Education

Waste of the Day: Loudon County Schools Spokesperson’s Sweet Contract

Loudoun County Public Schools (Virginia) signed a $250,000 a year contract with its newest official spokesperson.

Published

11 months ago

January 3, 2024

Adam Andrzejewski

Empty K-12 classroom sign of zombie school

The spokesperson for Loudoun County Public Schools makes more than a quarter of a million dollars. — more than the Virginia governor, the White House Press Secretary, and many federal government attorneys are earning.

Loudoun County Public Schools hired Natalie Allen as chief communications officer, using taxpayer funds to pay her a salary north of a quarter million dollars — plus a monthly vehicle allowance, a monthly data allowance and moving costs, ABC News7 reported.

Waste of the Day: Loudon County Schools Spokesperson's Sweet Contract — Waste of the Day 1.03.24 by Open the Books

Allen’s position was created around the same time the school board hired Superintendent Aaron Spence. Spence and Allen worked with each other in Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

Allen also makes far more than other members of the school district communications office, even those with far more experience, the news outlet reported.

LCPS Communications Supervisor Wayde Byard earns a salary of $176,062 and he’s worked for the district for more than 20 years, while Allen’s $251,000 — plus perks — comes from around 12 years of communication experience.

The district public information officer, who has with more than 23 years of communication experience, makes $176,062, and the director of communications makes just over $201,000, the TV station reported.

Allen’s pay is far too high for a school district employee, and that’s on top of three already well-paid communications — the Loudoun County Public Schools should serve its students and taxpayers better.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).

Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.