LYNN – Twenty-three Lynn Public School employees, including 11 principals grossed more than 100,000 in 2007, lead again by Superintendent Nicholas Kostan whose yearly total reached $155,085 last year.Although Kostan’s salary is up slightly from 2006, it still remains lower than the $155,904 that he made in 2005, which featured one-time payments and retroactive bargains.Following Kostan on the pay scale are his two deputy superintendents, Jaye Warry and Catherine Latham, who both show a hefty, yet deceiving increase from last year’s total salary.Click here reach complete list of Lynn salariesWarry took home $134,063 in 2007, which is $16,000 more from the $118, 715 that she grossed in 2006. Latham enjoyed an even larger increase, moving up from $107,827 two years ago to $128,956 in 2007.While it would appear that both women received substantial raises from 2006-2007, the numbers do not tell the whole story. When Warry and Latham were promoted to the deputy posts in 2006, their pay was only changed for half of the year, so the 2006 totals only show a portion of their annual salary. Because they worked the full year in 2007, the salary increase appears higher than it is.In addition, Warry’s salary is substantially higher than Latham’s because of seniority, despite the two having the same title.Retiring School Business Administrator Steven Upton had the fourth largest salary at $125,591, followed by Director of Equity and Program Support Janet Birchenough, $118,506, English High School Principal Andrew Fila, $116,006, and former Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute Director Brian Coughlin, who made $114,555.Kostan said the numbers for 2007 were on par with anticipated union step increases and annual raises, but suggested some relief may be in store for 2008 and 2009, as at least 25 principals and administrators, some of whom make up that $100,000 club, will be retiring this summer.”I have heard from 25 people or so, several principals and some members of our curriculum team in key positions, who are going to be retiring, so we will have some changes coming up in the near future,” he said, indicating that he is meeting with department heads to see if any positions can be combined to save money when hiring replacements. “We are working on that right now, you have to look at each position and ask ‘do we bring them all back, or are there any positions where we can combine duties?’ It really depends on what it is, we may combine one or two of them, but we would also like to keep that curriculum team in place, because they are very important to restructuring the curriculum and supporting our teachers.”The department will have to fill all of its vacant principal positions this summer, but the changes may actually bring relief to the district because the new principals will start at a lower pay scale. Depending on who replaces the retiring principals, their pay will be much lower than those of their predecessors.For example, long time Lynn Woods Elementary School Principal Vincent Spirito earned $102,967 in his final year at the school in 2006, while his replacement, first-year principal Ellen Fritz, earned $64,400 in 2007 because she does not have the same seniority.Union raises in the school department are based on reaching a number of steps, and are scheduled and mandatory if those staff employees do so. At least two of the 11 principals making more than $100,000, Drewicz’ James Cole and Sisson’s John Morris, have already announced their retirements, which could open the door for some money-saving hires this summer.