(The Center Square) – Secretaries are well known for earning modest wages, but not the ones who work at Pocantico Hills Central School District. At the school district of 500 students outside New York City, secretaries make $130,000 and $190,000 a year, an investigation by The Center Square found. 

The highest paid is Gina L. Downes, a confidential secretary. Her salary is $110,538 this school year, and she will receive $79,281 in benefits and other payments. Downes, who will complete her 20th year on the job in the spring, has benefited from a civil service-based pay system, a common feature in the public sector.