Red Oak school board postpones decisions on pay raise requests, new schedule
RED OAK — Red Oak’s school board postponed two important decisions regarding pay raises for administrators and a new schedule for the high school.
School superintendent Terry Schmidt met in closed session with the board for nearly 90 minutes discussing the job performance and proposed pay raises for four administrators: Middle School Principal Nate Perrien, Inman Primary/Webster Early Childhood Center Principal Gayle Allesnworth, Washington Intermediate Principal Barb Sims and interim High School Principal Jeff Spotts.
Upon naming Spotts interim principal at a special meeting in June, Schmidt suggested the former assistant principal/activities director pay from $77,255 to $88,000.
At that suggested amount, Spotts’ salary would have been $500 more a year than his predecessor, Jedd Sherman, who resigned in June after six years with Red Oak. After making the recommendation, Schmidt defended the amount by stating Sherman hadn’t received a pay raise in two years.
“Jedd Sherman’s salary was frozen … due to the remediation agreement that was underway,” Schmidt said. “Neither the directors nor I would support any salary change until progress was evidenced.”
At the same June meeting Spotts was named interim principal and Barry Bower was named interim assistant principal/activities director, Schmidt also recommended increasing Perrien’s pay from $77,255 to $85,000, citing additional responsibilities he would have to assume when Bower is coaching in the fall and spring.
Sims’ current salary is $85,750 while Allensworth’s is $80,400. Their suggested pay levels have not been released.
The board also requested a list of administrator salaries for other Hawkeye 10 conference schools to compare with Red Oak’s. The board will host a special meeting Aug. 4 to reconsider the pay raises.
Also at the meeting, the board will further discuss possible changes to the high school schedule as proposed by Spotts and Bower.
The administrators recommended adding a third lunch shift, moving seminar class from the end of the day to the middle of it, and eliminating the Tiger Academy.
Adding a third 25-minute lunch period is designed to eliminate lunchroom overcrowding while encouraging more students to eat lunch on campus. High school junior and seniors currently have the option of leaving campus for lunch and according to Spotts, many do.
“We really do have a crowding problem,” he told the school board. “If you are at the end of the line, you really don’t have much time to eat and enjoy your lunch. We are also hoping this will encourage kids to stay at school more for lunch if they have more time to eat and there is less crowding.”
The three lunch periods would occur between 11:20 a.m.-12:43 p.m.
Included in the revised schedule are seven 51-minute classes and the 30-minute seminar. Designed to help students receive additional instruction while providing extra study time, the seminar class offers other opportunities for juniors and seniors who don’t have a grade below a C-.
With seminar currently offered in the last 45-minutes of the day, Spotts said many kids who are need of extra academic help are simply skipping it along with their other classmates who can opt out of it.
Spotts also said he knows from dealing with parents that they will react differently to their students skipping the last period of school depending on what that time is designated for.
“I can tell you, we have too many kids who are just taking off and not taking advantage of the academic opportunities available,” Spotts said. “Parents will support a kid skipping study hall. But they won’t support their kids skipping classes. This is more than a study hall. This is a chance to get academic help they need.”
Board member Paul Griffen questioned how bad the truancy problem really was and the validity of shortening the seminar class which is used for extra curricular activities as well.
While requesting more data relevant to the truancy rate, the school board tabled any decision on the changes until the Aug. 4 meeting.