Summer school salary concerns were raised at the Platte County School Board meeting Feb. 20.
Leona Baskerville, an executive officer of the Platte County Education Association and a member of teachers group Team Platte County spoke to the board members about the salary recommendations that were discussed earlier in the week.
Leona Baskerville
Baskerville believes the district administration has chosen to circumvent Team Platte County in the salary discussions.
She said pay recommendations are based on salaries in other districts and that social workers in Platte County schools will receive an 80 cents per hour increase, nurses will receive a $1.50 increase and para-teachers will receive a $1 per hour increase.
“This is a breach of protocol and dependent on the good-faith negotiations we’ve been engaging in with the district over the years,” Baskerville said.
She said that the summer school salary recommendations that were provided by the district administration based on the wording were limiting the number of people who can gain leadership experience.
“It appears as though the district is creating pay positions for teachers to fulfill administrative requirements,” Baskerville said. “This is unacceptable if this decision is not made for every employee in the district.”
Her third concern is that every year summer school teachers are given a provisional contract based on enrollment and if the student numbers don’t warrant the traditional number of teachers the number of teachers will be reduced.
“We teachers have not been told traditionally until one or two weeks prior to the start of summer school whether or not our summer jobs are secure,” Baskerville said. “How then does the district justify adding three new administrative positions. Summer enrollment numbers have never justified this kind of exponential growth and summer school teachers have only been given a 70 cents an hour raise in 16 years. Why is summer school money given to add administrator positions rather than raise our teacher pay? Summer school teachers have not seen a raise in pay in over a decade.”
The pay concerns have been brought up over the last few years in Team Platte County meetings said Baskerville, but the educators who have served the district the longest are not getting the same consideration as far as those who are newer to the district as far as salaries.
“Upper level administration salaries continue to increase, notably the five percent salary increase for our superintendent,” Baskerville said.
She requested that the board delay a decision until after the results of the upcoming Team Platte County meeting. The board members agreed.
Compass Elementary custodian Dean Foster was honored at the meeting with a Shivir Me Timbers award for his help with a student who was struggling in school.
Foster has worked for the school for 35 years.
He built a relationship with the student by talking to him after lunch and the student began to improve his grades and do better in school.