Sean C. Morgan
The District 55 School Board approved a $3,096-per-year raise for Supt. Don Schrader during its regular meeting Monday evening.
Chanz Keeney and Kevin Burger voted against the raise, while Mike E. Adams, Jan Sharp, Dale Keene, Mike Reynolds, Chairman Jason Redick and Jenny Daniels voted for the pay increase.
Schrader’s salary increases from $103,187 per year to $106,283 per year.
The increase is the same percentage veteran administrators received earlier this year, a 1-percent cost-of-living adjustment, plus a 2-percent step.
Schrader also proposed adding five days of vacation, but the board declined to approve the additional vacation time. He said that the business office had mistakenly tracked 25 days of vacation, which was the same as the previous superintendent. His contract only authorizes 20 days.
He was unaware that the business office was keeping track of additional time and has not taken more than 20 days in the past two years. Becoming aware of the issue, he proposed simply increasing his vacation time to 25 days during negotiations with the board.
“My concern is we’re getting further and further behind in this,” Redick told the board. “If for some reason we were to go out and try to hire another superintendent at this time, would we be competitive?”
He said similar districts range from a couple at about $99,000 to as high as $125,000 per year.
“We find ourselves at the bottom of that pay scale,” Redick said.
Previous superintendent Larry Horton had pay freezes during his nine years with the district, Redick said. “Meanwhile the pack is running away.”
There will always be someone ahead, Keeney said. This is Sweet Home, and a $100,000 salary is probably the upper end in this town.
The district had 14 applications for superintendent when Schrader was hired, Keeney said, so he doesn’t think the district needs to compete with other districts.
“You start comparing with other district, it depends on what side of the table you’re on,” he said. “If we move forward, it has to be on our Sweet Home standards. We’re still at the tail end of a recession.”
Even granting a 3-percent raise still leaves Sweet Home below the mark, Redick said. Breaking it down by hours, the high school principal makes more than the superintendent, who works more days during the year.
Schrader said the district pays its teachers less too, and the district is working on that. That’s why it’s had good bargaining sessions recently.
Other administrators salaries were approved earlier this year. Among them, Sweet Home High School Principal Keith Winslow receives $97,024 per year; Dave Goetz, human resources Director and facilities and transportation supervisor, $89,470; Elena Barton, Holley principal and director of Student Services, $87,633; Glenna DeSouza, Foster principal, $86,225; Courtney Murphy, new Oak Heights principal, $84,534; Tim Porter, curriculum director and SHHS assistant principal, $83,443; Kevin Strong, business manager, $82,676; Colleen Henry, Sweet Home Junior High principal, $82,639; Terry Augustadt, Hawthorne principal, $80,441; Steve Brown, SHHS athletic director and assistant principal, $78,632; and Josh Dargis, SHJH assistant principal, $74,163.
In other business, the board:
n Reappointed Jason Redick as chairman of the board, Dale Keene as vice chairman and Mike Reynolds as secretary.
n Approved a three-day trip for the cross-country team to Washington state for a race on Aug. 10. The athletes will pay their own way but will engage in some fund-raising activities to help with the cost, Coach Billy Snow said..
n Certified May election results.
n Accepted a resignation from Tami White, special education teacher at Hawthorne. She will become an elementary principal in the North Lake School District.
n Hired Molly Dorris, high school language arts teacher.
n Hired Kenna Feakin to teach fifth and sixth grade at Hawthorne.
n Hired Joanne Wiitala, high school language arts teacher.
n Accepted resignations from Maggie Banta, high school language arts, and Matthew Banta, high school PE and health teachers.