Clarendon superintendent's salary, stipends changed, raised in new contract, Sumter Item FOIA request finds

Johnson no longer has to live in county; school board chair says he does not

Posted

Though he no longer receives a housing allowance, Clarendon County's now only superintendent gets a monthly bump in other stipends in addition to his $85,000 raise, The Sumter Item found.

Shawn Johnson's salary has been a topic of discussion among residents and county council members for the last few months since the newly consolidated district requested approval of his contract at a Clarendon County Council meeting in June.

The Post and Courier reported in August 2021 in partnership with The Sumter Item for the Charleston newspaper's Uncovered project that Johnson was living rent-free in a townhouse that was meant for teacher recruitment through the former Manning-based Clarendon School District 2.

Board members discussed in 2020 buying a house to lease to teachers using a state grant intendent to help rural school districts with hiring, and Johnson suggested the house he was renting as an option. However, he continued to live there for five months, the Uncovered investigation showed. The Post and Courier launched Uncovered to bolster investigative journalism across the state by partnering with at least 17 community newspapers, including The Item, to shine light on wrongdoing and ensure government accountability.

Johnson was asked to pay back $5,000 in rent only after The Post and Courier filed a public records request in 2021. The Post and Courier article reported that "board members waited until six months after Johnson said he has moved out to charge him rent." With the $7.6 million-a-year grant, no one was monitoring if the funds were being used properly.

A year later, once Clarendon 2 in Manning and Clarendon 4 in Summerton and Turbeville had consolidated and Johnson assumed superintendent duties for the countywide district, his salary increase was requested in a public meeting, but no further details were given upon initial request.

A few changes were approved between Johnson's initial and amended contract, The Sumter Item found as a result of a new public records request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Johnson made $140,000 a year from July 2019 to June 2022, according to records obtained by The Item. In his current contract that ends in June 2025, his salary is $225,000, an $85,000 increase. That initial, current contract was approved April 5 to take effect July 1. It includes an option for an annual raise.

Angela Bain, who served as interim superintendent of the then-newly formed Clarendon 4 for a year, was paid $216,000 from July 2020 to December 2021.

The raise came as two district consolidated into one, but in addition to the raise, The Item found Johnson's contracts show other changes via amendments passed Aug. 1. His current, amended contract includes terminating the monthly housing allowance of $1,200 he received previously from July 2019 to this June. However, his monthly automobile use and maintenance allowance has increased from $500 to $1,000.

School board chair Ceth Land said "this is because he does not sit in an office all day and answer phone calls. He is our most active superintendent we have had and travels throughout the district going to other things."

Another amendment now no longer requires Johnson to live in Clarendon County. Land told The Sumter Item Thursday Johnson does not live in the county.

Johnson's new salary makes him the 11th-highest-paid superintendent in the state, according to A.C. English Jr., Clarendon County Council's representative for District 2.

English said during a council meeting in June that he found Johnson's current salary to be "a little excessive" for Clarendon County's population size; Clarendon County School District has 4,429 students enrolled this fall.

Johnson's salary is just under Horry County School's superintendent, who makes $227,304 with 44,964 students enrolled this year.

The largest school district in the state is Greenville County School District with 75,095 students enrolled. Greenville's superintendent makes $283,360.

Sumter County School District Superintendent William Wright Jr. makes $202,095 with 14,450 students enrolled in Spring 2022. Lee County School District Superintendent Bernard McDaniel makes $148,262 with 1,565 students enrolled.

When asked to discuss his own contract, Johnson told The Sumter Item on Thursday to talk with Land.

When The Sumter Item asked Land about details of Johnson's contract, such as his monthly allowance for internet service - a stipend listed in the contract without a dollar amount - or the board reimbursing the superintendent for "reasonable out-of-District expense" and Johnson's salary increase, Land largely deferred to the contract's language when asked to elaborate.