by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Feb. 11 meeting, the Franklin County School Board authorized several wage scale changes recommended by Assistant Superintendent Linda Foster. The board also heard an update on roofing materials for the new middle schools.

Foster proposed changing the salary scale for certified employees with a doctorate degree and those with a master’s degree plus 30 accredited semester hours to allow for yearly salary increases. In 2015, the school system adopted the state recommended step-increase practice, where educators in those two categories only received raises every several years.

Foster said no teachers were impacted by the step-increase practice since it was implemented, but that would change in the coming year. “We have three teachers getting their doctorate degree, and if we can’t pay them, they may not stay. I don’t think the step-increase practice has been to our advantage.”

School board member Sara Liechty concurred. “We know current employees didn’t lose any money, but we don’t know how many teachers didn’t come to us because of the salary scale.”

The board also approved Foster’s recommendation for adopting a salary range based on years of service for the director of maintenance and director of nutrition positions, with experience and education also taken into account. Foster explained that if a need should arise to replace the employees now in these positions, the school system might not want to pay the current rate to the new hire.

Similarly, the board approved Foster’s recommendation to create a wage scale for new hire technical specialists based on skill level and experience.

To address the problem of chronic absenteeism, the board approved creating a new position to join attendance supervisor Delinda McDonald in visiting parents and to serve as a liaison between the schools and courts.

Responding to the popularity of the fishing club and the request of Franklin County High School Principal Roger Alsup, the board authorized allocating a small coaching supplement for fishing.

Alsup also requested an instructional supplement for the band director to pay for an assistant. “The band director typically leaves the school with 60-80 students,” Foster pointed out. “That’s a lot of students to supervise.”

The board withheld a decision pending more information about how to best categorize the expense.

Director of Schools Stanley Bean updated the board on research into materials for reroofing the gyms at the new middle schools. The extant gyms will be retained and reroofed in conjunction with the new school construction. Several county commissioners favored replacing the current roofs with metal roofs citing the 30-year warranty.

“A metal roof isn’t feasible,” Bean explained. The weight of a metal roof would be excessive, and the roofs’ dome design required gutters—“Metal gutters are for straight lines, not curved.”

Addressing the suggestion the adjacent new schools have metal roofs rather than membrane roofs, Bean cited several obstacles including far higher initial material costs and increased cost due to the need for walkways to access air conditioning and heating units. Bean also pointed out the warranty was just five years less for a membrane roof and the new membrane material was far easier to mend than the membrane roofing material on the existing schools.

Looking ahead to student transportation during the construction process, Bean said, “I’m working with the principals on how to get the children in and out of the schools. We may need some temporary roads. It’s going to be a pain, but we’ll have to suffer through it.”

The school board meets next on March 11.