USD 235 board agrees to salary increase

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Employees at USD 235 will see more money in their pockets, as the board of education agreed on Monday to salary increases as part of the contract agreement with the Uniontown Teachers' Association (UTA).

Following a 30-minute executive session involving the board and Superintendent Randy Rockhold, the board approved the negotiated agreement with the Uniontown Teachers Association (UTA) for 2014-2015.

Extended contracts will be calculated based on the 2009-2010 salary schedule and the teacher placement on that schedule, according to the contract provided by Rockhold to the Tribune.

In the agreement, the salary schedule for teachers will have a step added to Bachelor of Science plus 24 hours, Master of Science, Master of Science plus 15 hours, and MS plus 30 hours. The district will add $800 to the salary schedule base, vertical and horizontal movement funded.

Uniontown teachers base salary in the district is $33,875, with the last step, the highest paid teachers, receiving $53,575. To receive the highest pay, teachers must have a Masters Degree plus 30 extra hours, according to the salary schedule provided to the Tribune by Rockhold.

Extra assignments (supplemental salary) will increase four percent in 2014-15 and in future years the supplemental salary increases will be equal to the salary schedule percent increases, the agreement states. The extra assignments include coaching and other extra curricular activities.

Beginning next year, in the district's 403B Plan, teachers who had 26 years local experience during the 2013-14 school year will continue receiving $450 annually through the service award account. All other teachers will receive $400 from this contract forward, according to the agreement.

The UTA and board of education also will work collaboratively to develop a due process procedure, which will be added to the agreement.

"Due process would ensure if a non-probationary teacher is terminated, he/she would be afforded a procedure to appeal that decision," Rockhold said in an email.

In addition to approving the teachers' agreement, the board approved a 60-cent-per-hour increase for classified staff. The two administrators, Rockhold and West Bourbon Elementary (WBE) School Principal Tracy Smith, will receive a $1,400 increase in their salaries. Besides being the superintendent, Rockhold is also the junior high and high school principal.

The board also approved hiring Randi Atkins as assistant cook in the district, following the retirement of Mary Lou Johnson, long-time school cook.

Wrestling program

Shanna and Andy Eck came to the Uniontown Board of Education meeting Monday night to request the addition of a wrestling program to the school district's sports activities.

"We just wanted to put out the opportunity to possibly look into a wrestling program through the middle school and high school," Andy Eck said.

"Wrestling is built on position and body mechanics as they relate to leverage," Eck said. "Wrestling teaches discipline and good work habits. Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy."

Eck said core strength and conditioning are basic to wrestling and it helps develop personal confidence.

Shanna Eck said wrestling also stresses sportsmanship.

The Ecks, who live in the USD 235 district, have three sons, Colt, Bryce and Trent, involved in the youth wrestling program at Fort Scott. The Fort Scott wrestling program has over 80 youth from age 4 to 14, according to information they provided the board.

Following the Ecks' presentation, board member Daniel Johns asked if a survey can be taken to determine if students in the district are interested in wrestling.

Rockhold said he would survey the sixth through 11th-grade students, and would also contact nearby Frontenac and Jayhawk-Linn school districts about their wrestling programs.

Smith's report

In his report, Smith said the WBE teachers recently chose the "all in" model for multiple measures evaluation requirements for teachers.

"Teachers will all receive the same rating of 'met' or 'not met' when student growth is measured building wide," Smith said. "The student growth measurement potentially would be 20 percent of a teacher's evaluation document. Student learning, content knowledge, instructional practice and professional responsibility would potentially be equal to 80 percent of the evaluation document. This is a local decision, yet to be decided, for percentages."

"We don't report individual teacher data to the state," Rockhold said.

The Student Growth Measures the WBE teachers have agreed to use are the Kansas state assessment for math, English language arts and Study Island. The multiple measures evaluation requirements are due June 30, Smith said.

Smith also said documentation required for the Kansas Reading Roadmap initiative, which began this year, was submitted on April 30.

"We got a gold star, it looks good," Smith said.

He said the program needed additional materials: two kits of Start up/Build up, a hard copy curriculum, and 50 Nifty Activities from Amazon that align with materials the district uses.

Rockhold's report

The board approved the WBE and junior, senior high handbooks for 2014-15 as part of at the consent agenda.

Rockhold said the only change is under the Promotion and Retention section, which reads "Seventh and eighth-grade students will be required to repeat any course in which they do not demonstrate mastery. If a seventh and eighth-grade student receives a semester grade below a D-minus in a course, they will be required to repeat that course the following school year."

"It's better for them to learn this before it becomes a part of their record (in high school)," Rockhold said.

Other business

* The board was reminded the WBE book fair is this week.

* Smith reported that due to the weather, the pre-kindergarten through third-grade track and field day, originally scheduled on Monday, was rescheduled to Tuesday afternoon to coincide with the fourth through sixth-grade field day previously scheduled.

* Smith also reported that May 15 is the last day of the after-school program.

* Smith reminded the board that the WBE awards assemblies will be at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 21 for second and third-grade; 10 a.m. for fourth through sixth-grades. Sixth grade promotion will follow the assembly.

The last day of school is May 22, which is a field day for all WBE students.

* Rockhold provided the board with a list of seniors who will graduate at 7 p.m. Friday. Baccalaureate is at 6 p.m.

"It will be a great celebration," he said.