Week 30: Things Coming To Light

Happy Friday!

This is been a very busy week here at Mena Public Schools. Thank you all for all that you have done this week. Our goals are important, but to Wrap-up this week the primary thanks go out to everyone who is giving our students opportunities through numerous activities that took place.

In this Wrap-up I will rehash information from the meetings that took place at each building this week and follow up with all the things we are doing that make learning fun and meaningful.

Salaries

Thanks to all the staff members who came early and stayed late to hear about the salary schedule plan for next year. I want to give a basic summary of what I told you all for those who were not able to attend.

For starters, our current salary schedule is based on a decades-old law that requires a lane of salaries for bachelor’s degrees and one for master’s degrees with a minimum salary for each. The lanes also had to have at least fifteen steps with a minimum of $450 (BS) and a $500 (MS) increase at each step. That law has been completely repealed with nothing to take its place.

Many schools chose to go above the minimum expectations by paying more than the minimum amounts, adding more steps, or increasing the step amounts. The portion of a salary schedule that determines pay for administrators is up to the district and the law still requires that certified employees that work more than 190 days per year are paid for those extra days at their daily rate of pay.

When Governor Sanders increased the minimum salary to $50,000, that caused the current salary schedules to be unaffordable for just about all schools in the state.

The first response to this problem by all schools was to set next year’s salaries according to the LEARNS Act and freeze them at that amount. We have been advised against this plan and we need a salary schedule that will work in eFinance, our accounting system for the state. So, we have developed a salary schedule that looks just like the one we currently have but the numbers are different.

To meet the LEARNS requirements, all salaries in the cells of the schedule that were $48,000 or below were replaced with $50,000. All cells above $48,000 have $2000 added to them to reach the $50,000 minimum and cover the minimum raise of $2,000. Administrator indexes were reduced to keep their increase close to $2,000 and everything else remains the same. We have added experience stipends for veteran teachers of $500 for 15 to 19 years of experience, $750 for 20 to 24 years, and $1000 for 25 years or more.

The LEARNS Act provided no funding for classified salaries but we were given funds in our foundation funding to pay for those but the amount did not fully cover a $2.00 per hour raise. The legislature did find another source of funds for our employee insurance costs, which helped us to be able to afford a $1.50 per hour raise for classified employees. We will get over $900,000 in new funds from Governor Sanders and an additional $350,000 in foundation funding to help pay for these raises. The cost of the raises is still more than the new funding amounts but the district will be able to absorb that amount. Here is a link to the breakdown of costs versus revenue. All of these numbers are based on current staff.

Making Learning Fun and Meaningful

Our students are out there having a blast right now. They are demonstrating their skills and apply knowledge outside of the classroom in showcases and competitions. I want to mention these things as a brag about our district and the staff members who are making all of this possible. If I have missed any, please let me know and I will get it in next week’s Wrap-up.

* Lady Bearcat Softball is undefeated in conference play this season and will soon be in their district tournament.

* We hosted the Area 14 Special Olympics this week with a tremendous turnout and a lot of fun for the kids, their parents, and the staff who put the event together. Thanks to the Spotlight Singers for opening the games with our National Anthem.

* Bearcat Baseball won their 4th game this week against Cossatot River.

* The junior high track meet this week was very well attended. We had young athletes from all over the region competing.

* It was Senior Night for our girls and boys soccer teams on Tuesday. Both teams have had really good seasons as they get closer to the post-season. Our boys are in 3rd place and the girls in 4th.

* Our FFA members are at the University of Arkansas this weekend to compete in their state Career Development Event competitions. Each contest winner qualifies for the national contest.

* Three of our high school students had the opportunity to propose a new governmental policy to Senator John Bozeman. This was a great experience for learning the legislative process.

* Louise Durham Elementary hosted a spring picnic for students and their families today with more than 370 tickets sold.

* Today about twelve Mena Middle School students competed in the science fair at the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain. The majority of the participants were MMS students and we had several honorable mentions and a second-place project winner for coding. Thanks go out to all the teachers at MMS who helped them with their projects and to Cindy Brevick for taking those students to the Science Fair.

It was a really good week at Mena Public Schools!!

At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.

Have a great weekend!!