. He has multiple educational degrees to his name. He first got his BA from Fairfield University followed by MA from Teachers College, Columbia University. He then pursued MEd from the same university. Kelly then got his MPhil and PhD from Columbia University.
If we talk about the list of hefty salaries, it comes at a time when a number of elite NYC schools are facing the heat for 'woke' ideology being taught to children. Many parents have accused the schools of "woke-weaning" the children by indoctrinating them with critical race theory lessons from an early age, as reported by Daily Mail.
Hefty salaries of NYC school principals
Talking about salaries, Paul Burke, the head of Nightingale-Bamford School, came close to Kelly with an annual package of $1,195,538 including a salary of $918,502 and other compensation such as housing allowance of $219,343, as published by the New York Post. John Allman from The Upper West Side's Trinity secured the third position with $1,128,031 earnings followed by Riverdale Country Day school principal Dominic Randolph, who took home a total of $1,075,504, including $1,018,857 salary, housing and a social club membership. Spence School’s principal Bodie Brizendine came next on the list as he reportedly pocketed $886,860 in salary, contributing to her total compensation of $942,615.
Jane Foley Fried was next on the list from Brearley. He was paid $939,622, including a salary of $717,888, $87,500 bonus and housing and maid service valued at $98,879. Dalton's Jim Best was placed next on the list with a total earning of $937,973, including a salary of $888,377. Others with salaries upward of $1M included Lee Levison, who was head of the all-boys Collegiate School on the Upper West Side until last June. He pocketed a total compensation of 1,087,660, including a salary of $936,323. Ethical Culture Fieldston's Principal Jessica Bagby bagged $1,098,788 last year, while Chapin's Patricia Hoyt received a total package of $1,041,864.
Schools surrounded with controversies
Principals of some of the aforementioned schools might be raking in an impressive amount of money but these schools have also come into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Riverdale Country Day school’s head came under fire for its anti-racism initiatives in recent months, whereas the Spence School faced the heat for its diversity curriculum in April when it commented on Derek Chauvin's conviction for the murder of George Floyd.
If we speak about Brearley, the school got embroiled in a controversy after one New York father hit out at its teaching of critical race theory. Dalton, on the other hand, faced a similar situation when the school got dragged for teaching critical race theory amid claims that first-grade children were being taught about masturbation. Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School also came under the spotlight when juniors were required to attend a lecture on porn titled: 'Pornography Literacy: An intersectional focus on mainstream porn'.