CENTERVILLE —
The Centerville School Board met Monday, Sept. 10 for their regular monthly meeting. Board member Marty Braster was absent. They will meet again tonight for their annual meeting.
The board first discussed adjusting the contracts of Board secretary Linda Henderson and Buildings and Grounds/Transportation Director Brad Jones to give both a $10,000 raise.
When looking at the board secretary position, the board looked at the average salaries for board secretaries from the 20 districts in the state with the closest comparable enrollment. Salaries in those districts during the 2010-2011 year ranged from $29,100 in Segeant Bluff-Luton to $80,000 in Atlantic. The average salary came to $57,577.40. Henderson’s current salary was $47,760. Superintendent Tony Ryan recommended that Henderson receive a $10,000 raise as she will be taking on more business manager duties due to consolidations in the school district.
The board okayed a $10,000 salary increase to $57,760.
The board then looked at the Buildings and Grounds/Trans-portation Director Brad Jones’ proposed salary increase. Jones began in January of 2011 in the new combined postion with a salary of $57,557. In 2011 the two separate positions received salaries of $55,827 for Buildings and Grounds Director and $35,545 for Transportaton Director.
Board member Tom Lange thought that Jone’s deserved the increase, but that maybe the board should wait until January to make it official, but said he would go with the majority decision of the board. The board approved the increase.
Even with the salary increases, the school system will still save $64,262 this year in administrative/depart-ment head salaries alone due to the elimination of the high school assistant principal position and the decision to not replace former Buildings and Grounds Director Ed Shirley until Jones was hired midway through last school year.
The board approved resignations for Tony Endress from seventh grade football, Melissa Collins from high school cafeteria, Jana Frost from kindergarten aide at Garfield and Justine Ballanger from Garfield cafeteria. They also approved transfers for Gretchen Willier from full-time special education aide at Central to part-time preschool classroom aide, Rose Moon from full-time secretary to half-time secretary at Lakeview and Barbara Lubenow from part-time transitional kindergarten classroom aide to special education aide at Central.
Employment contracts were approved for Ryan Hodges, Kelly Kauzlarich and Tim Kaster as substitute bus drivers, Leanne Mulcahy as Lakeview special education aide, Jennifer Hand as National Honor Society sponsor, Larry Stufflebeam as special education aide at Lakeview, Shannon Spears as special education aide at Lakeview, Stephanie McDonald as full-time secretary at Lakeview, Julie Ocker as Garfield cafeteria server, Chad Koestner as assistant football coach and Mike Miller as seventh grade football coach. Diane Van Dyne had an increase from 5.5. hours per day to 5.75 hours per day in the cafeteria and Jean Smothers had a decrease from 4.75 to 4.5 hours per day as a custodian.
When looking into selling the Cincinnati and Mystic school buildings, superintendent Ryan told the board that the school’s attorney advised setting up a series of questions for potential buyers to fnd out what they intended to do with the buildings after sale. This could potentially help stop any conflicts between new owners and the communities.
The progress of the new school year was briefly discussed, with Ryan stating that the transition of third graders to Lakeview Elementary was proceeding smoothly.
The board also briefly discussed renewal of the Instructional Support Levy, which was approved last year at a reat of two percent for a period of one year. No final decisions were made regarding the proposed levy.
The board approved purchase of an 84-passenger school bus from Hoglund Bus Company in Marshalltown for $104,927. The school system will receive a $4,000 trade in for bus No. 42, bringing the total expense to $100,927 to be paid from PPEL money.
Superintendent Ryan stated that preliminary registration data had 1,383 students signed up to attend the district. The final official count will be taken Oct. 1. The prelimnary number is holding steady from last year’s official count of 1,385.
The board approved membership to the Centerville Concert Association and approved membership in the Iowa Association of School Boards.
The board held a closed session before hearing reports and approving financial statements, then adjourned.
