November 17, 2015
District currently at a fiscal level of $1.07 million higher than this time last year, Finance officer reports
By James Ellis
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER PAY RAISE
{Re: Request to the Lawrence County Board of Education regarding Substitute Teacher Daily Rate of Pay
Request that Substitute Teacher Daily Rate of Pay be set in accordance with the table above:
Request that the above salary schedule for Substitute Teachers to take effect on November 30, 2015.}
LOUISA – In their meeting Monday evening the Lawrence County Board of Education took a major step aimed at ending the shortage of substitute teachers in the district. The Board voted unanimously to revise the substitute teacher pay scale in order to attract qualified substitutes.
According to a pay scale presented by personnel director Vernon Hall, the pay will be determined by their educational rank (set by the Education Professional Standards Board) and the amount of experience in teaching they possess. Teachers who are Rank I and have more than 10 years experience will be at the top of the pay scale, earning $110 per day. A Rank II teacher with 10 or more years earns $100, while a Rank III teacher earns $85, a Rank IV (uncertified with more than 96 hours) earns $75 and a Rank V (uncertified, but possessing 64 to 95 hours) will make $70 per day.
In an e mail to school staff regarding the matter, Dr. Robbie Fletcher said, “After some research by Ms. [Kim] Adkins, Ms. [Edris] Humphrey, and Mr. [Vernon] Hall, a recommendation was made to the BOE, and it was approved during last night’s BOE meeting. Previously, we paid $57 or $75 based on a person’s degree. Using Mr. Hall’s recommendation, the BOE increased our rate of pay and added an emphasis to attract retired teachers. (SEE below.) These new rates are better than any of our surrounding Kentucky counties and make us competitive with the West Virginia schools.”
The Board also had the pleasure of recognizing student and staff achievements Monday night. Lawrence County High School junior Connor May spoke about his experiences as the district’s newest Rogers Scholar.
“I went to the Rogers Scholar Program this past summer and the focus was on learning about entrepreneurship. We participated in a lot of activities designed to help us think about new ways to do business and many were focused simply on team building. It was a great experience,” May noted. As the Rogers Scholar (sponsored through the Center for Rural Development’s program named in honor of Congressman Hal Rogers), May will benefit from skill and character building activities and also will have a scholarship that can be utilized at colleges or universities statewide.
Additionally, the Board recognized the first ever Junior Lego League, which had two teams participate in the Lego Challenge in Huntington, WV through the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing recently.
Coaches Marsha Slone, Aimee Workman and Ben Larrabee, along with team members from the Bulldog Builders Zeb Slone, Ryan Smith, Wyatt Dillon, Isaah Hughes and Gieus Workman, as well as LegoAtronics members Shannon Larrabee, Austin Peters, Luca Silva and Luke Ferguson explained and demonstrated the projects to the Board and audience members.
An older team consisting of Cameron Perkins, Trey Hall, Owen Childers, Payton Hale, Landyn Pope, Eli Dillon, Jacob Kessinger, Raymond Carter and Dean Whites will be competing in December.
The Board also recognized Lawrence County High School instructor Melissa Blackburn for achieving her National Board Certification. Blackburn is the Career and Technology instructor in agriculture at LCHS.
Cheryl Gowan and Kevin Garrett of the Food City store in Louisa presented the School Bucks for Lawrence County Schools, awarding checks in varying amounts to the principals of the schools through a fundraising process whereby customers designate a donation for one of the county schools. Lawrence County High School received the largest check distributed through Food City in Kentucky this year.
The Broken Arrow Archery club came and made a request to the Board to consider development of an archery team through Lawrence County Schools. Dr. Fletcher pledged to discuss the proposal with them this week.
The Board got a welcome, positive budget report from District Finance Officer Edris Humphrey, who informed them that the District was currently at a fiscal level of $1.07 million higher than this time last year.
The Board will meet again for their regularly scheduled December meeting on December 21.
Superintendent’s Personnel Action/Update
November 16, 2015
Hiring
Pamela Pigg- Food Service Manager at Louisa East Elementary School
Tammy Porter- Cook/Baker (4.5hrs/day) at Louisa West Elementary School
Vickie Lockard- Cook/Baker (4.5hrs/day) at Louisa Middle School
Rebecca Lemaster- Cook/Baker (4.5hrs/day) at Louisa East Elementary School
Change of Position
Shana Green- From Teacher at Louisa West Elementary School to LBD Teacher at Louisa Middle School
Resignations
Jennifer Maynard- District School Health Nurse/Special Needs Nurse at Blaine Elementary School
Ruth Fissler- Cook/Baker (7hrs/day) at Louisa Middle School
