Horry school district employee gets $35,000 raise

One Horry County Schools employee got a $35,000 raise between 2016 and 2017, making him the second-highest-paid employee in the school district behind Superintendent Rick Maxey.

Kenneth Generette, the district’s legal counsel, received an almost 30-percent pay raise, increasing his salary from $127,938 to $163,000, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

He did not receive any sort of promotion with the raise.

By comparison, Greenville County Schools legal counsel Rodney Webb makes $142,314. Greenville is the largest school district in the state with more than 76,000 students, according to the South Carolina Department of Education. Horry County Schools is the third-largest with more than 43,000 students.

None of the other top earners in the district got more than a $4,300 raise.

Maxey received a $4,282 raise, upping his salary to $218,484.

Chief Financial Officer John Gardner, Chief Information and Accountability Officer Edward Boyd, Chief Support Services Officer Daryl Brown and Chief Human Resources Officer Mary Anderson all made $126,825 in 2016, and all received a 2 percent raise of $2,537, upping their salaries to $129,362.

Generette’s raise is almost as much as the $36,010 that a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree makes in Horry County Schools.

As of Thursday, the school district had 12 teacher jobs posted.

Generette has worked for the district since 2002.

In a statement, Maxey said:

“The unique duties, responsibilities, and other aspects of the staff attorney position are set forth by way of a contract separate and apart from other employment contracts. The contract provides a negotiable salary component in light of the competitive market for legal services in education law.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Horry school district employee gets $35,000 raise."