School board candidate Cathy Truitt is revising her account of being asked if she'd support firing Supt. Del Burns.

Truitt had said on WPTF on Sept. 24 that school board member Ron Margiotta had asked her in a vetting interview if she'd support a motion to fire Burns. Truitt said Wednesday that she was asked that question but she's not sure if Margiotta was the questioner.

Truitt said that at several candidate vetting interviews she was asked the same question. The question was whether she would support firing Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney.

The school board accepted Supt. Del Burns' request today to not accept an automatic three-percent raise.

Under Burns' contract, he's guranteed a raise of three percent each year. His request means that he won't get an $8,190 raise on his $273,000 base salary for the coming fiscal year.

The board can still choose to give Burns a raise later this year when it reviews his performance. Last year, the board gave him a 1-percent raise on top of his automatic one.

Some other superintendents, such as Paul Gorman in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Maurice Green in Guilford County, have also asked their boards to not give them automatic raises this year because of the economic conditions.

Del Burns is no longer the highest-paid superintendent in the state.

The Charlotte Observer is reporting today that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Superintendent Peter Gorman got a $18,200 bonus and $7,150 raise on Tuesday. That lifts Gorman's total package to $320,350, above the $312,790 that Burns got earlier this month.

Gorman also got a perk that Burns doesn't have. At Gorman's request, he got a new clause in his contract promising to provide “reasonable security measures” to him and his family in case of “public controversy” or any other reason.

While some might complain about Superintendent Del Burns' new salary, it's actually comparable with those paid in school districts of a similar size.

As noted in today's article, the school board raised Burns' salary by 4 percent to $273,000. His total annual compensation is $312,790.

Burns' new salary is higher than the $260,000 paid to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Superintendent Peter Gorman. But Gorman could still earn more because he also gets $35,000 a year for retirement and can earn a performance bonus of up to $26,000.

The school board has just announced Superintendent Del Burns' new contract.

The board voted to give Burns a raise of 4 percent. They tacked one percent on the 3 percent automatic raise he receives annually.

This $10,500 raise means he'll get a base salary of $273,000. With his benefits, his total annual compensation package will be $312,790.

Salaries and academic goals are expected to be on the minds of school board members today.

School board members say they expect to announce the terms of Superintendent Del Burns' new contract at today's meeting. Burns is guaranteed, by contract, to get a raise of at least three percent over his $262,500 base salary.

The question is whether school board members will go above 3 percent in a year in which they complained about being underfunded by county commissioners and raised student parking fees.

The school board will be busy behind closed doors on Tuesday wrapping up Superintendent Del Burns' annual evaluation.

Under his contract, Burns gets an automatic 3-percent raise every year. But if the board doesn't complete his annual evaluation by Aug. 31, he's entitled to an additional increase that would be equal, this year, to 3 percent.

Rosa Gill, chairwoman of the school board, expects the board to decide what new offer to make to Burns on Tuesday. If he agrees, the new terms will be announced at a future board meeting.