School board approves base salary increase

WORLAND – The Washakie County School District (WCSD) No. 1 Board of Trustees approved an $850 increase to the base teaching salary which raises the district’s base salary to $45,000.

With this increase, WCSD No. 1 Superintendent David Nicholas and Business Manager Charlie Cauffman acknowledged that despite the increase, the district still is placed at a tie for 32nd in the state for base pay out of 48.

“How are we going to pay for this?” Nicholas said. “We are going to pay for it this year with attrition; we did not fill six and a half positions.”

The board also approved to advance steps and lanes, as well as maintain the current benefit package. There was also an approval for a 50-cent base increase for all classified staff which includes bus drivers and substitute teachers.

An additional sick day was approved for part-time staff to increase their sick leave from two to three days. Nicholas said they were able to recommend these items because of the board’s work through attrition over the years and that they need to stay competitive with benefits and salary in order to maintain quality teachers in the district.

Nicholas hinted at him returning to the board with a potential stipend at the June meeting due to the district being over the amount they are able to put into the reserve at the end of the year.

ADMINISTRATIVE

REPORTS

During the superintendent’s report, Nicholas wanted to remind the board again that they plan to include Martin Luther King Jr. day in the school calendar, as well as report that the kindergarten class of next year is currently at 80 enrolled and he said that 85 is a comfortable effort for enrollment by the time the year starts.

He talked about how the district is expected to move forward with COVID-19, which will include no masks this summer, but he still has concerns with the additional quarantines being enforced if they are in direct contact with a COVID-positive patient and hopes to have those quarantines lessened before school starts next year.

During the business manager’s report, Cauffman reported that the district is currently on track with their budget for this year, and the budget for next year currently looks to be about $25.2 million. He and Nicholas said that the outlook for the budget even next year in fiscal year 2022-23 looks better after comments recently made by Governor Mark Gordon which suggested there may not be sharp budget cuts next year at the state level.

Special Education Director Kim Sanford reported that their evaluation by the state has been successful to this point, and that 100% of their files have been found to be in compliance. She said they are still finishing on site files after 89 were pulled, but said they are not expected to have any on site interviews.

Building principals reported that they were thankful they were able to have their end of year celebrations and they were happy to have made it through the entire year.

Worland High School Principal Wade Sanford said that Worland high school ag science and business teacher Grace Godfrey was selected as a national teacher ambassador for her work through FFA.

OTHER BUSINESS

The board revisited and approved policy 2.2 regarding school entrance requirements on first reading. The policy states that a child must have reached 5 years of age before Sept. 15 in the given year to enter into kindergarten, but if they were born between Aug. 1 and Sept. 15 then they will be screened before being accepted.

The policy also includes a child needing to have reached the age of 6 before Aug. 1 to be entered into first grade or before Sept. 15 if the child had previously attended kindergarten.

The board discussed a potential change of language to policy 2.24 to clarify the process for limited open forums in the district and how students would be allowed to meet on school facilities. This was strictly discussion and no action was taken on the item.

The board approved Plan One/Architects based out of Cody to be in charge of the Worland Aquatic Center repair project.

The board approved a list of approved capital projects, read more about these projects in next week’s edition of the Northern Wyoming News.

The board approved a bid of $146,720 from Sterling for teacher desktop computers.

The board entered into executive session to discuss personnel at the end of the meeting.