WHITE RIVER VALLEY — After the special report to the community on Elkins schools test scores on Sept. 15, the Elkins Board of Education reconvened in the board room to take care of other school busi-ness.

All board members were present, as well as all the district's school principals.

Second grade teacher Shannon Bradley, who is the also on the Personnel Committee, presented an attendance compensation plan to the board for their review.

The plan is an effort by the district to alleviate the need for an over abundance of substitutes. In the plan all certified staff and teachers who work directly withstudents are eligible for semester bonuses according to days of sick leave taken.

Each semester the certified staff is eligible for a $180 bonus.In addition to this if no sick days are taken during the school year, a $120 extra bonus will be made available.

That would the total bonus each certified staff member is eligible for to $480 per year. The bonus will be paid for by stimulus funds that the district receives.

"Four out of 91 people had perfect attendance last year," Superintendent Mike Harris said.

The policy will include teachers, coaches, librarians, counselors and principals.

"Since this will not go into effect until it is approved by the board and a vote by the staff tomorrow, no one will be penalized for the first three weeks of school," Harris said.

The bonus would not include the superintendent or the technology director.

After a brief discussion, the board voted unanimously to approve the new attendance policy for certified staff on a provisional basis and it will be reviewed in June for its effectiveness.

The board approved the transfer of one student to Prarie Grove from Elkins and accepted a student to Elkins from Fayetteville.

The financial reports were gone over and reviewed carefully. With the current economic status, board members discussed being cautious and trying to save back funds for neededareas for expenses that might occur that may not be budgeted for.

"Our revenue stayed steady and we are $200,000 better this year so far," President Bryan Delozier said.

Harris gave the board an update on a new meal tracker system the district started using this year. "Meal tracker is working nicely," he said.

Harris also presented the board with the idea of opening a separate account for meal funds so parents can pay for their children's meals with a credit or debit card over the internet.

Arvest Bank has agreed to open the accountfor the school and not charge them any monthly fees.

"This way parents can go onto our school web page and check their children's meal accounts as well as pay for meals and see their balance." Harris said.

The board unanimously approved the new account.

Parent/ teacher conferences for the schools are scheduled for Oct. 20 at the middle school and high school and on Oct. 22 at the primary school and elementary school.

The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be Oct. 20 at 6 p.m.

Education, Pages 7, 8 on 09/24/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.