Superintendent Alan Reed will be paid $120,000 for the 2014-15 school year, a $22,000 pay raise from the previous year.
Chairman Floyd Burton started the conversation during last week’s school board meeting as the last item on the meeting agenda, saying he felt Reed deserved a raise to go along with several other raises approved during the hour-long meeting.
“With all that’s going on I think he gets a little piece,” Burton said. “We need to keep good personnel at the top management positions. If we don’t pay those people good down the road someone is going to hire our superintendent. We need to look at giving the man a little bit of a raise.”
Board member Joe Payne asked Burton what figure he had in mind and Burton replied $120,000.
Board member Mike Harris said before Casey County hired a new superintendent he was making $140,000 and Taylor County’s current superintendent is making $160,000.
“The average is $120,000 a year and my thinking is Mr. Reed has been more than above average. I can say I know for sure that if he hadn’t been in that position we wouldn’t have pulled off the reconfiguration of our schools; consolidating phone lines saved $20,000. He put the spotlight on sick leave and saved $100,000 a year; the copiers saved $100,000 a year. Close to $1 million a year and those things will stay in place even after he is gone. In my mind if the average is $120,000 for the state then that’s what I want go with,” Harris said.
Board member Quinn Lasley made the motion for Reed to make $120,000, Harris seconded and the board approved the measure unanimously.
TEACHERS GET 2 PERCENT RAISE
Adair County teachers received a much-anticipated raise at during the meeting.
Reed said legislators had mandated a 1 percent raise for teachers but he asked the board to add an additional 1 percent to that to give them a 2 percent raise.
“When we started school last year, I asked teachers to sacrifice a lot, because we had not had pay raises in this county in seven years, which is pretty unprecedented for any school district,” Reed said.
Teachers were asked to reduce paid sick days and as a result teachers saved the school district $100,000, Reed said.
“The total raise will cost roughly $150,000 counting fringes,” Reed said.
Teachers also gave up personal desk printers and went to managed print copying.
“It will be a whole lot less convenient, but I promised that if they could help me with those things I would put it right back towards getting their pay restored and getting it competitive with other teachers throughout the region,” Reed said.
Reed said half of the raise would be paid for with SEEK funds and the other half would come from the general fund.
“We have trimmed well over $1 million off the cost of salaries and other expenses from consolidation and voluntary frugality,” Reed said. “It’s a small price to pay since it’s been seven years since their last raise.”
The motion to give the teachers a raise was passed unanimously by the five-member board.
ADMINISTRATION GETS PAY INCREASE
According to Reed, in 2007 salaries for the central office staff and administration were cut two days plus 10 percent and he asked the board to re-administer that 10 percent.
Reed said he can’t attract the best administrators because surrounding counties have such higher pay.
“I want to be able to go out and recruit the best for our students,” Reed said. “I want A+ principals, administrators and teachers; I don’t want the leftovers; I don’t want Cs and Ds.”
The cost of reinstating the administrative 10 percent was approximately $80,000, Reed said.
Maintenance supervisor Ricky Bault retired after 26 years and the board decided to not hire anyone in his place. Instead they combined the head maintenance position with the transportation director position that is currently held by David Jones.
Reed said that due to the added work he asked the board to give Jones a $15,000 raise. In total, Reed said the district is saving $75,000 a year by administrative reductions. The motion was passed with five yes votes.
Earlier this week, Reed said the school board felt more comfortable giving raises and making improvements due to budget reductions that have helped grow the general fund.
“Through cuts and consolidation we have grown the general fund balance from a very uncomfortable $750,000 two years ago to a projected $2.1 million at the end if this year,” Reed said.
INTERIM DIRECTOR HIRED
The board hired an interim maintenance director for the month of June but said they could not discuss who it would be and did not say how much the person would be paid. All that was said was that it would be an hourly position and Reed said, “This one is going to cost.”
After the meeting, The Community Voice learned that the interim maintenance director is David Jones, who will be making $39.62 an hour during the month of June.
It was explained that because Jones had used all of his extended days because of the snow days the interim position is necessary until his new position takes affect on July 1.
All raises and changes of salaries goes into effect on July 1.
By Toni Humphress
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