New salary schedule adopted by Blevins board

Blevins School

BLEVINS – As the Arkansas Legislature passed a bill, which was signed into law, requiring all school districts in the state to increase the base pay for certified staff, the Blevins School Board approved the pay hike at its April meeting Monday night.

Superintendent Billy Lee said the Legislature passed the increase for certified personnel’s base pay by $400 for the next two years for those with a Bachelor’s degree and by $500 for those with a Master’s degree. He said by increasing the base pay, it increases every step along the way.

The district, he said, will know exactly how much it will cost when all the contracts are in. Contracts, he told the board, come off the top first. The district has about 60 teachers, he added, and the base will change again next year under the law.

School districts will get something from the state to help offset the cost, he said, about $15 per student, which won’t make up the difference in the costs. Classified salaries remained unchanged.

The board accepted a bid from Yellow Rose Janitorial of Nashville to redo the floors in the district’s building over the summer. The bid was for $15,28.13, which includes tax and materials. Yellow Rose was the only bidder and did the job last year.

At its March meeting, the board discussed purchasing a golf cart to shuttle injured students between buildings. Lee checked into this, getting prices on golf carts, but was told by an auditor this wouldn’t be a good use of the district’s money, as vehicles can only be purchased for maintenance use. Instead, he said, the district will look into buying two new wheelchairs for injured students, one for the elementary and one for the high school. Lee said there was also the problem of a student falling out of a golf cart and getting injured. The same holds true for a motorized wheelchair.

The board approved buying a new steamer for the kitchen to help keep meals moist and fresh longer. Three bids were submitted ranging from $7,400 to $10,000. The board chose to purchase a steamer from Tankersley for $7,500, as it’s done business with this company before and had no problems with it.

A resignation was accepted from Shandra Kirkham, and will be effective at the end of the school year. The board also accepted the retirement of Wayne Clark. Lee recommended hiring Jeanine Allen as the new LEA supervisor and said he has someone to replace Kirkham. The replacement will be a lateral transfer within the district.

The board’s final order of business was to hire all the classified personnel back in their same positions for the upcoming school year.

 

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