Head of Providence Non-Profit Prep School Is Paid More Than $600,000 a Year
GoLocalProv News Team
Head of Providence Non-Profit Prep School Is Paid More Than $600,000 a Year
While these organizations do not pay taxes, they do pay their top staffers top dollars.
As an example, one exclusive Providence prep school — the Wheeler School —pays its top administrator more than $600,000 a year.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe school has about 800 students and a “core faculty” of a little more than 200.
The tuition at Wheeler ranges from $40,000 to over $61,000, depending on the grade and the academic program.
Wheeler’s head of school, Allison Gaines Pell, joined the school in 2017, and over the past three years, has received a total compensation of nearly $2 million.
The compensation at Wheeler is significantly higher than that of some of the other prep schools. Lincoln School - the all-girls school - pays its head of school, Sophie Lau, $300,176 in salary, and she receives another $67,270 in additional compensation.
And Providence Country Day, Kevin Folan, Head of School, receives $179,226 in salary and an additional $24,555 in additional compensation. That school is located in East Providence and is included for purposes of comparison. Moses Brown School is classified as a religious school (Quaker) and is not required to file a 990 IRS disclosure form.
Defending the Compensation
GoLocal asked Wheeler officials about the compensation structure.
Gaines Pell refused to respond and referred the questions to the chair of the board, Alisia St. Florian.
“Wheeler’s Board of Trustees thoughtfully considers numerous factors and metrics in determining the head of school’s compensation so that we are both fair and competitive. Most notably, we refer to the benchmarks compiled by INDEX, a network of leading independent schools across the country of similar enrollment size and mission,” said St. Florian.
INDEX is a prep school association.
But when asked if non-profit prep schools in Providence should make payments in lieu of taxes, St. Florian refused to respond.
Gaines Pell leaves at the end of this academic year, and her replacement has been announced.
Her successor, Mark Anderson, was named in October of 2024. Wheeler has not disclosed Anderson’s compensation.
Providence is in a financial crisis, and taxpayers and renters are facing major housing cost increases.
As GoLocal reported Saturday, homes in Providence are seeing 32% to 51% increases in the assessed value of their homes under revaluation.
And, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is asking the General Assembly to remove the 4% cap as to how much the city can increase taxes.
Tax increases to multi-family homes and apartments are generally passed on to renters.
While the colleges and hospitals have agreed to make annual payments — in some cases somewhat small in comparison to the size of the organizations. Brown University reportedly pays about $7 million a year — a fraction of what Yale University pays New Haven.
Under an agreement negotiated by Smiley, Brown University pays on average $8.7 million a year to the city — in contrast to Yale, which paid $24.1 million in its most recent fiscal year to New Haven, a city with a population smaller than that of Providence.
But other non-profits, like prep schools, pay nothing in contribution to the city. During the past three reported years, Wheeler reported more than $10.8 million in net revenue.