LINDEN — The North Montgomery School Board approved raises for all non-teaching staff members at their June meeting Monday.
All hourly employees will see a pay increase of $1.40 per hour, while salaried individuals, including administrators, will see an average pay increase of $2,900 and receive a $2,000 stipend in June 2022.
“I’m very thankful and grateful for you approving these for some of the hardest working people in our district that our so appreciative of these raises and this one is substantial,” said Dr. Colleen Moran, North Montgomery Superintendent.
Moran expects teacher raises will continue to mirror those of administrators when they are negotiated later in 2021.
The board also approved student handbooks for the three elementary schools, middle school and high school. North Montgomery Middle School will bring back a bonus period for 40 minutes following the school day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The district first introduced the bonus period at the middle school for the 2007-08 school year, but dropped it in 2020-21 to give time for teachers to work with their remote learning students. North Montgomery School Corporation will not offer remote learning for the upcoming school year, and after gaining response from a survey at the end of the 2020-21 year, it was clear that all would benefit from the bonus period returning.
“That became clear at our ESSER survey that parents wanted to see that come back in and our teachers did too,” Moran said. “They are so excited to have that extra time on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-3:40 to help kids with their classes or possibly have clubs or other enrichment opportunities.”
The bonus period on Wednesdays at the high school will now become a teacher PLC day.
The survey was initially distributed to help the district get a better understanding of where to spend the additional $1.8 million they received in federal
funding from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) in April. On Monday, the board approved the district’s proposal for the use of funds to assist with COVID-19 pandemic costs such as learning loss, safety and mitigation strategies. Required to use 20% ($360,000) on learning loss, North Montgomery has plans to spend $812,000.
Included is funding for professional development for staff, middle school instructional coach, additional middle school special education teacher and additional school counselor at the high school. Also included are an additional first grade teacher at Sugar Creek Elementary and a fourth grade teacher at Sommer Elementary to help keep class sizes smaller and software that will help better translate documents for parents whose first language is not English. Money is being set aside for Early Development students whose parents don’t qualify for federal vouchers, cases for new Chrome books and after-school staff and supplies.
“We wanted feedback from all the parents and staff members that we could get before the end of school,” Moran said. “So we sent out that survey and that was really helpful. We think we have a pretty good idea of what the needs are in our school, but when we hear parents saying ‘we want bonus back at the middle school,’ that was good to hear from just more than our teachers. We had a well-rounded view.”
In other business, the board:
• Approved the food and supply bids for the 2021-22 school year from Gordon Food Services, Prairie Farms and Klosterman Bakery.
• Approved an increase in adult food pricing to $3.85 for lunch and $2.30 for breakfast. Student meals will continue to be free for the 2021-22 school year.
• Approved the annual corporation insurance policy renewal with Liberty Mutual for $232,229. North Montgomery transportation director Jim McBee explained a slight increase in the premium due to multiple things including the increase in property value. The district also added a federal terrorism policy.
• Approved the contract renewal through Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for AJ Rice to continue as the student resource officer.
• Approved the resignations/terminations for Natalie Fritzen, ELA aide at Pleasant Hill, Tashney Moseley, instructional aide at Pleasant Hill, Dixie Wall, food service at Pleasant Hill, Dakota Sterrett, para professional at the middle school, Megan Sommer, para professional at the middle school, and the transfer of Terri Teamer from the kitchen at the middle school to ELA 3 instructional aide at Pleasant Hill.
• Approved the new hires of Emily Hughes, Charger KidZone lead teacher at Sommer, Peggy Bane, Charger KidZone lead teacher at Pleasant Hill, Hillary Endicott, first grade temporary teacher at Pleasant Hill, Mary Davis, instructional aide at Pleasant Hill, Alan Bane, Charger KidZone assistant at Pleasant Hill, Pam McFarland, Charger KidZone assistant at Pleasant Hill, Amber Dickerson, social studies teacher at the high school, Traleen O’Collins, music teacher at Sugar Creek, Page McGaughey, fifth grade teacher at Sugar Creek, Amanda Arthur, food service at Sugar Creek, Anne Dowland, art teacher at Sugar Creek, Lauren Carpenter, Be Fit coach and instructional aide at Sugar Creek, Emily Tierney, summer school instructional assistant at the middle school, Heidi Deters, english teacher at the middle school, Taylor Dyson, Jumpstart instructional aide at Sommer, Carrie Reichert, summer school teacher session II at Sommer, and Hillary Jeffery, summer school teacher session II at Sommer.
• Approved extra-curricular from 2020-21 for Marcia Piper, accompanist at the high school, David Dark, Battle of the Books at Sommer and Jon DeSmet, volunteer boys basketball at Sommer.
• Approved extra-curricular from 2021-22 for Steve Baldwin, assistant boys tennis coach at the high school, Cole Clore, volunteer football coach at the high school, Josh Thompson, varsity football coach at the high school, Nick Johnson, varsity girls golf coach at the high school, Tristain Hall, varsity boys soccer coach at the high school, Jessica Galloway, cheer coach at the high school, Dane Baldwin, varsity boys tennis coach at the high school, Bryson Feese, girls soccer coach at the middle school, Rick Holtz, boys tennis coach at the middle school, Lincoln Kyle, football assistant coach at the middle school, Bill Parr, football assistant coach at the middle school, John Schilling, football assistant coach at the middle school, John Roche, football assistant coach at the middle school, Aaron Clawson, 8th-grade football coach at the middle school, and Robert Cunningham, boys soccer coach at the middle school.
