Sean C. Morgan
The District 55 School Board approved a new contract for Supt. Don Schrader Monday night that will end the concept of “rolling contracts” and give him the opportunity for a raise following a six-month evaluation at the end of 2014.
Board member Jenny Daniels had raised concerns last school year about the rolling contract. The superintendent’s contract, like teachers, has been for three years but renewed annually, adding another year to the end of the contract automatically unless the board acts to not renew the contract.
The contract approved Monday night during the regular School Board meeting lasts until June 30, 2016, said Chairman Jason Redick. The board must vote by March 15 whether to extend the contract further.
The discussion came after the recent completion of the superintendent’s evaluation by the board.
Board member Chanz Keeney asked why the contract needed changing.
Redick said that some board members were concerned about rolling contracts renewing automatically.
“All we have to do is vote to non-renew, and it’s not rolling any more,” Keeney said.
Redick said he didn’t think the board would vote not to renew if the contract continued rolling.
The only reason he feels the board is changing the contract is for reasons he cannot discuss in public, Keeney told the board.
Keeney asked whether the superintendent’s annual evaluation had been made public yet.
Redick told him that it was not public information unless the superintendent agreed, and the board did not discuss the evaluation during the meeting.
Based on the current contract, Redick said, salary was open to negotiation at this point.
Upon “satisfactory evaluation,” Schrader said.
Words that Daniels said she doesn’t like because she doesn’t like the existing evaluation system, something board members on Monday discussed possibly changing in a future meeting. Daniels noted that her concern about the rolling contract wasn’t related to the superintendent’s evaluation.
Board member Jason Van Eck proposed holding off on a raise pending a mid-year evaluation, then board members have until March 15 to decide whether to extend the contract.
The New Era Monday requested the composite score of the evaluation, the average of the board members’ ratings. Schrader discussed his evaluation with The New Era Tuesday morning, saying that an overall composite score had not been calculated.
“I think overall, I got some good feedback from them,” Schrader said. “There were areas above satisfactory and there were areas where they want me to improve in.”
He said he received his highest marks in curriculum, instruction, instructional leadership and labor relations.
“I need to do a better job of getting them (the board) information,” Schrader said. “They have various thoughts. I took it as critical, good feedback. Those areas of concern are going to be better.”
Schrader said there have been several board meetings where he should have been better organized and anticipated better the information the board would need before the meeting.
He needs to better inform the board and gather better feedback from members about what they want prior to meetings, he said. He pointed to an example Monday night when the board was discussing plans at Foster School where all classrooms would blend grades and loop students. Looping is where students stay with the same teacher for two or more years, something that Foster has done in the past.
Class sizes have been of concern to some board members, and he could have provided information about what class sizes would have been under the plan to blend classrooms, Schrader said. In the future, he plans to do a better job of being able to answer questions the board will ask in areas like this.
Overall, Schrader received good feedback in the evaluation, and he was not rated “unacceptable” in any areas by the board, he said. But a few areas need improvement.
The existing evaluation system rates performance as 1 through 5: unacceptable, needs improvement, satisfactory, good and excellent.
It’s a system where most of a board can rate the superintendent at satisfactory (or 2), and one board member rating the superintendent lower can skew a result toward “needs improvement” (below 2), Schrader said, noting that three board members did not participate in the evaluation. Dave VanDerlip and Kevin Burger had other commitments and Van Eck was brand new to the board.
He has looked at Albany’s evaluation system, which is based on something like “meets” or “does not meet” the standard. He plans to share that information with the board at a future meeting.
He also plans to complete a “360,” surveying the staff and everyone who interacts with him, to get feedback for himself.
“I got good feedback from our staff before the evaluation,” Schrader said. “I shared that (with the board). I know they feel supported and that we’re moving in a good direction as far as kids go.”
And that’s what’s most important to him, the students and making sure they’re learning, he said, and “sometimes that rubs people the wrong way.”
“At this point, I think we have a positive direction and are moving forward,” Redick told The New Era.
The board voted 6-1 to approve the new contract. Keeney voted no. VanDerlip abstained. Voting to change the contract were Van Eck, Daniels, Dale Keene, Redick, Mike Reynolds and Burger. Leena Ellis was absent.
In other business, the board:
n Ratified a three-year contract with district teachers, who had already ratified the agreement.
Teachers will receive a 2.5-percent raise plus steps if eligible next year, followed by 2 percent and 2.5 percent raises in the following two years along with steps if eligible. Their insurance cap, the amount of the insurance premium paid by the district will be $960 per month next year and increase to $980 and $1,000 in the following two years.
The vote was unanimous.
n Adopted the budget approved by the Budget Committee 6-2. Burger and Keeney voted no.
Keeney said that the district was cutting left and right a couple of year ago, and it wasn’t even talking about all-day kindergarten.
He guessed he was “stuck in the past” and would vote no.
The budget includes an expanded kindergarten program, which will allow parents to enroll their children in full days two days per week.