Staff
In an effort to make the district more competitive, the Sweet Home School Board voted unanimously Monday, May 10, to increase the superintendent’s salary from about $106,000 per year to $115,000 per year for next school year, 2015-16.
The board based its decision on a Confederation of Oregon School Administrators comparison of school district salaries of similar districts, which indicated Sweet Home is at the bottom in what it pays its superintendent.
That comparison is used by prospective superintendents and administrators to help decide whether to seek specific jobs, said Supt. Keith Winslow.
The district will seek a new superintendent next year, and board members wanted Sweet Home to rank higher on the COSA salary survey.
The board asked Business Manager Kevin Strong to gather information about housing costs among those communities. The data he found was about two or three years old.
“Overall, Sweet Home is at the low end when it comes to median housing prices,” Strong said. “You can find, for $130,000, a decent house to live in. In a lot of communities, that’s not the case.”
David VanDerlip, board member, said housing was just part of the cost of living. Leena Ellis, board member, noted that Sweet Home has a low cost of living overall.
It’s not just older housing, said Jason Redick, board member.He said new housing available in the community falls within the averages for Sweet Home.
A higher salary in the COSA survey will make Sweet Home more attractive to superintendent candidates, Ellis said. Last time, Sweet Home had a lot of candidates with no experience or who came from smaller districts. The candidate pool also was small.
She is hoping a higher salary will help “attract a better, more experienced superintendent,” she said. She was among those who wanted the last superintendent to be cost neutral.
The superintendent’s salary has not increased much over the years, Redick said, rising approxiamtely $6,000 or $7,000 in the past decade.
The superintendent often took freezes during financial difficulties, Redick said, leaving Sweet Home behind other districts in the long run.
Strong estimated the annual growth in the past decade at about 1 percent per year.
Looking at the list, Baker was at $110,000, Cascade $116,000, Dallas $112,000 and Philomath $115,000, Ellis said.
Chanz Keeney agreed with the board’s direction: “We pick the wrong person, we’re going to lose a lot more.”
Present and voting for the increase were Keeney, Jenny Daniels, Redick, Chairman Mike Reynolds, Ellis, VanDerlip and Nick Augsburger. Jason Van Eck and Kevin Burger were absent.
In other business, the board:
– Approved a resolution allowing the district to spend an additional principal payment of $200,000 on its 2015 bond refinancing, saving $300,000 overall in debt service, Strong said.
The resolution also included an additional transfer of $175,000 to long-term maintenance in the 2014-15 budget. Those funds, from unanticipated revenue for increasing teacher experience levels and poverty roughly match the district’s contribution to the turf and track project, Strong said. This allows the district to replenish the fund.
– Approved policy updates, ranging from emergency closures and disposal of district property to prescription medication and charter schools.
– Hired Ryan Graville as business teacher at Sweet Home High School.
– Hired Daniel Shelton as an advanced math teacher at SHHS.
– Approved a retirement agreement with Dianna Looney to work as half-time kindergarten teacher at Hawthorne.
– Hired Mindie Medina as a fourth-grade teacher at Oak Heights.
– Hired Josh Darwood as maintenance supervisor.
– Hired Joni Nortune as a fifth- and sixth-grade blend teacher at Oak Heights.
– Approved the resignation of Meagen Healy, first grade at Oak Heights.
– Approved a request for a leave of absence by Lesli Jennings, sixth grade at Oak Heights.
– Hired Zach Sartin to teach third grade at Oak Heights.
– Hired Christina Lamb, autism teacher, half time at Foster and half time at SHHS.
– Accepted the donation of three poles, one from Paul Olson at McFarland Cascade and two from Cascade Timber Consulting.
– Accepted a $100 donation from Rice Logging to the Oregon history class at Sweet Home Junior High.