Teachers and classified staff in the Trenton R-9 School District will see an increase in the base pay following action taken Tuesday night, however the R-9 Board of Education is still discussing some of the proposals made by the Salary and Welfare Committee.
The Trenton R-9 Board of Education was recognized during Tuesday’s board meeting for their service to the district. They include, from left, Andy Burress, Dorothy Taul, Bill Miller, Melissa King, Brandon Gibler and Jason Hostetler. Not pictured is Marcie Cutsinger.
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Charley Crimi, representing the Salary and Welfare Committee, made a presentation to the board that focused on four proposals from faculty and staff: Increasing the base for all employees, adding extra steps on the salary schedule past 30 years, continuing to have 100 percent board-paid health insurance with the deductibles and co-pays remaining the same and converting sick and personal leave to paid time off. Following Mrs. Crimi’s presentation, the board heard from R-9 Superintendent Mike Stegman, who gave his recommendation to the board. Ultimately, the board went with Stegman’s recommendation, which was:
• adding $2,000 to the base salary for teachers, raising it from $34,000 per year for a new teacher with no experience, to $36,000 per year. The committee had sought a $1,500 bump to the base and movement down the salary schedule. Stegman said the approved amount added to the base would cost the district an additional $208,380 and allowing the “move down” on the schedule would cost the district $73,677 (with $48,128 of that amount for certified staff). It was noted in Mrs. Crimi’s presentation that it would take a $2,200 increase to keep up with the current rate of inflation.
• increasing the minimum base pay for non-certified staff to $14 per hour, an amount that is currently $11.83. The committee had sought a $15 base for non-certified staff members, pointing out that the district is competing not just with other school districts but with all businesses for the employees who fill those positions and many can work for more money at other places. The non-certified staff portion of the $73,677 attributed to “moving down” the salary schedule would be $25,549. The committee had also sought a commitment of a 50-cent per hour raise each year for the first five years. Under the approved salary schedule, support staff will receive a 10-cent per hour wage increase each year for the first five years.
The salary increases would result in a 4.88 percent increase, Stegman said, and cost the district a total of $439,527 in additional costs for next year. The vote on the salary schedule was 5-1, with Dorothy Taul, Melissa King, Jason Hostetler, Brandon Gibler and Andy Burress voting yes, Bill Miller voting no and Marcie Cutsinger absent. Miller indicated he feels the base for non-certified staff should be $15. The new salary schedules can be found on the district website.
The board agreed to continue paying $602 toward the cost of health insurance, which is hopefully 100 percent of the premium through the Missouri Educator’s Trust insurance consortium. Stegman will know in the coming weeks what the exact premium and options will be for next year.
There were several areas of disagreement between the two proposals, with Stegman referring to some of those issues brought up by staff as “fluffy stuff.” The committee had asked that all Masters Degree columns be extended downward to 30 years. Currently, a teacher with a master’s degree and less than eight additional hours would be “frozen” on the schedule after year.
Stegman said the reason not to extend that salary downward is to encourage teachers to continue their education, however Mrs. Crimi said the cost of the additional education in both time and money isn’t justified by the additional compensation the teacher would receive. For example, a teacher in year 23 with a master’s degree and less than eight additional credit hours, would earn $51,300. A teacher with a master’s degree and eight additional hours, would earn $51,900. Mrs. Crimi said it would cost over $3,200 to earn the eight credit hours needed to move horizontally on the scale and it would take a teacher seven years to break even. The job market, she said, doesn’t justify it. She indicated that there are other ways to meet the challenges of keeping up with new technology, new ways of teaching, etc.
Stegman countered that as an educational institution, it sends the wrong message about the value of education to not have teachers continue earning credit hours. He said it is “possible and is affordable” for teachers to get the credits to move horizontally and said that of six “frozen” teachers, all but one could move on the schedule if they earned additional credit hours.
Another area of disagreement was how to use sick leave and personal days. Currently, a teacher who has accumulated 50 sick days is awarded 50 additional sick days. Teachers are provided 10 sick days and two personal days per year. There was a lengthy discussion concerning how teachers could have more personal days to use each year and how converting those days from sick leave to PTO would affect the district. In the end, a committee was formed to look into how to address the issue, with board members Melissa King, Bill Miller and Andy Burress being appointed to serve on the committee. It was not immediately clear if that trio will work with the Salary and Welfare Committee to address the issue or if faculty and staff will be selected in another manner to meet with the board. Also to be addressed is the current restriction on not allowing personal days to be used prior to or after a school vacation.
Faculty and staff in attendance were vocal in telling the board they feel they are mature and responsible enough to not only use PTO or sick leave wisely, but to use it in a way that is least disruptive to their particular students. It was noted, for example, that some teachers feel that using a personal day prior to a school vacation day is the best time to have a substitute in the classroom, while others feel that for their particular class, it’s a terrible time to be gone.
No timeline was set for the PTO issue to be discussed by the committee but it is to be added to the May board agenda.
In other business, the board set the tuition rate for the 2022-23 school year at $6,375 for students in grades kindergarten through 12th and agreed to wait for another year to seek bids for auditing and banking services since there are changes being made at the district office. Reports were provided by Instructional Coach Dr. Jill Watkins, Trenton High School Principal Kasey Bailey, Trenton Middle School Principal Daniel Gott and Rissler Elementary School Principal Susan Gott as well as by Stegman.
It was also announced that Applebus, which has a contract with the district to provide student transportation, has been sold to First Student. Stegman said he doesn’t believe the sale will affect student transportation services to the district other than First Student might have a larger pool of drivers from which to draw.
Following a closed session, the board took action on several items, including setting the salaries of district administrators. Administrative salaries for 2022-2023 include Stegman, $124,776; Daniel Gott, $83,520; Bailey, $83,160; Susan Gott, $75,240; Dr. Watkins, $74,880; Athletic Director John Cowling, $71,280; Special Education Director Tara Hoffman, $68,040; and Rissler Assistant Principal Carolyn Schmidt, $67,680.
Board members accepted the resignation of Kayla Hyer, special education instructor at Rissler Elementary, and Cara Leininger, preschool teacher. All probationary teachers were offered a contract for next year and four instructors – Kim Suttenfield, Alexis Whitney, Bridget Maloney and Shelby Bagley – were approved for tenure.
Those hired by the district included Shari Claycomb, who will serve as an additional administrative assistant at the district office; Katlyn Wortham, elementary instructor; Adam Clark, seventh and eighth grade physical education and health insructor; Lucas Lewis and Vanessa Pauley, summer school administrators; and Amber Sprague, summer school secretary. The board rescinded an offer to Cru Taff, which had been made at the February meeting.
Substitute teachers approved during the meeting included Samantha Mihalovich, Janan Rowley, Hannah Weaver, Cara McClellan, Emily Gray, Les Jackson and Christopher Sager.
Several coaches for the 2022-23 school year were also named and were approved as listed: Varsity football – Kevin Hixson, Jon Guthrie and Trey Shields; Varsity Softball – Madi Trump and Whitley Richman; Varsity Volleyball – Brad Ewald; Varsity Girls Tennis – Tammy Ockenfels; Varsity Girl and Boys Golf – Travis Mullenix; Varsity Girls Basketball – Kameron Cool and Emily Reardon; Varsity Wrestling – Charlie Bacon and Kevin Hixson; Varsity Girls Wrestling – Kayce Terhune; High School Band – Anthony Webb and Maddie Cotton; High School Vocal Music and Performing Arts Center Manager – Tyler Busick; TMS Football Assistant Coach- Dave Sager; TMS Softball – Emily Reardon and Madison Stahl; TMS Boys Basketball – Travis Mullenix and Jeff Crowley; TMS Girls Basketball – Greg Dalrymple; TMS Wrestling – Trey Shields; Varsity Football Cheer Sponsor – Alexis Whitney; TMS Cheer Sponsor – Sheridan Mounce; and Volunteer Baseball Assistant for this year – Jarek Stotts.
The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 12.