Blessing signed a 4-year contract when she was hired in 2020. Her annual base pay is $152,341, but that is set to increase to $156,149 this August.
Under the terms of her new contract, which runs from Aug. 1, 2024 through July 31, 2029, her base salary will increase to $160,000 in August 2024, then climb to $163,200 (August 2025), $169,728 (August 2026), $173,122 (August 2027) and $176,584 (August 2028).
Blessing fared well on her most recent evaluation last December, with the board rating her as either “exceeds expectations” or “meets expectations” across numerous categories.
School board members said Blessing is “an outstanding superintendent” and “a talented and exceptional leader,” who embraces collaboration and “seems to get through all of the daily unexpected challenges well.”
They said she worked “with a great many staff and board members and hundreds of hours developing visions” and has done an excellent job of sharing the vision for the district. They also said no staff member is afraid to talk to her and that she often helps out around the district and is “not an Oz hiding behind a curtain.”
“That is an attribute of my leadership style,” Blessing said. During COVID we all pitched in and I substitute taught in classrooms when we needed a sub. Many of us helped when we needed to serve food. I’m happy to volunteer and be out because I think that ... in order to understand the challenges that we have in education, you’ve got to be out there in the trenches, and I enjoy that.”
Blessing previously had been superintendent of Northeastern Wayne Schools in Fountain City, Ind., between 2013 and 2020. Before that, she was a curriculum director, elementary school principal, middle school assistant principal and an elementary school teacher across multiple Indiana districts.
The new Miamisburg contract provides for personal security for Blessing whenever the life or safety of Blessing or her family is threatened, “or there are reasonable grounds for believing that Superintendent or her family are in danger as a result of Superintendent’s status or performance of job duties.”
“The BASA (Buckeye Association of School Administrators) ... shares a boilerplate contract for districts to use,” Blessing told this news outlet Friday. “It is standard language in that model.”
Public school employees pay 14% of their earnings, and the school districts they work for also pay 14% of their earnings into the State Teacher’s Retirement System (STRS), Ohio’s public teachers’ retirement account.
Blessing’s new contract will see Miamisburg schools continue to do what numerous other Dayton area districts commonly do, namely pay 100% of a superintendent’s retirement contribution to STRS.
For contract year 2024-2025, that will be $22,400.
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