The list of highest-paid school employees in New Shoreham is unique.

It is the only list among Rhode Island school districts that has neither a superintendent nor a principal among the top-10 wage earners of 2006.

In this small island town, the top-10 list consists of eight teachers, a librarian and a building facilitator — a position that that did not quite rise to the level of principal but filled that role because there was no principal.

And though the School Department did have a superintendent, the position in this smallest of Rhode Island school systems — 147 students in 2006 — was part time.

Such factors combined to make Marlee Lacoste, the building facilitator, the highest-paid school employee during 2006, with gross pay of $74,355. A teacher, Lacoste led the kindergarten-through-grade-12 Block Island School with help from a team of other teachers, said William Padien, chairman of the School Committee.

After Lacoste, the top-10 list is mostly made up of teachers, who are on the list because they are at the top steps of the teachers contract and receive additional pay for furthering their education, the district said.

The second-highest wage earner was John Warfel, a technology education teacher who had gross pay of $72,637, according to district figures.

Warfel is followed by Victoria M. Carson, a special-education and health education teacher; Henry Lemoine, a science teacher; Joanne Warfel, a teacher of English as a second language; Barbara B. Michel, an elementary teacher; Therese McCombe, an art teacher; Ruth McTeague, an elementary teacher; and Deborah F. Hart, an elementary teacher, who was 10th.

The ninth slot was filled by Matthew S. Moran, a librarian.

The Journal compiled the list as part of a statewide look at school and municipal payroll spending during calendar-year 2006. Figures were provided by local town and school officials in response to requests under the state Open Records Law.

The Journal’s analysis looks at gross pay — the total amount paid to employees before taxes are deducted, including base salary or wages, and other "extras," such as overtime, stipends, severance packages and additional pay for holding more than one job.

If the list were to be compiled for a subsequent year, there would be some changes.

All the employees on the list still work for the district, but Lacoste is no longer the building facilitator. Last year, the school board advertised for a principal and got three responses, ultimately hiring Davida Irving, who had been the director of English as a second language in Pawtucket.

Padien said that for years, no one would take the principal’s job because of the high cost of housing on the island and the difficulty of commuting back and forth to the mainland.

But Irving was willing. She commuted back and forth last summer and has been renting during the school year. She is still looking for year-round housing, however — a challenge when most rentals on the island cater to summer visitors, Padien said.

Block Island has also changed superintendents since 2006.

John W. Lyle left the post in mid-2006 and was replaced with Leslie A. Ryan, who also doubles as special-education director. Her annual pay is about $90,000, Padien said.

redgar@projo.com