Warsaw School Board Approves Staff Stipend
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The school board Monday night approved the stipend recommendations and adjustments as presented.
Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott said the 2014-15 teachers’ master contract was settled at the end of September 2014. Prior to the year end, eligible teachers also received stipends from two separate state performance grants. Salary and wages for all other categories of employees remained at the 2013-14 levels for the 2014-15 school year.
“With recognition that state funding for the General Fund is flat, at 0.4 percent, coupled with no enrollment growth, the administration is proposing stipends for all other groups,” Scott said. “Stipends are a one-time cost rather than a recurring additional operating cost.”
The maximum stipend for support and special services staff is a gross pay of $500. For staff members working less than 40 hours per week, the stipend will be proportional to the hours worked.
Total one-time costs are supported by modest cash balance growth during the 2014 calendar budget year, Scott said.
“I just want to emphasize that over 80 percent of these employees are support staff,” said board member Jay Baumgartner.
Baumgartner abstained from voting on the recommendations as his wife is one of the affected employees.
The school board also heard WCS will have a couple of special guests in March.
Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert reported that on March 12, in collaboration with Grace College and its Chapter for the Council for Exceptional Children, Eric Alexander will talk to high school freshmen about dreams.
“He worked as the guide to help the first visually impaired climber up Mount Everest. A very inspiring story and we are very excited that he will be coming to share with our freshman students,” Hoffert said.
According to Everestnews.com, Alexander scaled Mt. Everest with his blind friend Erik Weihenmayer. When not instructing disabled skiers in Vail, Colo., Alexander directs Adventures Beyond Limits, an organization that educates and encourages youth with disabilities in the outdoors.
Another visitor to the school system in March will be a NASA astronaut. Hoffert said they weren’t releasing the specific name and date yet as the information is still embargoed by NASA. He said the visit was thanks to the Gifted & Talented parents who did the leg work in making the visit possible.
“We’re hoping that all of our fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders inside of our school corporation can be involved in this activity,” Hoffert said, with the focus on dreams.
A third activity will be March 18 when WCS joins with Grace College in hosting the NCCAA tournament.
In other business, the board:
• Heard from Hoffert that WCS’s enrollment is 7,178. Thirty-one high school seniors graduated early.
Board Secretary Randy Polston asked how the preschools at Claypool and Leesburg were doing. Hoffert said Claypool currently has 21 on its waiting list, and Leesburg has 33 with 13 on the list for the 2015-16 school year.
• Heard Hoffert thank the transportation department.
“It has been a very wild and snowy and ice-filled and blizzard-filled last few weeks, and our transportation department has done a wonderful job,” he said. “They start hitting the roads at 4:30 in the morning to be able to make the calls for safety for the children for cancellations and delays, so I wanted to send out a special thank you to them.”
• Heard a presentation on energy and circuits from Washington STEM Academy.
• Approved the minutes from the previous meeting, personnel report, out-of-state travel requests, financial reports, handbook revisions, the North Central Indiana Special Education’s joint services agreement and the 1:1 wireless and related network switch upgrades for Edgewood and Lakeview middle schools as discussed at the Feb. 10 work session.
• Heard from Baumgartner that the next board public work session will be March 10 at 4 p.m., with the regular meeting at 7 p.m. March 16.[[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
The school board Monday night approved the stipend recommendations and adjustments as presented.
Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott said the 2014-15 teachers’ master contract was settled at the end of September 2014. Prior to the year end, eligible teachers also received stipends from two separate state performance grants. Salary and wages for all other categories of employees remained at the 2013-14 levels for the 2014-15 school year.
“With recognition that state funding for the General Fund is flat, at 0.4 percent, coupled with no enrollment growth, the administration is proposing stipends for all other groups,” Scott said. “Stipends are a one-time cost rather than a recurring additional operating cost.”
The maximum stipend for support and special services staff is a gross pay of $500. For staff members working less than 40 hours per week, the stipend will be proportional to the hours worked.
Total one-time costs are supported by modest cash balance growth during the 2014 calendar budget year, Scott said.
“I just want to emphasize that over 80 percent of these employees are support staff,” said board member Jay Baumgartner.
Baumgartner abstained from voting on the recommendations as his wife is one of the affected employees.
The school board also heard WCS will have a couple of special guests in March.
Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert reported that on March 12, in collaboration with Grace College and its Chapter for the Council for Exceptional Children, Eric Alexander will talk to high school freshmen about dreams.
“He worked as the guide to help the first visually impaired climber up Mount Everest. A very inspiring story and we are very excited that he will be coming to share with our freshman students,” Hoffert said.
According to Everestnews.com, Alexander scaled Mt. Everest with his blind friend Erik Weihenmayer. When not instructing disabled skiers in Vail, Colo., Alexander directs Adventures Beyond Limits, an organization that educates and encourages youth with disabilities in the outdoors.
Another visitor to the school system in March will be a NASA astronaut. Hoffert said they weren’t releasing the specific name and date yet as the information is still embargoed by NASA. He said the visit was thanks to the Gifted & Talented parents who did the leg work in making the visit possible.
“We’re hoping that all of our fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders inside of our school corporation can be involved in this activity,” Hoffert said, with the focus on dreams.
A third activity will be March 18 when WCS joins with Grace College in hosting the NCCAA tournament.
In other business, the board:
• Heard from Hoffert that WCS’s enrollment is 7,178. Thirty-one high school seniors graduated early.
Board Secretary Randy Polston asked how the preschools at Claypool and Leesburg were doing. Hoffert said Claypool currently has 21 on its waiting list, and Leesburg has 33 with 13 on the list for the 2015-16 school year.
• Heard Hoffert thank the transportation department.
“It has been a very wild and snowy and ice-filled and blizzard-filled last few weeks, and our transportation department has done a wonderful job,” he said. “They start hitting the roads at 4:30 in the morning to be able to make the calls for safety for the children for cancellations and delays, so I wanted to send out a special thank you to them.”
• Heard a presentation on energy and circuits from Washington STEM Academy.
• Approved the minutes from the previous meeting, personnel report, out-of-state travel requests, financial reports, handbook revisions, the North Central Indiana Special Education’s joint services agreement and the 1:1 wireless and related network switch upgrades for Edgewood and Lakeview middle schools as discussed at the Feb. 10 work session.
• Heard from Baumgartner that the next board public work session will be March 10 at 4 p.m., with the regular meeting at 7 p.m. March 16.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092